Crossing the Atlantic: Caribbean to Barcelona

Five chapters, one ocean, and a return crossing with a real deadline behind it — Shayne had just taken on the role of head of rigging for the French America’s Cup team, and Barcelona was where the job started. This is that crossing: downwind reefing technique early on, a squally halfway mark with a thirteen-year-old on the helm, a 14-day passage into the Azores, a genuine upwind test on the final leg to Gibraltar, and then, hauled out in Barcelona, the discovery of a hull crack that turned into Paikea’s most significant refit to date.

Read in order, it’s a full ocean crossing followed immediately by the moment everything changed. Read individually, each post stands on its own as a real piece of offshore sailing.

The Crossing

Fast in Light Airs: Caribbean to the Azores — Departing without a fixed forecast, light-air daggerboard trim, and a hard look at what “wind speed boat” marketing claims actually mean.
How We Reef Our Mainsail Sailing Downwind — Reefing technique and the everyday decisions of downwind sailing, early in the passage.
Half-Way to the Azores: Squalls and Reading Rudder Angles — Building to 30 knots mid-Atlantic, thirteen-year-old Olly on the helm, surfing at 17 knots, and rudder angle as a real-time balance diagnostic.
14 Days at Sea: Arriving in the Azores from Saint Martin — Gear failure 40 miles from landfall leads to a genuinely better jib sheeting design, worked out on the final approach to Horta.
Azores to Gibraltar: Sailing Paikea Upwind Across the Atlantic — Bashing upwind against the usual catamaran folklore, overtaking a monohull doing the same thing, and a loud bang that turns out to be nothing serious.

Landfall — and a New Beginning

Hauling Out Paikea: Discovering a Hull Crack and Starting Her Interior Refit — A tight travel lift pit, a hard look back at everything already upgraded — the carbon rig, the rudders, the chainplates — and a hull crack found by the kids that becomes the starting point for stripping Paikea back to her structure and rebuilding from there.

That crack is where the next chapter of Paikea’s story really begins. Follow the full interior rebuild — the bulkheads, floors, doors, and furniture that came out of it — on Paikea’s Refit.