Oosterschelde - Ocean Voyage from Cape Verde to NL Via Azores- 26 Days

Sail an Ocean going schooner from Cape Verde to Europe.

Enjoy Tropical Cape Verde

It is worth arriving a few days early to enjoy the hot sun, miles of white sand beaches of Cape Verde's flattest island.  Santa Maria in Sal is great for watersports like windsurfing or kite surfing and there are several schools on the main beach and plenty of hotels and apartments which can be booked via the web. The beach runs for miles with a cross onshore wind and playful waves for swimming in, and only only pier is a hive of activity with acrobatic dives from local kids and the landing of fish daily.

When you leave you will be heading North so you will see how different and more mountainous the other islands in the archipelago are.

Ocean milemaker voyage - Am I up to it ?

The main mission for the ship is to get back to Rotterdam as swiftly and safely as possible, and that means sailing as much as possible but there will be some headwinds on some of the route and possibility of rough weather. As the voyage is billed as a milemaker the price is fixed for the voyage but it is always ossible the ship may get into port a few days earlier.  This is a challenging ocean passage and ports are often many days away so it is not a voyage for those with any health problems or prone to seasickness.

A different way of life

Trade winds, Whales and a route via the Azores

During the first part of the voyage you will be in boisterous NE trade winds which means the ship will have to sail hard up wind but the hot tropical sun means that spay on deck is actually  quite refereshing and Oosterschelde may be shouldering a big bow wave as she powers as far North as the wind will allow.

North of the Azores

Lofty Rig with huge gaff sails

The gaff sails on all three masts are huge and it is a long way up to release the gaskets and set oosterschelde's square sails. There is a Captain, Mate, couple of deck hands, engineer and chef so the ships guest crew will need to work hard as a team to race this impressive ship.

Oosterschelde is a very comfy ship - restored for adventure charter with a huge saloon with bar, piano, wood burning stove and library so if you have always fancied running away to sea for a few weeks, we can't think of a more stylish way to do it as hands on ships crew.

Both of Classic Sailing working directors have sailed on Oosterschelde in Jan 2011 so we can tell you what she is like to sail on if you give us a ring.

More details and photos of Oosterschelde - see vessel details tab above.