Ocean Passage, Leg 1 - Mallorca to Madeira via Strait of Gibraltar, 24 October - 7 November 2026 (15 days)

The trip will be focused on mile-building, ocean sailing and navigation training. In total, we should log up to 1200 nautical miles and 220h, mixing coastal pilotage with a substantial ocean passage into the Atlantic.

Anticipated route:

Palma de Mallorca - Cala de Portinatx, Ibiza (62 NM) - Alicante (120 NM) - Melilla (230 NM) - Strait of Gibraltar - Madeira (760 NM)

We will be maintaining a watch system to ensure everyone is well rested, meals are prepared on time and maintenance is undertaken when necessary. There will be 3 watches with up to 2 people in each watch.

Elan 434 Impression (2005)

The Elan Impression 434 is a Rob Humphreys design built by Elan Marine in Slovenia — the first of Elan's Impression deck-saloon cruisers. She combines genuinely lively sailing performance with a spacious, comfortable interior, which makes her an excellent platform for a long passage. She is well equipped and prepared for offshore sailing.

We will inspect the boat thoroughly before the voyage to ensure that every bit of equipment is absolutely ship-shaped.

General info:

• Year: 2005
• Type: sailing monohull
• Length (LOA): 13.41 m (44 ft)
• Waterline length (LWL): 11.45 m
• Hull speed: ~8.2 kt
• Beam: 4.18 m
• Draught: 1.7 m
• Displacement: 10.9 t
• Engine: Volvo Penta D2-55 (55 hp)
• Fuel capacity: 270 L
• Water capacity: 516 L
• Sails: Mainsail 46.5 m² (fully battened), Furling genoa 52.4.0 m², Assymetric Spinnaker 135 m², Storm Jib (9 m²)
• Cabins: 3
• Berths (Bunks): 6+2
• WC / Shower: 2

Equipment:

• Autopilot
• Chart plotter with GPS
• DSC VHF radio
• Handheld VHF radio
• AIS
• EPIRB
• Radar reflector
• Sprayhood / bimini
• Refrigerator
• Stove
• 12V and USB sockets
• Life raft
• PredictWind Offshore license
• Complete set of pilot books, almanacs and charts
• Pillows and bedlinen for each crew member
• Plastimo drogue

Average weather conditions:

• Palma de Mallorca (October)
• Madeira / Funchal (November)

Air and Sea temperature

Late October in the western Mediterranean is still mild and pleasant, with daytime highs around 24° C in Palma falling to about 17° C at night, and a sea temperature still warm enough for swimming at the start of the trip. As we move out into the Atlantic towards Madeira the climate stays gentle: November in Funchal averages around 21° C by day and 17° C at night, with a sea temperature of roughly 22° C.

Wind and sea state

The Mediterranean part of the trip offers a mix of coastal and offshore sailing, with land and sea breezes and the occasional autumn frontal system. The Strait of Gibraltar is a place to respect: it funnels the wind into an easterly or westerly that can blow hard, and the tidal stream runs strongly through the narrows — an excellent, real-world pilotage and passage-planning exercise. Beyond the Strait, the ocean passage to Madeira is exposed to the Atlantic, where a moderate swell is normal and we should carry the northerly Portuguese trades on a good angle for much of the way.

The route is divided into several offshore passages with lots of night sailing, culminating in a genuine ocean leg. You will receive a certificate of passage to prove your sea time for sailing licenses. You will be an active member of the crew, and we will provide practical training on board to ensure safety and improve your sailing skills.

We give a great amount of responsibility to each crew member in running the ship so that you can gain a good experience and learn new skills as much or as little as you want. The skipper is an instructor and will find it difficult not to teach or coach anyone who shows the slightest bit of interest.

RYA qualifying passages

If you are an aspiring Skipper or Yachtmaster, this is an excellent opportunity to gain bluewater miles and practise navigation, pilotage and COLREG skills so that you can be more confident and comfortable when taking a boat out to sea on your own. During the voyage, we can evaluate your current knowledge and provide suggestions for improvement.

Crucially, the passage from Melilla to Madeira through the Strait of Gibraltar can serve as your RYA Yachtmaster Ocean qualifying passage: a non-stop ocean passage of more than 600 miles, on which you can take and work up your celestial sights. The shorter Mediterranean hops are equally suited to logging RYA Yachtmaster Coastal and RYA Yachtmaster Offshore qualifying miles.

Main topics that you can learn or brush up:

• Maneuvering under sails & engine: berthing, hoisting and lowering sails, reefing, tacking, gybing, sail trim
• Safety: use of liferaft, lifejacket, EPIRB, PLB, AIS beacons, managing emergencies
• Equipment: use of Autopilot and VHF
• Weather forecasting and weather routing
• Offshore & coastal navigation: digital and traditional
• Celestial navigation with a sextant (the heart of this trip)
• Night navigation
• Pilotage and passage planning
• ColRegs
• Life on board: organization of watches, nutrition, sleep and risk management

Celestial navigation — finding your way by the sky

This is the soul of the trip. Once we clear the Strait of Gibraltar and the land drops away astern, we put the GPS aside and navigate the ocean the way sailors did for thousands of years — with the sky above us.

You will learn to bring the sun down to the horizon, to take star and planet sights in the brief magic of morning and evening twilight, and to reduce those sights into a line of position and, finally, a fix drawn by your own hand on the chart. It is a slow, deliberate, and deeply satisfying craft — one that rewards patience and turns the sun, moon, planets and stars from decoration into instruments.

There is something quietly profound in it. When your position comes not from a screen but from the angle of a star and the ticking of a watch, the sky stops being a backdrop and becomes a place you belong to. You begin to feel the turning of the earth, to read the heavens like the generations of navigators before you, and to understand your small, precise place in a very large ocean. Few skills connect you so directly to the sea, to the sky, and to the long human story of finding the way home.

Joining day - Palma de Mallorca (24 October)

We will spend the first day preparing and victualling the yacht, going over the safety routines and practices, getting up to speed with the boat and learning or refreshing all the basic sailing skills before we embark on the journey. Once we slip the lines there will be plenty of occasions to practice tacking, gybing, reefing, boat handling under the engine and all the other key skills we must have.

Palma de Mallorca cathedral

Palma old town

Palma is the capital of the Balearic Islands. Its vast Gothic cathedral, La Seu, rises straight out of the waterfront, and the old town behind it is a maze of honey-coloured stone, courtyards and tapas bars. It is one of the finest sailing cities in the Mediterranean.

Cala de Portinatx, Ibiza (62 NM)

Our first passage takes us across the Balearic Sea to Cala de Portinatx, a cluster of sheltered turquoise coves at the northern tip of Ibiza. Backed by pine-clad hills and watched over by the tall Punta des Moscarter lighthouse, it is a quiet, scenic first anchorage — a gentle introduction to the trip and a good chance to settle into life on board.

Anchored off Ibiza

Ibiza's turquoise coves

Alicante (120 NM)

From the Balearics we cross to the Spanish mainland and the lively port city of Alicante. Overlooked by the Santa Bárbara castle on its rocky crag, Alicante has a palm-lined seafront promenade, a characterful old quarter and an excellent marina.

Alicante from Santa Bárbara castle

Alicante's old town

Melilla (230 NM)

A longer passage down the coast brings us to Melilla, a Spanish enclave on the North African shore — genuinely off the beaten track. Melilla is a fascinating place: after Barcelona it holds Spain's greatest concentration of Modernist (Art Nouveau) architecture, much of it designed by a follower of Gaudí, alongside its historic walled citadel, Melilla la Vieja, looking out over the Mediterranean.

Melilla old town

Melilla la Vieja citadel

Strait of Gibraltar and the ocean passage to Madeira (760 NM)

From Melilla we sail west and transit the Strait of Gibraltar, one of the world's great maritime crossroads, where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic between the Rock of Gibraltar and the mountains of Morocco. Timing the tidal gate and reading the funnelled wind here is a superb piece of real-world passage planning.

The Rock of Gibraltar

Out into the Atlantic

Once through the Strait and out into the open Atlantic, the land falls away and the real ocean passage begins. For the next several days and nights we settle into the rhythm of watches, offshore sailing and the sky — this is where we put the GPS away and navigate by sextant, working up our celestial sights day by day until Madeira rises out of the sea ahead of us.

Navigating by sextant

Landfall at Madeira

Madeira - Quinta do Lorde, Finishing day, 7 November

We make our landfall on Madeira, the lush "island of eternal spring" rising steeply out of the Atlantic. We finish at Quinta do Lorde Marina on the island's eastern tip, a purpose-built marina village conveniently close to the airport. We will spend time celebrating the ocean passage before the second leg continues south through the islands. You can continue your trip on the second leg.