I have to respectfully disagree with Bob as far as tackling the North Atlantic. My wife and I will soon complete our circumnavigation having gone down the west coast of Central America, turning west at Ecuador and making Australia, Thailand, up into the Med and across the Atlantic from the Canaries. You stay in those latitudes, stick to the cruising seasons and you can avoid gales, hurricanes, cyclones and by all means the North Atlantic and the Southern Indian Ocean. We call our voyage World Cruising Without Calamity. If we aren't considered 'tried and tested' sailors, that's ok with us.
