Hazard spot
Canary passage and Western Sahara: Strong katabatic winds
Canary passage and Western Sahara: The trade wind accelerates between the islands and along the coast, adding several forces. Calm patches and gust zones lie close together between the islands.
- Cause
- Strong katabatic winds
- Main season
- all year
- Position
- 24° 00,0' N 014° 30,0' W
On the map
The map shows this spot. You can pan, zoom and click the other spots.
Canary passage and Western Sahara: how the place works
Between Gibraltar and the Canaries the northeast trade accelerates along the African coast, and the Canary Current sets the same way. Off Cape Juby and the Western Sahara a high following sea builds in a sustained northeasterly, plus Saharan haze that cuts visibility to a few miles.
Canary passage and Western Sahara: what breaks there
This leg is the classic run before the Atlantic crossing, and the damage is that of a long downwind passage: furling gear, vang, main on the boom, autopilot. Anyone collecting it here repairs in the Canaries under time pressure before the start.
Canary passage and Western Sahara: what this means for your policy
For this passage two points are worth checking: whether the cruising range includes the African coast, and whether an Atlantic crossing needs a separate agreement. Both belong settled before departure, not in Las Palmas.
Read this in full: At anchor the policy is awakeCruising range
This spot lies in the cruising range the calculator lists under this step: Worldwide
Calculate a premium for this cruising rangeNearby
And what applies right now?
This page shows what holds at a spot at any time. Whether an official warning is out for it this minute is on the warning map, by your position and updated hourly.
Open the warning map
