Sail in Lanzarote during winter, the best place in the world

The most eastern of the Canary Islands, Lanzarote, is a tourist destination known for its landscape and have a pleasant annual average temperature around 21 ° C. ¿What makes to sail in Lanzarote during winter a good idea?

Apart from all the fantastic weather conditions, it is not by chance that many high competition yachtmen teams choose Lanzarote for their workouts. Ericsson’s Volvo Open 70, Groupama, Team Telefónica and Puma are teams that have already opted for the sailing conditions of this island. Also, it seems that Marina Rubicon will be a  training base for teams racing on the Barcelona World Race 2014-2015.The race of the «Grand Prix del Atlantico» has reappointed Marina Rubicon as its starting port for the eighth edition. It will connect the island with Marina Puerto sailboat in Colombia. And the Christmas Caribbean Rally 2013 has also announced his departure from the same Marina Rubicon. The arrival will be at Jolly Harbor in Antigua.

We will provide some data to reinforce our idea of why sailing in Lanzarote in winter is a great idea.

Temperature 

«Being able to navigate each day in the European winter» is undoubtedly one of the biggest reasons but not the only weight one.

We have realized cursory analysis of climatological data to illustrate that sailing conditions we will find in our visit to the island if we sail in Lanzarote in winter.

NORTH COAST OF AFRICA (20 ° N to 35 ° N)

ANUAL CONSIDERATIONS

WINDS

North of 30 ° N, N and NE winds near the coast.

Quite variable in winter, but more consistent in the summer months. Light winds in summer, being storms unusual. Winds of force 8 or above do not affect this area more than a 2 or 3% of the winter months.

20 ° N and 30 ° N between the NE wind is set near the sea, and the winds here blow from the N to NE most of the time in summer and half the time in winter. The wind is stronger in August, with an average of force 4 and weaker in autumn. The storms are very rare.

On the coast, sea breezes dominate most of the day in summer, blowing from the NW. Gentle breezes at night. warm winds from the S and E occasionally blow in spring and autumn, and can reach the Canary Islands.

ANALYSIS OF THE MONTHS OF NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER TO LANZAROTE

CURRENTS 

In November, the prevailing current steering is around 0.5 knots average.

In December, the prevailing current steering is around 0.4 knots average.

WIND IN NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER

The wind both in the month of November and December, is very consistent. It is established component NE with a mean force in April.

The percentage of time is 1% in November and 0% in December.

The probability of lulls during the months of November and December is 3 per square 5 degrees of latitude/longitude.

With this weather conditions, ¿is not «sail in Lanzarote during winter» a practical thing to do?

Does not only the navigator live from the wind…

Iñigo Losada, trainer of Team Telefónica, explains the advantages of Lanzarote for the development of the crew. «The availability of wind every day, with different intensities predominating strong and varying conditions in the state of the sea winds, enables to improve the fitness of the Telefonica crew in the most specific way that can exist in our sport: surfing «.

But not only waters make Lanzarote the Mecca of ocean preparation. On land, the island has plenty of routes to practice aerobics. You can practice cycling or athletics, always in a pleasant atmosphere. «Besides what affects purely navigation, there are other factors that make Lanzarote a good place for sports» continues Losada. «For any discipline, weather conditions, with mild temperatures, it allows a comfortable sport at any time of year.»

Iker Martinez, from Telefonica Team commented: «We have had many days of wind between 15 and 20 knots, and we haven’t had to cancel any day of sailing that we had scheduled, nor by much or for very little wind.»

So, be sure to remember all these tempting facts, and be sure to try to sail in Lanzarote during winter. You won’t regret it.