Apart from those sailing a transatlantic (“transat”) in organized flotillas like the ARC/ARC+/Viking Explorers, there are many cruisers crossing the Atlantic E-W by themselves. For a number of them, this is their first open ocean crossing.

During the 2024-2025 transat season, at the request of several skippers and crew crossing the Atlantic by themselves, we organized (for the third year in a row), a Whatsapp group, called “Finding Dory”.

The evolution of Finding Dory

Some years ago, when we organized the first Finding Dory groups, full internet connectivity on yachts was mostly limited to the times when people had shore-based WiFi or mobile phone data, so we mostly tried to “coordinate” in which anchorage or marina we would meet next. With the proliferation of Starlink in the past two years, more and more yachts had full internet access DURING their passage.

Last winter, what started as an adhoc Finding Dory initiative, quickly grew to a social community of 40-50 boats, exchanging ideas and weather info, planning, daily passage reports, giving mutual support, and on one occasion actually providing guidance and assistance to one group member, who was at risk of losing his mast due to a rigging failure.

Taking it to the next level

For me, it looked like Finding Dory fulfilled a need, as a grassroots (and free), social, mutual-support community. So I talked to Helena and Steve, the people behind noforeignland, to see if we could extend the idea. Like Finding Dory, noforeignland is run by cruisers, and is a completely free service supporting cruising sailors around the world.

So, we were thinking: In the past years we have been coordinating these Finding Dory groups at random. This time we thought we could, in collaboration with noforeignland, start the next season’s transat E-W Finding Dory group earlier, and integrate some free webinars on specific topics relevant to crew or skippers preparing an E-W transat. This is all still, as we did in the past and in the spirit of noforeignland, for free, and with no-strings attached.

Online seminars

Based on input from other cruisers, we plan to have a number of free webinars on topics thought to be relevant for E-W transat crossings, keeping in mind that for many this would be their first ever open ocean crossing. This includes:

• A basic checklist for ocean passages, including long range comms, provisioning, power/food/water management, safety, crew, sail plans
• How to prepare the boat and crew for a transat
• Weather and weather routing, covering what weather can you expect starting from Europe and going all the way to the Caribbean or South America
• “The skipper’s rules”, a list of things to agree on with the crew, going from the watch system to safety, and practical tips to live in close quarters on a boat
• Provisioning and food prep, including medical supplies prep
• Tips for a skipper to select crew for your transat passage, and when crewing with a boat, how to select a boat to crew on
• Safety and insurance
• Passage routing – Which way do you choose to go West? Canaries to the Caribbean? Via Cape Verde? Via West Africa? To South America?
• Noforeignland: Tracking your boat and sharing your journey with friends and family; using the Finding Dory group to stay in touch with other group members; finding and sharing important destination information; planning where to visit; saving money by printing your own courtesy flags.

In the spirit of keeping this group open for all, and as a social community, we have reached out to a number of experienced cruisers, groups and companies to help us with the webinars. Webinar links will only be distributed to members of the group.

How can you participate in the Finding Dory group?

The group is exclusively open to skippers and crew who are doing the 2025-2026 transat. The group is focused on preparing for the transat and mutual support before and during the transat, it is not a platform to look for crew, or for crew looking for a boat… So, avoiding spam and keeping this group focused is one of our challenges.

How to join Finding Dory IV by Noforeignland

You can join Finding Dory IV by Noforeignland using the QR code below. If the QR code fails, send a DM to me on Facebook, mentioning your vessel and your position on the vessel (skipper/crew), and we will get you registered.

Why participate in the Finding Dory

When completing a transat it doesn’t matter if it’s your first time or you’ve done it before, having a supportive community to learn from, share ideas with and help others can only be a good thing, with the added bonus of it being free. Together we can use Finding Dory IV by Noforeignland to build a great community for the Atlantic East-West crossing (2025-2026 season), so if you’re crossing, what are you waiting for?