Index
The Great Circle Heritage Voyage
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Retracing Atlantic Connections—One Passage at a Time
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The Great Circle Heritage Voyage is the central expedition of American Saudade, Inc. (ASI)—a planned Atlantic journey connecting maritime history, cultural heritage, education, exploration, and responsible seamanship.
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Sailing aboard the S/V American Saudade, the voyage is intended to begin in Newport, Rhode Island, and continue to the Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands, Cabo Verde, and ultimately back across the Atlantic.
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These destinations were not selected simply because they form an interesting sailing route. Each occupies an important place in the history of Atlantic navigation, migration, trade, exploration, settlement, whaling, packet shipping, and cultural exchange.
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For generations, the Atlantic connected these islands with New England and communities throughout the diaspora. The Heritage Voyage will retrace those connections while documenting the people, places, institutions, and maritime traditions that continue to preserve them.
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More Than a Sailing Voyage
The Great Circle Heritage Voyage is not a recreational cruise or an Atlantic race. It is an educational, historical, and cultural mission.
During the voyage, ASI intends to build relationships with museums, schools, universities, cultural organizations, maritime institutions, port authorities, historians, educators, community leaders, and diaspora members.
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The vessel will serve as a floating classroom and documentation platform supporting:
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Historical and maritime research
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Interviews and oral histories
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Educational presentations
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Museum and institutional visits
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Cultural exchange
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Photography and video documentation
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Family and community stories
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Youth engagement
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Maritime-safety education
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Digital storytelling and public updates
The work completed ashore will be as important as the miles sailed at sea.
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The Complexity Behind the Voyage
An ocean voyage of this scale begins long before the vessel leaves Newport. Every passage requires careful planning, preparation, judgment, and the ability to adapt when conditions change.
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A route that appears simple on a map becomes far more complex when you consider wind, currents, seasonal weather, vessel performance, crew endurance, maintenance, fuel, water, communications, medical needs, port requirements, and emergency alternatives together.
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The Atlantic does not follow a fixed itinerary. Departure dates and routes must remain subordinate to vessel readiness, crew readiness, and sea conditions.
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The most important decision may sometimes be to wait.
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Passage Planning
Each leg of the Heritage Voyage will require its own detailed passage plan. Planning will begin with the intended route but must also account for safe alternatives if conditions, equipment, or human factors require a change.
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Passage planning will include:
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Route and Seasonal Weather
Evaluate the route against prevailing winds, ocean currents, seasonal storm patterns, sea temperatures, visibility, and the availability of suitable weather windows.
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Historical climate information can help establish general expectations, but it cannot replace current forecasts and observations. The crew will monitor conditions before departure and throughout each passage using available marine forecasts, weather-routing information, onboard instruments, and shore-based support.
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Navigation
Planning must include updated electronic and paper charts, sailing directions, pilot books, Notices to Mariners, harbor information, navigational hazards, traffic-separation schemes, restricted areas, and safe approaches to each destination.
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The intended route will be supported by predetermined waypoints, wheel-over considerations, clearing distances, position-verification methods, and identified hazards. Electronic navigation will be backed by independent equipment and traditional navigational skills.
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Ports and Alternate Harbors
Every intended destination must be researched before arrival. This includes harbor entrances, depths, tides, currents, anchoring restrictions, marina or mooring availability, customs and immigration procedures, fuel and water access, repair facilities, medical services, and local communications.
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Alternate ports and emergency destinations must also be identified. A prudent passage plan asks not only, “Where are we going?” but also, “Where can we safely go if the original destination is no longer available?”
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Vessel Performance and Endurance
Base planning on the actual performance of the S/V American Saudade, not an optimistic timetable.
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Calculate fuel, potable water, food, battery capacity, communications, spare parts, medical supplies, and waste management with appropriate reserves. Passage duration must account for adverse winds, reduced speed, equipment problems, crew fatigue, and time spent waiting for safer conditions.
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Crew Readiness
A properly prepared vessel still requires a properly prepared crew.
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Crew selection and training must consider offshore experience, watchstanding, navigation, sail handling, engineering knowledge, first aid, emergency response, fatigue management, seasickness, communication, and the ability to work together under difficult conditions.
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Before departure, clearly establish responsibilities and authority. Every crew member must understand the vessel’s systems, safety equipment, emergency procedures, watch schedule, and expectations for conduct aboard.
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Emergency and Contingency Planning
The voyage plan must address foreseeable emergencies, including fire, flooding, rigging failure, steering loss, propulsion problems, electrical failure, medical emergencies, severe weather, collision, grounding, person overboard, and abandonment.
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Contingency planning will include emergency communications, shore contacts, medical consultation, search-and-rescue information, alternate destinations, equipment redundancy, and established criteria for changing or ending a passage.
A plan is incomplete if it considers only what should happen when everything goes well.
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Preparing the Vessel
The S/V American Saudade is undergoing a comprehensive refit before offshore operations begin. Her hull, machinery, rigging, steering, electrical systems, communications, navigation equipment, water systems, and emergency equipment must be inspected, renewed where necessary, tested, and documented.
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This preparation is guided by SubSafe to SailSafe™, ASI’s systems-based approach to vessel safety and readiness.
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The refit will be followed by recommissioning, dockside testing, coastal operations, increasingly demanding sea trials, crew training, and deficiency correction. The vessel will not be considered ready because a calendar says it is time to depart. Readiness must be demonstrated through inspection, testing, training, and experience.
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The Educational Mission
The voyage will also apply the multidisciplinary approach of 360 Deep™.
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Every island, port, community, and historical event can be examined through multiple perspectives: history, geography, politics, economics, culture, religion, technology, the environment, maritime strategy, and human motivation.
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Through ASI’s Education and Maritime Heritage programs, information gathered during the voyage can become lectures, interviews, articles, videos, historical narratives, classroom resources, and additions to the E-Library.
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The purpose is not merely to visit places connected by history. It is to investigate those connections, document what remains, listen to the people who preserve that history, and share what we learn.
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A Voyage Built Through Partnership
A mission of this scale requires cooperation on both sides of the Atlantic. ASI will continue developing partnerships with educational, cultural, maritime, and community organizations that can contribute knowledge, local experience, institutional access, technical support, and opportunities for cultural exchange.
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Volunteers can also contribute through research, translation, communications, historical documentation, educational development, vessel support, logistics, and outreach. Learn more about opportunities to volunteer.
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Progress on the vessel and voyage will be shared through Current Projects and Latest Video Productions.
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The Voyage Has Already Begun
The Great Circle Heritage Voyage will not begin when the dock lines are released in Newport. It has already begun through research, vessel preparation, passage planning, relationship-building, historical preservation, and the development of ASI’s educational mission.
Every system inspected, every document recovered, every partnership formed, and every story preserved brings the voyage one step closer.
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Retracing Atlantic history. Reconnecting communities. Carrying heritage forward.
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ACTA NON VERBA — Deeds, Not Words.
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