Luxury Crewed Yacht St. Martin, Leeward Islands

Sailing Conditions

General Conditions
The Leeward Islands that include the island of St. Maarten and St. Martin are constantly cooled by trade winds, so it's comfortable to visit them at any time of the year. The average temperature is 80°F (26°C) and rainfall totals an average of 45 inches (1143 mm) yearly. Immediate weather conditions can be found at http://www.weather.com

Tides
The tide range is very small: 30 cm to 60 cm (1 to 2 feet) including the variation of level due to atmospheric pressure and dominant winds.

Historical Weather (Averages by month):

Sailing Conditions

• The weather enables near-perfect sailing year round with steady northeasterly trade winds, blowing 10-15 knots.
• A warm equatorial current provides 80°F temperatures all year. Temperatures vary from around the low 70s in the winter months to the low 80s in the summer months. Winds are the Easterly Trades generally at 10 to 20 knots, lighter in the summer months during the hurricane season between August and September. Usually the Christmas winds blow for a couple of weeks in the wintertime and are sometimes up around 25 to 30 knots. During these couple of weeks, a North-East swell is dominating above 8 to 9 Ft.
• Visibility is generally excellent, and on very clear days you can see the islands of Saba, St. Eustatius (Statia), St. Christopher (St. Kitts) and even Nevis, some 60 miles to the southeast. Fog is unheard of, but occasionally haze, especially from August to October, can reduce visibility to 15 miles or so.
• Rainfall is approximately 45 inches per annum with the heaviest rainfall occurring between August and November and the driest period being February and March.
• From the sailors point of view, the briskest sailing is around Christmas time and the lightest is in the middle of the hurricane season.

Forecasts

• The base provides a weather forecast for the first day and will provide a listing of stations that broadcast weather.
• Clients can obtain the weather situation at any time by calling: Météo France: 08 92 68 08 08  or by listening to LASER 101.5 FM radio for local weather at 7:45 and 8:15 AM (English).
• Radio transat 106.1 FM broadcasts weather every hour/day 6:30 to 1230 (French).
• NEW: VHF channel 64 at 9 am, 12 am, 8 pm and 10 pm (French).