Atlantic Wind Wheel Route

The great circle of Atlantic winds and currents that Portuguese navigators learned to ride, the foundation of the sailing-ship age.

Overview

The volta do mar, turning to sea, seems paradoxical: to reach a port to the south you sail west into open ocean to catch the returning westerlies. Mastering this wheel, trade winds west, westerlies home via the Azores, enabled the colonization of Madeira and the Azores, the Africa-Brazil run and, in 1500, Cabral's landfall on Brazil. Every square-rigged route in the Atlantic for four centuries was a variation on the pattern, from the treasure fleets to the clippers. Steam finally let ships ignore the wheel, but it still governs sailing races and describes the ocean gyre itself.