SPECIAL REPORT BEN LOWINGS ON BERMUDA

The breeze that whistles through the pines that line Bermuda's shores ranges from a prevailing south-westerly with an average Force 3, rising to a gentle Force 4 in June.

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Together with turquoise waters and warm sun, it adds up to a sailing paradise. Expensive, yes – and prone to hurricanes – but a mid-ocean sanctuary for centuries, and today also a cruising and ocean race destination.

The World Cruising Club's east-bound Atlantic rally, the ARC Europe, is about to visit the territory this May, as will the Salty Dawg Azores rally, assembling crews from the US mainland and Caribbean before heading across the Atlantic. Superyachts, mainly bound for the Med, often use Bermuda at this time of year as their bunkering stop. The mid-Atlantic archipelago welcomes several hundred visiting yachts a year. Officials estimate roughly two-thirds of that traffic is in April-June. US and Canadian boats, increasingly in the 'Salty' crowd, stop by on the way to Europe or the voyage south to the Bahamas, Caribbean and South America. Some sailing traffic is heading north-bound to the US east coast and Canada.

"Back in the old days, we were kind of a waypoint, a turning point," explains Mark Soares, who runs St George's Marina as well as the superyacht agency BDA Yacht Services. Soares explains that, navigationally, Bermuda is of prime importance on the transatlantic route heading east. "It does give you the opportunity to get a bit north. When you leave Bermuda, you sail in a north-easterly direction, trying a little bit of northing. The further north you go, the more wind you generally pick up before you start turning a little bit more towards the Azores."

Bermuda is well known as a great stopover if waiting for a better weather window – a jumping-off point and convenient to reprovision and refuel.

"From the Caribbean, the Azores is a long way in a 45ft boat," says Soares. "Stopping in Bermuda can really break that up, and it's a lovely place to stop."