The journey of the fleet led by Christopher Columbus from Spain to the Americas has been much detailed and understood; I wondered when they decided to return to Spain, was the journey much smoother or still as dangerous as the way they came? My guess is maybe the return was really made easier for them once they knew the way to come, but how was it made easier?
Columbus actually returned to Europe a different "way" than he came -- I mean, he sailed both ways, but on his return route he took a more northerly circular path, to profit from the Gulf Stream current and to avoid the area of calm airs called the Sargasso Sea in the central Atlantic. If you will forgive the Wikipedia link, you can take a look at this map of the North Atlantic gyre, which is a roughly circular area of currents that encircle the middle of the North Atlantic. If you look at a map of Columbus' voyages that includes his returns, you can see that he profited from prevailing currents and winds both ways -- by sailing southwest then west from the Canaries, then northeast and east towards the Azores.
The first thing is that Columbus did not, and could not, sail back to Europe the same way he sailed to the Indies. This map of the North Atlantic currents helps put Columbus' voyage in perspective. The Canary Current that flows south and west along the coast of Africa made it easy for ships to sail to Africa, but near impossible to sail directly back to Europe. This was one of the main reasons that Europeans did not travel to most of Western Africa, as the time to travel back to Europe was triple the time it took to sail south (Thornton, Africa & Africans in the Making of the Atlantic World 2nd Ed. pp. 15-17).
Columbus, on his voyage South and West, largely followed the North Equatorial Current, though he was slightly north for much of his journey (Morison, Journals and Other Documents on the Life and Voyages of Columbus; Much of my interpretation of the return is based on Morison's translation). Though Columbus was not aware of the larger current flows, his choice to sail south and west saved his voyage.
On the return trip, Columbus set out sailing North and East from the Northeastern coast of Hispaniola on January 16, 1493. He sailed predominantly North and East, again following the major North Atlantic current. Towards the end of January he began sailing more East, as he reckoned that he had sailed far enough North to be parallel with the Azores. Based on the recordings that were passed to us by Las Casas, the trip was relatively uneventful. The longest distance Columbus traveled on the voyage out was 5 weeks without making landfall, so they had prepared rations and water to account for a similar voyage. On the night of February 14 there was a severe storm that separated the Pinta and the Nina. Despite the storm, both ships survived and both would arrive at Santa Maria of the Azores by February 18. The total time spent at sea for this voyage took about as long as the leg out at 34 days. Columbus left the Azores on February 25, and arrived in Lisbon on March 4/5.
The trip returning for Columbus was easier in part because they had a rough estimate of how long a voyage they should expect, and therefore better prepare their provisions. They sailed with the current going North and East, until having to cut back East in their final week of sailing. Besides the tempest in mid-February, the seas were calm, and Columbus made good time. The trip was certainly dangerous, as the seas west of the Azores were still untested waters. However, they sailed outside of hurricane season, they had more ready provisions, and though Columbus still thought the Ocean was too narrow, they had a more accurate estimate in terms of the number of expected days at sea.
