A Chesapeake summer squall
is far worse than conservative cruisers ever see on the water.

Not to take anything away from a Chesapeake squall, but we are talking
about crossing the North Atlantic, not conservative cruising. You've
got to be able to take whatever comes along for 3 or 4 weeks, and even
in June/July, the probability of making it all the way across without
seeing some wind in the 30s is very low. Worse yet is the probability
of seeing it sustained for a couple of days. The nice thing about
squalls is that they are over in 20 or 30 minutes.