We’ve arrived in Las Palmas - at last!

After three years of planning and a 3180 mile journey from Greece, we’re reached the Canary Islands, ready to join the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) in its 40th year - the largest transatlantic cruising rally.

Since leaving Greece, our focus has been to get to Las Palmas in time for this Sunday’s start: a 2800-mile non-stop passage to St Lucia, which we hope to complete in 18-22 days.

Robin hoisting our ARC flag in Gibraltar.

Why Participate in the ARC?

In 1985, sailor and yachting journalist Jimmy Cornell came to Las Palmas to interview skippers preparing to cross the Atlantic. They varied widely in nationality, age and experience, but the shared atmosphere among them caught his attention - the mix of excitement, apprehension and instant camaraderie between people about to head offshore greatly inspired him.

Lydia, our sourdough starter - being shared with our boat neighbours. This is Julia from Germany.

Jimmy went on to organise the first ARC the following year: a rally created for the joy of taking part, with strengthened safety standards and support, especially for those making their first long ocean passage.

The first ARC fleet departing Las Palmas in 1986. Photo courtesy of WCC/ARC Archives.

The crossing will ultimately be ours to make, but we’ve joined the ARC for the shared experience - preparing alongside like minded adventurers, trading knowledge, having fun and learning from one another as we ready our boats for the ocean.

Pouláki in the ARC dinghy race, what fun! - and we won a prize for best dressed boat.

The ARC’s safety requirements also go well beyond the basics required of a British-flagged yacht, meaning Pérdika is now equipped to a higher standard than if we’d set off alone - an investment that will serve us well for future crossings.

Taking part in the life-raft demonstration. It’s surprisingly difficult to board with an inflated life jacket.

And there‘s comfort in numbers. While piracy is now limited to a few specific areas in the Caribbean, northern South America and Central America, it still shapes how yachts plan their movements. By getting to know crews across the 155 boat fleet, we can arrange buddy boats for remote passages, coordinate routes and timings, and exchange up-to-date information on conditions along the way.

Our Two Weeks of ARC Preparations

With only two days to go, the last two weeks have been full-on. Alongside the social events - the Opening Party, Parade, Welcome Party, Caribbean Night and Dinghy Race to name a few - there have been workshops on splicing and sextants and seminars on weather routing and meteorology, managing emergencies at sea, provisioning and downwind sailing plus demonstrations of life-rafts and flares. It’s been busy, busy, busy - enjoyable but busy!

Weather routing seminar and the Opening Flag Parade, representing the 33 nations taking part.

We also signed up for a couple of conservation projects connected with the ARC. The first was Foresta, a tree-planting initiative in the mountains above Las Palmas, where crews spent a morning helping to restore the island’s natural woodland. The second will take place at sea: we’ve volunteered to collect daily water samples for SeaLabs, an environmental NGO building a clearer picture of ocean health in places research vessels rarely reach. Alongside this, we’ll be running the Secchi Disk study - the world’s largest citizen-science project monitoring phytoplankton - adding our small contribution to the growing record of life in the open ocean.

Planting trees with fellow ARC participants and receiving our testing kit from the SeaLabs team.

Making Pérdika Ocean Ready

The anticipation on our pontoon is building. Most boats, including ours, have completed their major refits and repairs and are now moving through the final checks. It’s a practical, focused phase, and we all seem to be working through remarkably similar lists.

Rigs are inspected one last time: shrouds, stays, halyards and furling gear for wear. Sails are checked for likely chafe points and given protection, preventers rigged and downwind set-ups reviewed. Steering systems and autopilots - which will take most of the strain once we’re at sea - are run again. Our emergency tiller was tested too; just as well, as it was as stiff as hell before Simon serviced it.

Robin and Alex check the sails and rigging one final time while Simon services the emergency tiller.

Below deck, electrical and charging systems receive a final check - battery connections, navigation lights and wiring are all reviewed to ensure they remain reliable once land falls behind us. Lee cloths are fitted to bunks to stop us falling out on rougher passages. Safety equipment is brought to the forefront: liferafts, EPIRBs and jacklines re-secured, grab bags (should we need to take to the life raft) updated with last-minute essentials, and our offshore medical supplies restocked. It’s steady, purposeful work, and there’s a clear sense of shared preparation as each boat moves through a similar sequence of checks.
 
Feeding Four Across the Atlantic

Annie preparing beef stew for our first supper at sea.

Our good friend Annie (Simon’s wife) spent time aboard cooking nourishing meals to freeze for our first few days at sea, which are forecast to be lively thanks to the wind-acceleration zones around the Canaries. I continued finalising our meal plans and lengthy provisioning list - calculating, for example, how much muesli, milk and tea four adults might need over 22 days, plus contingency. The same careful arithmetic was repeated for every ingredient, meal and drink to avoid either overloading the boat or running out halfway across.

Preparing provisioning lists. Yesterday’s busy pontoon. Amelia & Alex gift Simon and Robin a lifetime supply of tea!

As our departure date nears, last-minute provisions arrive and need to be stored securely. Amelia strings nets under the solar arch to hold our hefty fruit and vegetable supplies, as is  customary on long passages, keeping them ventilated and safe from bruising.

Route and Weather

The Canary Islands have been the traditional point of departure ever since Columbus first provisioned here over 500 years ago.

We visited Columbus’s house, where he stayed while planning his four transatlantic crossings.

The most common east-to-west route is from the Canary Islands to the West Indies - in our case, St Lucia. At around 2,800 miles, it benefits from the northeasterly trade winds: consistent, powerful winds formed by heating near the equator. Most crossings follow this downwind route, with favourable ocean currents. The trade winds can come and go, and as we progress further west they may bring squalls from behind - sudden and short-lived storms characterised by a sharp increase in wind speed and often accompanied by heavy rain, lightning, and thunder.

The Azores High and the trade winds are closely linked - this high-pressure system’s clockwise winds help drive the trades, while its centre forms a notorious “wind hole” of light airs. Sailors must choose whether to head north around it for the westerlies and then drop south or stay south to ride the trades. Its shifting position shapes every year’s optimal route and demands constant monitoring.

When to Cross

Timing is set largely by the Caribbean hurricane season, which runs from June to November - a firm no-go. Yachts leaving the Canary Islands typically sail between late November and January, ensuring they arrive to enjoy the Caribbean season from December to late May, and in our case in time to enjoy a Caribbean Christmas with family.

Pérdika’s Atlantic Crew

It‘s prudent to take extra crew on a passage like this. The helm must be manned 24/7, and tiredness can lead to mistakes and poor judgement. Simon has joined us, along with my daughter’s husband Alex, shareing watches, cooking and other duties.

Pérdika’s crew of four: Rachel, Robin, Simon and Alex.

Robin serves as our trusty captain, weather router and general fixer, providing steadiness of command and final say on decisions. I will sail as navigator and CEO - Chief Entertainment Officer - to keep morale high during our weeks at sea. If conditions allow I have various themed nights and activities up my sleeve - captain’s daily mocktail hour, quiz nights, Thanksgiving supper (Alex’s American) and a halfway party to name a few. Simon is our CMO - Chief Mechanical Officer, bringing long experience and mechanical resourcefulness and good cheer, while Alex joins as CFO - Chief Fishing Officer, responsible for lines, lures and keeping fresh fish on the table, while also building his offshore miles.

Monitoring our Progress

We’ll have no regular internet or mobile signal offshore, but the fleet is equipped with satellite trackers so the ARC team - and our family and friends - can follow our progress.
You can follow us on the ARC’s web page here using the Race Viewer, or you can download the free YB Races app here and add our race ‘Atlantic Rally for Cruisers 2025.’

Select this Race to track us on the YB App. We are ARC 2025. ARC+ set off 2 weeks before us as it sails via Cape Verde, but both fleets sit under the same race.

With our tracker in place, all that remains is to focus on the final preparations and the quiet anticipation of departure.

Almost Underway

With only a day to go, Pérdika is almost ready and the final lists are being ticked off. Amelia is here to wave us off, a great comfort, and she’ll meet up with the rest of the family in St Lucia. The mood on board is calm, steady, and quietly excited; after weeks of preparation, we’re ready to get to sea and face whatever this crossing brings for the four of us.