All activities / Sailing / Las Palmas
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Sailing in Las Palmas
The capital of Gran Canaria and the staging port for the Atlantic crossing season, where more than two hundred yachts gather each November before running for the Caribbean.
Why here
For about three weeks every November, Las Palmas holds the largest single concentration of ocean-crossing yachts anywhere. Around two hundred boats stage in one marina for the ARC and ARC+, the rally offices open on November 10, and the fleet leaves for the Caribbean on November 22. What you buy here is not a course, it is a berth: roughly 2,700 nautical miles of open ocean, three weeks of watch-keeping, and enough qualifying miles to sit an RYA Yachtmaster Ocean. Several operators sell crew places aboard skippered yachts, so you do not need to own a boat or know anyone with one.
Best months
This is a passage, not a season of day sailing. The route runs southwest into the northeast trades, and most of the crossing is downwind in a following sea, which is comfortable but rolly and relentless rather than technical. Expect 17 to 21 days at sea, watches around the clock, and no way off once you leave. Boats gather in the marina from early November and the harbor is congested in the fortnight before the start. Note that the ARC+ route via Cape Verde leaves earlier, on November 8, but no operator was found selling berths on it, so ARC+ places are generally arranged dockside or through crew-matching boards.
Getting there & around
Fly into Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and base yourself at the Muelle Deportivo, where the whole rally stages. There are no local sailing schools worth booking, so treat this as a departure port rather than a training destination. Verified berths run roughly 4,600 to 7,500 pounds for a three to four week passage, usually including all onboard costs and a skipper, and every operator selling them is based abroad rather than in the Canaries. Book months ahead, since berths are limited by fleet size. Budget for a one-way flight home from Saint Lucia, which is not included. If you want a berth without going through an operator, the rally organizer runs a paid crew-matching board, but that is a classifieds service and you are contracting privately with a boat owner.
Skill levels: intermediate, advanced
Schools & guides (4)
First Class Sailing
OutfitterRYA course provider selling ARC crew berths from Las Palmas to Saint Lucia aboard a Challenger 72, with an optional onward leg to Grenada.
Go West Sailing
OutfitterRYA centre selling a crew berth on the ARC crossing from Las Palmas to Saint Lucia aboard a Beneteau Oceanis 45, a passage that qualifies toward RYA Yachtmaster Ocean.
Rubicon 3 Adventure
OutfitterSells crew places on a 2,800 nautical mile Atlantic crossing leaving Las Palmas in November, described as an RYA Yachtmaster Ocean qualifying passage for those signing on as watch leader.
Sail Racing Academy
OutfitterRuns three yachts on the ARC from Las Palmas to Saint Lucia, offering roughly 2,700 nautical miles of offshore passage counting toward Yachtmaster Offshore and Ocean.
Also good for sailing in November:
Torn between Las Palmas and Aswan for November?
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