Getting Your Yacht to Las Palmas for the ARC

Every November, hundreds of yachts assemble in Gran Canaria for the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. The start line gets the attention, but the work that decides whether a boat is genuinely ready happens long before it: getting the yacht safely and punctually to Las Palmas.

That positioning passage is a substantial offshore delivery in its own right. From the south coast of the UK it is close to 1,800 NM of open-water sailing, and from the Mediterranean it means clearing Gibraltar and crossing to the Canaries at the point in the year when the Portuguese coast is at its least forgiving. Many owners quite reasonably decide they would rather fly to Gran Canaria and arrive fresh than spend three weeks positioning the boat, and for good reason: the Bay of Biscay in October is what controls the entire schedule.

The Window That Matters

ARC timing is fixed, and everything upstream of it has to be worked backwards from the start date. The rally normally starts on the last Sunday of November, which sets a hard deadline that weather does not negotiate with.

Arriving in the first ten days of November is not padding. It is the difference between walking into the ARC village with time to fix what the passage exposed, and arriving days before the start with an outstanding rigging or steering job and no yard capacity left on the island.

The Bay of Biscay in late October is manageable. In November it is a gamble. Every day you delay departure from the UK is another day you may spend weather-bound in northern Spain.

Main Delivery Routes to Las Palmas

Two routes account for the large majority of pre-ARC positioning work. They demand different things from the crew and carry different risks.

On the northern route the crossing of Biscay is the single decision that shapes the whole delivery. Get a settled window and the passage down to Galicia is straightforward; miss it and the boat sits in La Coruña or Bayona burning calendar days that were meant to be spare. We cover the seamanship of that crossing in more depth in our Bay of Biscay route guide, and the wider picture on yacht delivery from England.

The Mediterranean route is shorter but not softer. Once past Gibraltar the yacht is exposed to Atlantic swell running down the Portuguese and Spanish coasts, often with a following sea and strong Portuguese trades. Boats set up for Mediterranean coastal work frequently need attention to preventers, autopilot load, chafe protection and downwind sail handling before they are honestly ready for that leg, let alone for the Atlantic crossing that follows.

What the Delivery Involves

A pre-ARC delivery is not a taxi service. The passage is the last full-scale test the yacht gets before it leaves the continental shelf behind, and it should be run so that the boat arrives with a documented picture of its own condition.

• Qualified skipper and offshore crew, selected for the vessel type and the passage rather than allocated from whoever is free
• Pre-passage inspection of rig, steering, engine, fuel system, sails, ground tackle and safety equipment
• Full passage planning, including port options, contingency harbours and realistic leg timings
• Professional weather routing through the departure window and for each subsequent leg
• 24/7 tracking of the vessel's position throughout the delivery
• A live client portal so the owner can follow progress rather than wait for news
• Daily updates covering position, conditions, miles run and anything that needed attention
• Transparent expenses, with crew fees separated from fuel, marina, travel and provisioning costs
• Defects flagged before departure and again on arrival, so nothing is discovered on day three of an ocean crossing

That last point is the one owners tend to value most in hindsight. A steering quadrant that works its way loose in Biscay, a leaking stern gland, a failing alternator or a worn genoa halyard is a manageable problem in Lisbon and a serious one 800 NM west of the Canaries.

Why Professional Delivery Makes Sense Before the ARC

The ARC crossing itself is the part owners have been planning for, sometimes for years. Spending three weeks of October beating the boat down to Gran Canaria, then turning round and going again, uses up exactly the reserves the Atlantic crossing needs.

There is also a practical crew problem. Rally crew are recruited for the crossing, not for a cold, wet autumn positioning passage that ends before the interesting part begins. Assembling competent people for mid-October, at short notice, who can be relied upon in Biscay, is far harder than most owners expect. Professional delivery crew exist precisely to solve that: they arrive with the certification, the offshore hours and the equipment, and they leave when the yacht is handed over in Las Palmas.

Handled that way, the owner and rally crew fly in, take over a yacht that has already proved itself over 1,000 NM or more, and use their remaining time on provisioning, safety briefings and rest instead of repairs.

Costs and Planning

Delivery is quoted against the vessel and the route, not from a price list. Vessel size and type, departure port, crew requirement and expected passage duration all move the figure, and estimated expenses should always be shown separately from crew fees. Our pricing page explains how we structure and itemise that, and an enquiry with your yacht details and preferred departure window is the fastest route to an accurate number.

If the yacht is staying in the Caribbean for the season, it is worth agreeing the return passage at the same time. Post-ARC return deliveries from Saint Lucia, Antigua and other Caribbean ports are heavily booked from January onwards, and pricing the round trip early usually produces a better plan than treating the return as an afterthought in the spring.

Get Your Yacht to the Start Line

Positioning for ARC 2026 starts with a date, not a boat. Work backwards from the last Sunday of November, allow arrival in Las Palmas in the first ten days of the month, and hold the Biscay or Gibraltar departure window that makes that possible.

Get your yacht to Las Palmas without using up your legs before the crossing. Request an ARC 2026 delivery quote with your vessel, departure port and preferred window, and we will come back with an itemised plan.