A transatlantic crossing is a bucket-list voyage. For cruisers who spent a season exploring the Mediterranean, the crossing links them to the dream of spending winter in the islands. For sailors who bought their boats in Europe, the crossing might be the first extended offshore passage. For cruisers who began a circumnavigation along the US East Coast or in the Caribbean, the passage might complete the circle.
The western route across the 3,000-nautical-mile stretch between the European mainland and the Caribbean is a path sailed for centuries by explorers and pirates alike. The northeast trade winds and favorable current have defined the course taken by sailors from Christopher Columbus to today’s cruisers. The Canary and Cape Verde islands are an ideal jumping-off point for a passage to the Caribbean. The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers departs from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria each year, while the ARC Plus stops in the Cape Verde islands as its final port of call.
I joined the 2024 fleet during preparations in Las Palmas’ Muelle Deportivo marina in late November. For many of the crews, the crossing was a culmination of years of planning and preparation. Here’s what I learned from them.
Know Your Boat
Before any major ocean crossing, whether your boat is brand-new or a longtime home, take it apart from top to bottom. Learn as much as you can about each piece, from the rigging to the sails, cylinder heads, fuel filters and watermaker. Take a course on marine diesel maintenance. Check and double-check each system for faults and potential failures. Invest in upkeep and maintenance, and keep good records of all repairs. Read your owner’s manuals, and keep them accessible.
Draw a map that identifies where spare parts, manuals and emergency gear are stowed, and share the map with crewmembers. ARC Rally sailor Christian Thjømøe also draws maps showing spots around his Beneteau Oceanis Yacht 62, Oda Julie, where safety and emergency equipment are stowed. He posts the map in the companionway.
If a professional services your boat, then make sure you’re present when work is being done. Observe and ask questions. Try to make yourself as self-sufficient as possible. Watch videos. Enroll in an offshore-sailing course. Consider getting a professional inspection of your boat, and then watch the inspector tear it to pieces. Make lists and compare them with other cruisers, especially experienced cruisers with similar boats and sailing routes.
Prioritize. It might not be possible to carry the number of spare parts needed to resolve every situation. But two autopilots? Yes. Spare headsails? Yes. You might not have the space to fit two of everything, but you can try.
Safety
At the bare minimum, every crewmember should have a Type 1 PFD with a spray hood and a harness, along with a personal locator beacon. All crew participating in the ARC 2024 were required to have an AIS personal locator beacon fitted to their life jacket. Ideally, individuals would wear PFDs whenever leaving the cockpit. Skippers can set onboard rules about life jackets: 24/7 during rough weather? At all times when going forward?
Double-check all tethers, shackles and jack lines. Practice clipping in and running the lines while at the dock, and become familiar with the movements forward and aft along the lifelines, as well as the handholds. Practice moving about the cabin using handholds too. One hand for yourself, one hand for the boat.
The ARC fleet reported torn spinnakers and the loss of more than a few poles. One boat reported losing its code zero the first day.
Carry an ISO-approved life raft with an updated inspection. Attend a professional life-raft inspection and gather as much knowledge as you can. Stow the life raft in a readily accessible location—designated for the life raft only—and familiarize all crew with deployment procedures. Regularly check the painter and mounting points, and practice securing the painter to a dedicated mounting point.
Launching and boarding a life raft is much harder than it looks. Take an offshore seamanship course that includes the basics. The ARC holds an annual life-raft demonstration in Las Palmas, where sailors get the chance to launch and board a life raft. It’s in a swimming pool under supervision, and yet there’s still a fairly high level of anxiety.
“We try to have a bit of fun with it, while at the same time providing everyone the opportunity to see how challenging it really is,” says Roger Seymour, the ARC’s chief of safety and senior instructor with the UK’s Hamble School of Yachting.
In terms of technology, there’s no law requiring 406 MHz EPIRBs, radar or AIS for boats smaller than 65 feet, but all of these devices can contribute to a safer voyage. The 406 MHz EPIRBs have become universally standard for long-distance cruising. One with a fixed AIS transceiver is required for all ARC rallies.
Single-sideband transmitters remain popular for those planning a circumnavigation too. Just make sure it’s professionally installed, and keep your license current.
The buzzword in offshore voyaging right now is Starlink. Constant connectivity to chat groups can help cruisers stay connected during long offshore passages, and can provide much-needed advice from other cruisers in a fleet. Sat phones with a Pactor modem such as Iridium and Garmin’s inReach provide portability options if you need to abandon your boat.
Starlink plans to have a 4G direct to cell (no dish necessary) available for standard smartphones in 2025. No matter which level of connectivity a boat has, make sure everyone on board knows how to use all of the equipment. Keep all registrations updated.
Also stay current with man-overboard equipment and drills. Keep MOB equipment secure, accessible and updated, and practice with the crew.
Try out storm tactics too, and practice safety maneuvers. Not all boats can heave-to without challenges. Develop a sail plan for extreme conditions that works with your vessel, and practice it.
Walk through the most likely gear failures, and plan for the high-stakes what-ifs. Set emergency plans, inform and educate everyone on board, and practice. If you have professional crew, account for language differences.
Headsails, Halyards, Chafe and Rigging
Sailing the classic route from the Canaries to the Caribbean means a couple of weeks running downwind. Know your headsails, watch your chafe points, and keep an eye out for squalls.
The ARC fleet reported torn spinnakers, shredded parasails, and the loss of more than a few poles. One boat reported losing its code zero the first day, while another reported keeping a daily watch with binoculars on a halyard’s hotspot near the top of the mast. Fast-moving isolated squalls blew out gennakers, kites, yankees and an A3. Several halyards were lost to chafe.
“It’s important to do routine daily checks, along with specific weekly checks, with attention to detail,” says Nicola Orlandini, a professional rigger and owner of Easy Rigging, based in Cagliari, Italy. Orlandini is sailing the ARC aboard the Leopard 45 Elios 2. “The downwind course very often makes the sails flap for days or weeks, and stress on the equipment must always be kept under control. Always be ready with your Plan B to resolve damage.”
Orlandini recommends keeping blocks well-lubricated, and checking to make sure all shackles are tight. The gooseneck is an area subject to high loads of constant stress, he says, and must always be well-lubricated: “It’s a good idea to change the position of the main and headsail halyards often, to avoid abnormal consumption of the ropes in the rubbing points.”
Reduce large headsails at night, and consider using a double halyard. Localized squalls can come on quickly. Keep a preventer on the boom.
Autopilots can struggle keeping a course dead downwind. Experiment with balancing the boat under self-steering, and ask other cruisers with similar boat models for advice on running downwind.
Unexpected heavy gusts can stress the mast under any point of sail. Have a professional rigger check the rig before leaving port, and practice how you’ll climb the rig at sea, if necessary.
“Good-quality equipment and new shrouds instill confidence in a crew setting out on a long voyage,” Orlandini says. Bring a smart quantity of spare parts, including shackles, blocks, low-friction rings and lines, he adds.
Weather and Routing
The east-to-west Atlantic-crossing season falls between tropical hurricane season and European winter. Boats headed to the Caribbean get south of the Bay of Biscay early but wait for hurricane season to wind down in late November before crossing. Longtime sailor and author Jimmy Cornell advises cruisers to run the latitude down to around 20 degrees north and 30 degrees west before turning right, following the age-old advice to “head south till the butter melts.”
Weather guru Chris Tibbs of sailing-weather.com runs a seminar in Las Palmas during the week before the ARC departure, and presents the final weather outlook at the skippers’ meeting. He also provides personal weather forecasting along the way. He advises skippers to use a variety of tools, including synoptic charts, forecast charts, GRIB files, local forecasts and daily ARC forecasts, along with discussions in SSB nets and ARC nets.
Discussions within the ARC net can be particularly useful because the fleet is moving through the same locations at the same time with real-time information about windspeeds and squalls.
The transatlantic crossing from the Canaries to the Caribbean is defined by three basics, Tibbs says: trade winds, squalls and waves. Sailing south out of the Canary Islands, skippers should be aware of acceleration zones and downdrafts (katabatic winds); while on the opposite end of the crossing, remember to secure everything below before the final stretch around St. Lucia into Rodney Bay.
“More than one yacht has turned up into the wind on a close reach after clearing the tip of the island, only to lose everything on the portside cabin,” he says.
Health and Well-Being
Allow the crew to find their sea legs during the first few days. Don’t drive the boat too hard. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. Make sure everyone stays hydrated, active, and involved in daily routines. Set up and keep watches.
Carry an offshore emergency-medical kit, and take an offshore emergency-medical course. Seamanship on long passages can often come down to fixing things and mitigating problems. Diesel-engine maintenance, sail repairs and seasickness are common components of life offshore. The more training, knowledge and patience you bring with you, the better off you’ll be.
Celebrate milestones such as the arrival of the trade winds, birthdays, the halfway mark, and 100 miles to go. If the weather allows, enjoy fresh-baked cinnamon rolls at sunrise, and sundowners and meals in the cockpit. Listen to music and read.
“It’s a strange feeling, being offshore and away from people,” says Curtney Thomas, a St. Lucian sailor crossing with the ARC on the Swan 56 Whynot. “We try to stay present and not use our phones as much when we’re at sea.”
Although 24/7 connection is available, choosing to hit the off switch on a smartphone can be good. A long ocean crossing is rare. Don’t miss the sunrise because you’re scrolling on social media. Enjoy the ride.
Safety First
Yachts participating in the World Cruising Club’s ARC rallies are given a required safety list. Every person on board must have an inflatable combined life-jacket/harness with a spray hood, crotch strap, AIS personal locator beacon, and three-hook safety line.
All boats are required to be able to send and receive emails at sea. This can be done with a satellite telephone, satellite comms (such as Starlink) or a single-sideband radio. In addition, all boats are required to have an installed 25-watt DSC VHF radio, and to have a waterproof handheld 5-watt VHF radio.
Safety checks are scheduled for all boats in the fleet, and follow-up checks are made for all missing equipment. The safety equipment required on board includes: ISO 9650 Type 1 Group A life raft with an over-24-hour service pack and a current inspection certificate; 406 MHz EPIRB; man-overboard recovery equipment marked with the boat’s name; bilge pumps operable from on deck and belowdecks; emergency pump capable of 200 liters per minute, or 3,200 gallons per hour; life jackets with harnesses, marked with the yacht’s or crew’s name, and fitted with an AIS, a light, reflective tape, a crotch strap and a spray hood; emergency ditch bag; double lifelines and guardrails around the entire deck; emergency tiller; proven method of emergency steering. —TN
