After spending the past 3 weeks playing Robinson Crusoe and finally getting into the cruising mode, we arrived in Las Palmas to prepare for the next chapter: the Atlantic crossing.

This will be the second time we cross, and the same way we joined a French rally (RIDS) 4 years ago which took us to Brasil, we have joined an English rally (ARC) to sail to the Caribbeans this year. The only thing these 2 rallyes have in common is the sailing across the Atlantic. For the rest, they are completely different in terms of spirit, language, destination and organisation. While we feel that technically we could do the crossing by ourselves, our last experience with the RIDS showed us that socially nothing beats the fun of travelling in company with like-minded cruisers, especially for the children. Surprisingly, out of a fleet of 240 odd boats, only 12 boats have families on board. We are the only Australians, the other kids being from Norway, France, UK, USA, Italy and Denmark.

The Atlantic Rally for cruisers (ARC) is set up as a fun cruising event, which starts from Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, every year from late November and crosses to the Caribbean island of St Lucia. While the crossing is the main part of the event, the build up to it is what makes the rally such an exciting experience. Starting with a thorough skippers handbook addressing issues such as personal and boat preparations, departure and arrival information, communications, and discount information in marinas along the way. We have also been provided with the list of family boats, and have already met 3 of them while in Gracioza and Selvagen, so the kids have friends to look forward to. Besides the sailing, there is also an intensive programme of activities running 2 weeks prior to departure: from seminars, to happy hours, dinghy race and kids club, it promises to be a busy time.

That’s the reason we decided to arrive so early, 4 weeks ahead of the start. We are allowing 3 weeks for Marc and Anne to finish school, so that they can enjoy the festivities and particularly join the kids club on Nov 14. It is no small feast, as it means that they have to cram in 6 weeks worth of work into 3, but with a little discipline, extended working hours (9am to 5pm), and a hard taskmaster (aka. ME), they manage to rise up to the challenge. And if you think it is hard on the kids, let me tell you how demanding it is on the home tutor: apart from the supervising during school hours, there is the organising, scanning, emailing, posting, all done while the kids are out playing with their friends. Marc and Anne are not the only ones looking forward to a break!
As far as Terry goes, he has a list of jobs as long as my arm, and wants to organise repairs and additional equipment at a leisurely pace, instead of waiting for the 240 boat contingent to arrive and book the local tradesmen. These include (not in any particular order): repair winch, sail battens, bimini, get spare gas tanks, dive tanks, life jackets, extra fuel tank…Being a new boat, the fitout was done during the summer in La Rochelle, so we’re mostly talking repairs or specific equipement for the ARC. As it turns out, everything and everyone in Las Palmas is slow, nothing happens overnight, it rather takes weeks, so it just as well we’ve arrived early.

Provisioning is first and foremost on my to-do list. Armed with a town map and the ARC’s list of sponsors, I walk all over town, taking the time to shop around and check out the best quality suppliers. As the marina is within 10mn walk to the central market, this is where I end up most mornings. The butcher there is a young obliging guy and between my bad Spanish and his limited English, we have a few laughs putting an order together. I lose track of how may sausages and chicken schnitzels he gives away, for which the kids are grateful. And to make it even more convenient, he delivers to the boat. Obviously the ARC business is very valuable to him, and I’m sure that such commercial gestures make him very popular with the crews. Same with the greengrocer, the bottle shop, and the supermarket (thank you Noella at El Corte Ingles, such a nice and efficient lady). This is provisioning made easy! If my Spanish was better, I could even order by phone or via the internet, but what would be the fun in that? Terry suggested that I could use the free time polishing the boat. He can be so funny sometimes…

I must say that the pontoon we’ve been assigned (temporarily, until the marina organises a special area for the multihulls) is occupied by either crewed boats or couples only, who seem to have nothing else to do but clean and polish. I initially felt like a slob, as our boat is messy with tools, school books, laundry, etc…but then remembered they all get paid and I don’t. So the polishing will have to wait until schooling, cooking, fixing is done! And in fact, whatever free time I have, I’d rather spend it at the department store planning Christmas presents, so polishing is really last on the list!!!

When we first arrived, we were told that about 40 ARC boats were already here, and as the weeks go by the marina is filling fast with ARC participants. In fact, from Nov 1st, Las Palmas marina is fully booked and any boat who is not participating in the ARC is directed to anchor outside the breakwaters. The anchorage is not very big and we can see it filling up daily too! Our pontoon sees daily arrivals of new boats, which the kids hope will bring new friends. Unfortunately for them, the ARC has a dock dedicated to family boats but has room for monohulls only, and that’s quite a walk from ours. This does not seem to matter though, when their French and Norwegian friends finally arrive, they organise a dinghy shuttle between each boat which they justify as P.E!!

By the end of the second week, most of the provisioning is organised (dry goods delivered and stored, meals prepared and frozen, fresh stuff ordered,…), and boat jobs completed, what is outstanding requires parts which will be supplied by Lagoon the week before the start of the race. We front up for the ARC early check-in, and looking at the amount of literature in the welcome pack we’re glad we got organised early: so much to read, forms to fill in, seminars to book in for, parties …the next 2 weeks will be full on!!