Today is the day that we start Crossing The Atlantic Ocean from Gran Canaria! We’ll leave and head west to St Lucia in the Caribbean. We’re crossing with the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) organized by the World Cruising Club. There are over 200 boats all leaving at the same time.
Kenny, Murray, Me, Eve and Andrew (right to left). This was our practice sail.
The crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Gran Canara trip should take around 18 to 20 days!
We have 6.5 crew onboard our 56′ sailboat with us. It’s my husband, our 5-year-old daughter and me in addition to our friends, Kenny, Murray, Andrew and Eve. Provisioning for the trip has been no small feat.
Captain Simon on our practice sail.
And even now as we’re getting ready to slip our lines and head west I’m still nervous that we won’t have enough to eat and drink. We have a 1000 liter water tank, are carrying 250 bottles of 1.5 liter water, 14 pre-made frozen meals (I made them earlier this month), seven lots of frozen meat, 100’s of canned items, loads of snacks and quite a few goodies. Will it be enough for our Crossing The Atlantic Ocean from Gran Canaria trip?!
The boat has been serviced from top to bottom – no screw has been left unchecked
Kenny and Andrew doing some servicing on the outboard motor.
That being said, we’re also prepared for issues. We’re carrying loads of spare parts and have redundancy for most systems. For example, if your electric oven fails, we’re carrying the gas to power a portable gas stovetop. Crossing The Atlantic Ocean from Gran Canaria is not something that you prepare for in days…it took weeks.
Murray and Eve all smiles on our practice sail…
I want to write more but as I’m typing outside Sailors Bar in the marina (nothing open yet as it’s 6:50 am) the rain has started to fall. I’ll surely have a lot to write about when we arrive in the Caribbean so here’s to a safe and enjoyable passage across the pond.
YIKES!!!!
The pontoon (and my daughter) – everyone is putting vegetables onto the boats with only a day left before we leave.
What’s Next on with our plans about Crossing The Atlantic Ocean from Gran Canaria?
- The next article is day one of the voyage highlighting us heading out of Las Palmas, the start of the race and what we did for our first 24 hours. Check out: Sailing Across The Atlantic Day One.
- The previous article in this guide is Preparing To Sail Across The Atlantic Ocean and there’s also a video that showcased the lead up to our ARC Sailing adventure.
- A general overview of our Atlantic Crossing.