Five German ships are sailing in the ARC January, which is taking place for only the second time ever. The organiser, the British company World Cruising Club, launched the flotilla last year in addition to the existing Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, which starts at the end of November and to the ARC Plus which departs at the beginning of November and makes a stopover in Cape Verde. It is primarily aimed at crews who want to be back home for the Christmas period and only set off on their big cruise afterwards.
From 37 to 67 feet, from monohull to catamaran - the German crews represent the diversity of the ships in the field. The smallest is the British-flagged Westerly Storm 33 "Middle Island", the largest the German-flagged Hanse 675 "Finiens".
As with the two larger sister events, some of which have well over 100 boats, the ARC January will also be started and scored separately for monohulls and multihulls. This time there is no racing division for the really ambitious. With ten catamarans and two trimarans in the field, the trend towards blue water sailing on multiple hulls continues at the ARC January.
While the 30 crews now have to find their rhythm on the high seas after intensive weeks of preparation at sea, another fleet has just left the sailors' destination: The crews of the World ARC, who are sailing around the world as part of a rally, untied the lines in St Lucia just over a week ago and set off for the Pacific. They have already reached their first intermediate destination, the Santa Marta Marina in Colombia on the Caribbean Sea.
