Not the same procedure as every year! The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) once again saw many long-distance crews set sail for the Caribbean in mid-November 2020, including a handful of ships flying the German flag. Nevertheless, many things were different than in normal years due to coronavirus: Distancing rules and compulsory masks on the jetties, significantly fewer participants, no parties in the harbour bars, online instead of face-to-face seminars.
In the end, the hygiene concept of the British company World Cruising Club as the organiser of the annual mass event worked. The sailors kept their distance in the harbour of Las Palmas in the days leading up to the start, and two crews who were nevertheless infected were quickly identified and sent into quarantine. The entire fleet was finally able to make its way to St Lucia.
But it wasn't just many outsiders who wondered in advance what the sailors would have to do there. Even some of the participating crews didn't seem to know what to expect in the Caribbean before the start. Many of the island states there have imposed entry bans or quarantine rules for new arrivals.
One person who sailed with his own boat is photographer and YACHT author Andreas Lindlahr. In the weeks leading up to the start, he spoke to many of the ARC participants - especially about their motivation to sail to the Caribbean despite the coronavirus crisis. The answers? Read them for yourself!
Lindlahr's report on the ARC 2020 can now be read in the new YACHT (issue 1/2021, available now in magazine shops and as a digital edition and can be ordered directly here).
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
