Over 40 yachts from 35 to 75 feet left Las Palmas on Gran Canaria on Sunday to set course for the Caribbean together. They are sailing as part of the "ARC January", which is being offered by organiser World Cruising Club (WCC) for the first time this year.
Until now, the British organisers have offered two transatlantic rallies from east to west: the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), with which yachts have been tackling the ocean crossing together on a direct route since 1986, and the ARC Plus. With this route option, the fleet first calls at the Cape Verde Islands for a stopover before tackling the long crossing to the Caribbean.
Only at sea after Christmas
The introduction of another rally to the Caribbean has been under discussion at the WCC for some time, reports Communications Director Jeremy Wyatt in an interview with YACHT. The increasing demand combined with the limited space available in the Las Palmas marina has now tipped the scales in favour of launching the ARC January. It is particularly popular with crews who do not want to spend Christmas in the Caribbean, but only want to cast off afterwards.
As with the ARC and ARC Plus, the field of yachts at the start is colourful and carries flags from all over the world on the stern. Many crews come from Great Britain, but in addition to other European sailors, there are also numerous North American crews and even some from Australia. Four boats are sailing under the German flag.
Arrival at the end of January
However, six of the registered yachts did not make it onto the water in time for the starting signal on Sunday. They are still waiting in the harbour for crew or spare parts and hope to be able to follow the field in the coming days.
Around 2,700 to 3,000 nautical miles lie ahead of the sailors. Experience shows that most of them need around two to three weeks, so they are expected to arrive in Rodney Bay Marina on the Caribbean island of St Lucia between 28 and 31 January.
If you would like to follow the fleet virtually, you can do so in the Tracker of the WCC (click).
