More than 1000 sailors from 53 nations departed yesterday from Las Palmas di Gran Canaria on the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers set off for the Caribbean in 2019. For many, this marked the start of the adventure of a lifetime after years of planning, months of preparation and days of intensive training.
2700 nautical miles is the direct route to the destination on St Lucia. However, the weather dictates a longer, but presumably faster course. This is because while the wind is likely to be rather calm this year on the northern route, which usually has more uncomfortable weather and sometimes windward courses, the north-easterly trade winds are blowing further south. A diversion with an initial course towards Cape Verde in order to then benefit from the still weak but already steady trade winds seems to be the more promising route option at the moment.
A wide variety of boats come together at the ARC. From the smallest boat in the Duffy fleet to the superyacht "Ulisses", both classic monohulls and ultra-modern catamarans are taking part. Boats and crews were bid farewell yesterday lunchtime by countless spectators who watched the yachts sail out to the starting line from the harbour pier for several hours. To the delight of the audience, some crews dressed up for the occasion, performed dances on the foredeck while stowing their fenders and waved their national flags to say goodbye.
ARC meteorologist Chris Tibbs had promised the crews a classic ARC start, and the weather lived up to this with a pleasant NE breeze of 10 to 12 knots. This allowed many boats to cross the line under spinnaker.
In view of the current weather conditions, Tibbs does not believe that the ARC record can be beaten this year. "But," says Tibbs, "it should be very pleasant sailing conditions for the crews." The ARC record stands at 8 days, 6 hours and 29 minutes. It was set by George David with the supermaxi "Rambler 88" in 2016.
Although the ARC is a cruising regatta, there is a start and finish line and the boats are divided into groups according to size, type and performance. At 12 noon UTC yesterday, the start signal was given by Sir Chay Blyth on board the Spanish naval vessel 'Meteor', and the boats in the multihull group and two in the open group were sent off first. Sir Chay was in Las Palmas the week before the start, visiting various boats and supporting friends sailing the ARC on the 'Nizuc' and raising funds for Parkinson's research.
Pierre Caouette's Outremer 5X was the first multihull to cross the one-mile starting line, leading the field of 40 catamarans and two unclassified boats.
The 26 boats in the regatta group were then led by Ross Applebey's Oyster 48 "Scarlet Oyster", followed by the equally British boat "Rocket Dog". Both are regular ARC participants and sail with a mixed crew and professional skippers. The third boat at the start was the Austrian Volvo 65 "Austrian Ocean Racing Project" with an ambitious crew of young sailors who hope to be the first Austrian team in history to take part in the Volvo Ocean Race 2021/22.
It was impressive when the majority of the 120 yachts in the cruising group started together. The Dufour 520 "Bianco" was the first boat to set off at 12.30 pm, closely followed by the rest of the field. With yesterday's start of the regular ARC, a total of 283 boats are now on their way across the Atlantic under the banner of the organising World Cruising Club. This is a new record in the 34-year history of the rally.
93 boats from the ARC-plus fleet left Mindelo in Cape Verde last Thursday to embark on their second leg of the Atlantic crossing. They had set off from Gran Canaria a fortnight ago and made a stopover in Cape Verde.
All ARC yachts are equipped with satellite trackers so that the Courses can be tracked.
The majority of the fleet will take around 18 to 21 days to arrive at their destination in Rodney Bay Marina on Saint Lucia.
Pascal Schürmann
Editor YACHT
