ARC Words by James Stewart
The ARC 2008
Conceived as a friendly race for cruising
The ARC enjoys the support of the
yachts to make the Atlantic crossing both
Tourist Authority of Gran Canaria, the Port
safer and more enjoyable, participating
Authority of Las Palmas, Rol Nautic and
This annual transatlantic rally starting yachts are required to carry a range of
the St.Lucia Board of Tourism.
each November in Las Palmas de safety equipment including a liferaft, EPIRB
Gran Canaria, has now become one and VHF radio. There is a minimum training
The ARC is open to cruising monohulls
of the most popular way to cross the requirement for the skipper and crew. All
with a minimum length of 8.23-25.91m
Atlantic. It is the largest transocean have the option to attend various training
(27 to 85ft) and cruising multihulls from
sailing event in the world, every year seminars and daily position reports are
8.23 - 18.29m (27 to 60 ft) LOA.
the ARC brings together over 200 mandatory.
This year thirteen multihulls entered
yachts from all over the world. The
including one F36 trimaran, an Australian
Caribbean destination is Rodney Bay The ARC has developed a special flavour,
Lightwave 45, seven Lagoons, three
in St.Lucia, one of the most beautiful which successfully combines racers with
Fountaine Pajots and a Freydis 46 Snow
islands in the Lesser Antilles. The cruisers, old with young, and provides
Leopard which we have seen in build and
2700 nautical mile passage on the entertainment for all. A wide ranging
when complete.
NE tradewind route takes on average programme of entertainment takes place
between 14 and 21 days. both before the start and after the finish.
Snow-Leopard’s
Trans-Atlantic crossing
Well, we made it, and after a week in
he 10 days leading up to the start saw more yachts
St. Lucia, relaxing, partying and repairing
T
and their crew gather in Las Palmas. Some boats
were frantically sorting things out right up to the
I can now sit down and write about depart, but I must say Snow Leopard was pretty
the experience.
well sorted which enabled us to enjoy the atmosphere and
meet some really nice people.
The start was mayhem. The ‘racing’ division started 20 minutes
before the main fleet. The start was, for the technically minded, run
under International Collision Regulations and not the Racing Rules.
This allowed us to keep our engines running which was just as well
and a significant number of boats did not have a clue what was
going on. We had to drive out of more than one collision situation.
Once started we very quickly pulled away from the majority of the
fleet. We overtook our main multihull protagonist, ‘Papillon’ after
about 20 minutes and then we settled into the rest of the day and
first night with only the large 60+ ft. yachts for company
We changed from the Code 0 genniker to the spinnaker and really
set off with a vengeance and just 3 hours after the start clocked a
new fastest speed for the boat of 20 knots!
That first night we settled into the routine of dropping the spinnaker
and using the Code 0 genniker. It is not quite for quick but is much
easier to sail with in the dark.
On the first night we were surrounded by other boats, but by
morning most had disappeared and from then on if we saw one
boat a day if we were lucky.
Over the next few days we settled into the routine of watch-keeping
-3hours on and 3 off at night and 4 on – 4 off during daylight. As
About to leave Las Palmas.The team in tropical crew shirts: Martin,
Me, Lucy, Bill and Keith
only Martin had sailed on Snow Leopard before it took a while for
them to get to know the boat.
6  MULTIHULL REVIEW : FEBRUARY 2009
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