A light southerly breeze and bright sunshine accompanied the 156 yachts in the 38th Atlantic Rally for Cruisers as they departed Gran Canaria for Saint Lucia, 2700 nautical miles away.
Leading the ARC 2023 fleets were Pierre de Saint-Vincent’s Piment Rouge (FRA) an Outremer 51 in the Multihull Division, followed by Marjolijn van Oordt’s Swan 52-3 Gaia (NLD) in the Racing Division. The 91-strong Cruising Division was led out by Svante Jacobsson on Farr 65r Celeste of Solent (GBR).
The sailors range from age 1 to 89 come from 40 countries – 26% are British, 12% German and 11% Swedish. There are 18 children aged 16 and under on 11 boats. The Boats are flagged to 30 nations.
Top 3: Britain 48, Germany 18 & USA 12.
The 2700 nautical mile journey normally takes 18-21 days but the ARC record is 8 days, 6 hours, 29 minutes & 15 seconds, set in 2016 by George David’s maxi Rambler 88.
The ARC comprising 156 boats set sail after two weeks of seminars, socializing, and safety inspections.