can we help
+44(0)1983 296060
+1 757-788-8872
tell me moreJoin a rally

Menu

Unconditional - ARC+ Day1: Sail/Motor/Sail



Having participated in ARC Europe in 2015, I am an ‘experienced’ WCC participant. It is interesting how participants risk playing bumper cars (almost) with 100k to 3m
(pick your currency) yachts for a 1-minute starting advantage. For this risk, they might win a bottle of reserve rum, plus a plaque. Finishes are measured in days & hours, so 1-minute edge is unlikely to make any difference, and so what if you happen to win a ‘special’ vs. a ‘reserve’ tawny port. Nevertheless, us “A”-Type sailors are vying for a good start, and it probably takes an A-Type person to skipper an Atlantic crossing.
Being within a minute of the horn, we had a reasonable start near the committee boat which allowed us to gybe shortly after into clear light winds. after that we went wing-on-wing to cut the corner and reach the so-called ‘acceleration zone’ near the windmills, where the wind died – yuck! There is a TBA WCC-imposed hourly penalty for motoring, however the motoring option beats sitting, and who wants to miss the party at the next port, so almost everyone motored.
At the end of Day #1, we were #8 in our class (1B) of ~20 boats. Conclusion: we probably tried to tough out the sailing time too much, but like the U.S. Presidental Conventions, one does not know all of the rules going in, and then think of who emerged!
Tom Hughes

Previous | Next