It has been revealed today that the sailing yacht Nakesa, a 57’ Swan, who had reportedly been crossing the Atlantic as part of the much coveted ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) event. Some 250 yachts were taking part in this years jubilee event. News got out this morning from an unknown source that Nakesa and her crew, Captained by Applin (42yrs) who have made regular appearances on the ARCs website with blog entries and have also been positioned by the organisation daily in an online system, have in fact played everyone the fool!
Nakesa who had reported a problem with their tracking device early in the race, and following this have had to manually update the event organisers with their position by email every day, were spotted at a small beach bar in the Rodney bay area of St Lucia, whilst their reported position in the fleet was still some 150M off St lucia.
Eyewitnesses commented; “the family looked relaxed, tanned and eating and drinking in excess”
It has been suspected after that the yacht Nakesa was unloaded on the 23rd November 2010 (2 days after the start of the race) from a large cargo Boeing 737 and re-launched at Rodney bay. This elaborate plan would have involved removal and reinstallation of the yachts mast at an expected cost of $1.000.000.00. although we have been unable to confirm this from the airline.
A spokesperson for the ARC had this to say;
“we have never had someone try to pull the wool over our eyes in what is essentially a rally and often publicised as a family event. This Applin character, if what you report is true, has gone one step too far in our opinion, yachts have put themselves at risk in trying to chase him down”
We believe that Applin’s apparent competitive edge has really gone one step to far this time. He was later spotted in a bar overlooking Rodney bay (the finish line in st lucia), sipping champagne and watching yachts limp into the bay only to find Nakesa sparkling in the sunlight and seemingly having taken first place....
Our investigation, along with the organisers separate enquiries will continue.
(Nakesa over & out)