Charity fundraisers sailing the ARC

12 November 2016

People take part in the ARC for all sorts of reasons, and one of those is to raise money or awareness for their charity of choice. Here is a small selection of the many crews raising money for good causes from their participation in ARC 2016:

Solskinn - Project Haiti

The crew of Solskinn (Sunshine in Norwegian) are five good friends, all aged between 23-25, who have grown up together in Asker, Norway. Before deciding to do the trip they had very little sailing experience, but have since completed safety courses and spent the past four months sailing to Las Palmas via the UK, Spain, Portugal and Madeira. 

So far they have raised over USD$7,000 for the Norwegian foundation «Prosjekt Haiti», which is a local initiative mostly run by a Norwegian woman and her Haitian husband. They have built several schools and local businesses to support entrepreneurs on Haiti in the capital, Port-Au-Prince, and in the smaller town of Saint-Lois-Du-Sud. 

Their newest project is in collaboration with Solskinn’s crew to build a health clinic in the local community house in Saint-Lois-Du-Sud for those who cannot afford health services. For this they need USD$15,000, and this is the amount they are aiming to raise before visiting Haiti in early March.

Crewmember Kim has experience in photography and film and so will be documenting everything they do from departure in Norway to coming back home next summer. For more information about the project and crew, please visit their website http://www.solskinnsgutta.no

Juniper - Prostate Cancer UK

The crew of the ARC's only trimaran are a team of fundraisers from Teddington Rugby Club. Over the years they have completed numerous challenges and raised over fifty thousand pounds for various charities. Their next challenge is to sail Juniper across the Atlantic as part of  ARC 2016. 

"This is probably our toughest and certainly our longest challenge to date." says skipper David Dabney. "We have suggested our supporters pledge a sum of money, for example 50 pence, for every position that Juniper obtains in the fleet. If we finish last in the class, they would donate 50 pence. If we come second to last they would donate one pound etc. If we are first in the class (highly unlikely) they would donate sixteen pounds and fifty pence. Some have also donated a fixed amount and so far we have raised £1,250 for Prostate Cancer UK." Find outmore on their just giving page https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/juniper-arc-2016

Gemma Watson - TekoToo - AV Foundation
Gemma is at the start of her gap year before university and admits when her father first suggested sailing the Atlantic on their Malo 37, TekoToo she thought the idea rather absurd. However the more she considered it and learnt about what was involved, she embraced the idea and decided to use it as a fundraising opportunity. The Watson family had purchased TekoToo in 2011 and together with her father and uncle, Gemma sailed her across the North Sea from Sweden to the UK, but crossing the Atlantic will be over four times that distance and the longest crossing for the crew. They are sailing with ARC+ and have enjoyed Leg 1 so far. Once they arrive in Saint Lucia, Gemma returns to the UK briefly for Christmas and then begins 3 months teaching English in a rural village in Nepal through a project with the AV Foundation. She hopes the challenge of sailing the Atlantic will help contribute to her fundraising target of £3300. She has a website with more information at http://gemwatson9.wixsite.com/yearout

Cass Monk - EH01 - Multiple Sclerosis Society

Cass Monk is crewing on board charter boat and regular ARC entrant EH01. He's raising money for the Multiple Sclerosis Society after his wife was diagnosed with the disease 10 years ago. MS a chronic degenerative illness which effects the nervous system over time. Typical symptoms can range from nothing at all/slight occasional numbness in extremities, feeling tired, all the way through to loss of eyesight, muscle weakness, chronic fatigue, complete limb paralysis, and multiple cognitive difficulties. 

Over 100,000 people have MS in the UK alone, and whilst the most common form; Relapsing Remitting MS symptoms can be mild and effect 80% of suffers - more than 50% of those will go on to develop Secondary Progressive MS and experience more debilitating symptoms as they get older. 1 in 10 develop Primary Progressive MS where symptoms gradually worsen and accumulate, and there are no periods of remission.

Sailing the Atlantic has been a life-long ambition for Cass and so far he has raised over £1,500 for the Multiple Sclerosis Society. His JustGiving page is at https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/CassMonk-ARC