ARC Europe 2015 - Where are they now?

A few years back we ran a similar story and had a great response from the skippers, so again thought it time to ask the ARC Europe participants… "Where are you now?"  It has been little over 4 months since ARC Europe 2015 came to a close at the Marina de Lagos in Portugal and so an email was sent out to all the skippers to find out where they have sailed to and what their future plans are.

The responses have come in so fast this week with skippers keen to share where they have been and very interested to find out where everyone else is that here we are with a story already!  With a little investigative journalism of the various blogs kept online and the help of marinetraffic.com it was possible to fill in some of the blanks and so we can report on nearly all of the 38 rally boats.

Plotting the positions onto Google Earth you can see there is a great spread of boats all across Europe from those in west departing soon with ARC from the Canaries, to ‘Euphoria’ and ‘Intrepid Elk’ up north in Norway and Sweden and ‘Bikini’ as far East as Cyprus.

ARC Europe, for many, is a return home after a circuit of the North Atlantic and so time for a welcome break ashore. 'Aislig Bheag' are home in Scotland, 'Jambo' on the Isle of Wight scheming a trip to the Baltic and 'Free Spirit' are back to their home port of St. Tropez.

Others have put a few more miles under their keels in the past couple of years and probably ready for an even longer break ashore, 'Polaris', 'Sophie' and 'Avocet' are back home after a circumnavigation with World ARC and as Derry from Avocet put it, "now taking a break from the sea for the winter." 

There are also plenty of boats heading into Europe for the first time and enjoying exploring the Med, finding out from other cruising sailors they meet along the way of some secret spots to enjoy.  From the photos below sent in it seems Morocco and Turkey were fun stopovers for the crews on ‘Agua Dulce’ and ‘Unconditional’! 

Charles from 'Agua Dulce' in Morocco

Tom from 'Unconditional' in Turkey

Although the map shows where the boats are now it is hard to describe all of the places they have visited and stopovers they have enjoyed.  'Widago' for example has been up north and took part in ARC Baltic and their adventures continue with a departure on Sunday as part of ARC+.  They may bump into the crews from 'Belafonte', 'Bluewater Mooney' and 'Fuga' but it will no doubt be a busy time in Las Palmas with well over 220 boats there. 

So future plans are wide and varied with some choosing a port for wintering in 'Serafina' and 'Song of the Sea' in Sicilly, 'Unconditional' in Turkey, 'Dala' in Minorca and 'Sasquatch' in Malta.  Lagos has a few boats choosing to stay there before venturing to Madeira, Morocco and the Canaries.  Peter on 'Free Spirit' despite being back at their home port of St Tropez says, “I confess to a temptation to embark again on another oceanic adventure!!”