ARC Europe 2021 - Start Port Update

01 April 2020

World Cruising Club continues to plan for delivering the next edition of ARC Europe, which will take place in May and June 2021. Attracting cruising sailors returning to Europe at the end of the Caribbean season, and those making their way across the Atlantic for the first time, the rally is a unique 6-week experience with time to explore Bermuda and see the Azores archipelago en route to Marina de Lagos, in Portugal, or other ports in Northern Europe.

With the BVI closed to visiting yachts and just a month to go to the start of ARC Europe, World Cruising Club has chosen IGY Isle de Sol and Simpson Bay Marinas on St Maarten as the alternative start for ARC Europe 2021. With an update on protocols for visiting yachts arriving into the BVI not due until 15 April a decision to move the start port allows participants to plan their last weeks in the Caribbean effectively, make preparations for arriving crew members, and relocate their yachts to St Maarten in good time to make final preparations. The start date remains Saturday 8 May, and the schedule for the remainder of the rally remains unchanged. The yachts will make an unsupported stopover in Bermuda, to refuel, re-provision and rest before their Atlantic leg to the Azores, where landfall will be made in Horta.

World Cruising Club wishes to thank IGY Isle de Sol and Simpson Bay Marinas, and St Maarten Yacht Club, for their enthusiastic support of this very necessary last minute change to the rally itinerary.

ARC Europe 2021 Schedule
2 May 2021: Rally office opens at IGY Isle de Sol and Simpson Bay Marinas on St Maarten
8 May 2021: Depart from St. Maarten for Bermuda
19 May 2021: Depart St George’s Bermuda for Horta, Faial
13 June 2021: Depart Ponta Delgada for Marina de Lagos, Portugal
20 June 2021: Final prize giving dinner in Lagos

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