ARC+ Mascot Ed the Iguana is on his way once again as the world's most well travelled reptile across the Atlantic!
Ed is now onboard Selkie, and he has been welcomed by four smiling kids, who’s drawings won the competition amongst the family boats to take Ed along for the ride. Tristan, Lily, Mara and Rory are going to look after Ed in the coming weeks. Ed was immediately involved in the family’s activities and yesterday they all went out together for an ice-cream. We have no doubts he will have an excellent time on board with the Hirt family during the passage, and at Mindelo’s stopover.
Nick and Maggie have been sailing since 2017 with their four children in the Caribbean, US, Canada, they afterwards sailed to Europe with ARC Europe in 2018, and landed in the UK. Scotland was a first sight love with the landscape and the people. In 2019 Selkie headed north to Scandinavia, and spent the summer visiting Norway’s fjords and doing the ARC Baltic. The Covid pandemic started while they were in the UK, and the family was ‘locked down’ on Selkie in the Island of Wight, at Cowes. But activities on board never stopped, boats projects and homeschooling kept all the family busy. In summer Selkie started heading south, sailing through the Bay of Biscay to Galicia and from there directly to the Canary Islands. The warm water of Lanzarote was so inviting that Tristan and Lily enjoyed scuba diving and took their first certification!
Here in Las Palmas the Hirt family met the rest of the ARC+ fleet and all the children quickly got together. The S pontoon has become a lovely playground in the last two weeks, and on the wooden planks dozens of art chalk drawings have been created. The sound of the childrens’ laughs accompanied the crews during the preparation of the boats for the ocean crossing. They are now all looking forward to starting the new sea adventure on Sunday.
We wish Tristan, Lily, Mara, Rory, and the other ten children participating in ARC+ 2020 an exciting and safe passage.
