The World ARC fleet had a great restart from the Galapagos Island of Santa Cruz at noon today, to begin the longest trip of the Rally to the French Polynesian island of Hiva Oa. The 2,980 nautical mile journey is expected to take 2-3 weeks for most of the yachts. The journey is likely to begin slowly for most boats, owing to some lighter winds around the Galapagos Islands. Some yachts will inevitable choose to motor out of this area to get into a healthy belt of trade wind conditions.
Several local boats and water taxis came out to watch the start which was a fantastic sight. It was especially so because of the number of yachts. The first yacht across the line was the Finish registered yacht Mearra Nieida flying a colourful asymmetric sail, followed by the Austrian flag Chilli Bee and the Spanish registered yacht Giampi. The wind was about 15 knots from ESE which helpfully powered the fleet in the right direction between the other islands of Floreana and Isabela.
Unfortunately a couple of boats were unable to take the start or had to turn back shortly afterwards. Widago is waiting for their watermaker parts, Mystique Soul for a crew member that got delayed for logistic reasons and K1w1-Beanz had to return to port to fix a minor problem. With such a long journey ahead it would be very useful to have these pieces of equipment fully functioning.
Follow the fleet progress by clicking here.