The Port Louis marina in Saint Georges harbour, Grenada, will be the home of the World ARC fleet as they complete the last competitive leg of their circumnavigation from Recife in Brazil. The first yacht will arrive on Monday morning, but with a course distance of over 2000 nautical miles, some of the boats will arrive closer to next weekend too.
It has not been an easy passage as the boats have passed north through the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) which gave winds from the north east and frequent squalls, creating heavy downpours. Thankfully now, for the lead boats at least, the squalls have diminished, the winds become more favourable and there is even a current to push the boats up into the Caribbean.
Unfortunately the passage was not without further incident when one of the Rally boats Basia, was in collision with a commercial vessel. Basia’s crew were very shaken as one would expect, but without serious injury. The mast was pulled down during the collision but thankfully both the catamaran’s hulls and engines remained intact. Basia is now progressing under power alone, in the company of at least two other Rally boats towards Port Louis. They are expected to arrive around the 25 or 26 March.
If everything proceeds well, all the boats will arrive in time for the Welcome Party and Prizegiving function on Sunday, 27 March and the Island Tour, offered by the Grenada Board of Tourism, on Monday 28 March. The crews will then have over two weeks to free-cruise the southern Caribbean before a fleet rendez-vous for the final time in Saint Lucia in mid April. |