World ARC Fleet headed for St Lucia

by Peta Stuart Hunt/Sail-World on 6 Mar 2009
The choices we make! While the Blue Water round world rally has just been celebrating their uneventful transit through the pirate infested Gulf of Aden, the World ARC cruising fleet is nearing the end of their journey, having circumnavigated via Africa's Cape of Good Hope to avoid the pirate issue.

The inaugural World ARC cruising fleet, comprising 37 yachts from 13 nations that set off from St. Lucia in January 2008, is now well on its way to its final destination in St. Lucia at the end of March.

The challenging and highly adventurous World ARC route has taken in some of the best cruising destinations in the world including remote islands and anchorages in the South Pacific, Indian and Atlantic Oceans.

The final ocean passage is now over with the yachts having sailed from South Africa to Brazil via St. Helena. World Cruising Club (WCC), the organisers of this epic round the world cruising rally, took the decision to route the rally via South Africa, a chosen option that has proved timely, since pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia have caused Lloyds of London to withdraw insurance cover in the Red Sea. For at least the last five years, yachts have been finding it more and more difficult to get insurance for this region.

Since the concept for a World ARC Rally was first announced by World Cruising back in 2006, most famous for their Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, the original brainchild of Jimmy Cornell, organisers were delighted by the continual stream of international enquiries coming into the WCC Cowes based office.

World Cruising has created the adventure of a lifetime, using up to date routing information, careful planning and the skills acquired over years 20 of running ocean sailing events.

Having experienced the famous Carnival in Recife the yachts are now on count down to the finish, with a coastal leg to Grenada, where the fleet will be hosted by the new Port Louis Marina at St.George's, Grenada.

A final cruise up the Windward Islands chain from Grenada brings the boats to Discovery at Marigot Bay, St. Lucia, where the celebrations start to wind up to mark the arrival of the World ARC fleet. A parade of sail will end the circumnavigation back at Rodney Bay, 15 months and 25,000nm after the World ARC commenced.

Meanwhile, the entry list is open for World ARC 2010/11 and to date 34 yachts have entered. To further whet one's appetite for the adventure of a lifetime, World Cruising has also published the proposed Itinerary for the 2010/11 World ARC. To see the itinerary, click here.

Facts about the 2010 World ARC:

- World ARC is open to monohulls with a minimum LOA of 40ft [12.19m], and multihulls between 40ft [12.19m] and 60ft [18.29m].

- Minimum crew requirement is two people onboard each yacht.

- A range of safety and communications equipment must be carried. The main requirements include, but are not limited to, a liferaft; EPIRB; offshore flare pack; two lifebuoys; two manual bilge pumps; emergency steering and emergency grab bag. The requirements are detailed in the Entry Regulations available from World Cruising Club.

- Official World ARC website: www.worldcruising.com/worldarc

- The rally will start in the Caribbean in January 2010.

- Full details of the entry fees and rally benefits are published in the Entry Pack, which are available from World Cruising Club. Entry packs are available in English, German, French and Spanish languages