ARC+ Leg 1 prizegiving a huge success
by World Cruising Club 16 Nov 2022 21:06 UTC
ARC Leg 1 prizegiving © ARC Atlantic Rally for Cruisers
All crews were welcomed with some fruit punch and canapés, and very soon conversation was flowing, the band was playing and speculation was rife surrounding the placings and division winners. The Mansa Marina Hotel, on the water's edge, held the event and delivered a great atmosphere with a relaxed vibe.
The announcement came at around 1930 that prize-giving was about to start, and the crowd settled down to listen. The awards for Line Honours came first, and as word had spread through the fleet, there were no surprises when the Outremer 51 Piment Rouge were given the award for this in the multihull class, and Fra Diavolo, a Mylius 60, took the honours in the monohull division.
As all of the boats in the ARC+ rally are different, they each have a 'time correction factor' to level the playing field slightly, and after a complex set of calculations, the overall results can be rather interesting. The multihull division saw an exciting result as the shortest boat in the rally came out in first place, a Fountaine Pajot Maldives 32 called Ciel Bleu!
Onto the monohull divisions, and in Division D, we saw close competition at the top, with two 48 foot Hallberg-Rassys finishing just an hour apart, Blonde Moment only just pipping Moon and Stars to the post. Division C delivered a win for a Sparkman and Stephens designed Swan 47 called Bolero. In Division B, The Baltic 51 Alexandra walked away with the win with 10 hours to spare, which was rather impressive as the racer/cruiser's 5 person crew included two children under the age of 11. Finally, Division A had Jeanneau 57 Alizé and Swan 48 Assuage pushing for the top spot, but just losing out to Fra Diavolo.
There was a very positive feel around the venue, with crews congratulating each other, and all were in good spirits.
Click Full results here.