Meet the ARC+ Yellow Shirts

2024 ARC Plus - Yellow Shirts © World Cruising Club

Meet this year's Yellow Shirts who are on hand to support your Atlantic adventure. They have sailed over 30 Atlantic crossings, with 10 circumnavigations and over 150,000 nautical ocean miles between them.

The World Cruising Club team on events are known as 'Yellow Shirts', for obvious reasons! They deliver all elements of the rally, from the behind-the-scenes planning and supportive seminars, to safety checks and selling t-shirts. The international team are all dedicated to delivering a great experience for rally participants; many have taken part in the ARC or other WCC events themselves and are passionate sailors and globe-trotters. Just like any boat's crew, each member brings their own special skills to keep the good ship 'ARC' sailing smoothly; from local knowledge to technical advice, and creating content, to liaising with international authorities, all with a friendly smile. The event team will be joined by Paul Bishop later in the week, as well as two official photographers, Jesus and James who will be capturing all the action before and during the start.

ARC+ 2024 team:

Paul: Managing Director Paul navigates the good ship World Cruising, setting the direction and vision. He knows the business from the keel up, having been an event manager on World ARC and has also sailed on several legs of the round the world rally.

Suzana: World Cruising Club's Operations Director has worked on every rally, including as event manager for World ARC. With a knack of getting things done with a smile, Suzana also speaks several languages fluently.

Alvaro: The ARC's Mr Fixit in Las Palmas. As a bi-lingual native of Las Palmas, Alvaro has worked with World Cruising Club for the past 12 years as a key member of the ARC planning team on both sides of the Atlantic, as well as working on the delivery of multiple editions of ARC Portugal and ARC Europe. He works throughout the year to coordinate the key relationships in Las Palmas, as well as managing many of the detailed logistics of the event and the ARC programmes.

Alex: He has been a yellow shirt for 6 years and worked with World ARC 2024 in Colombia and Panama. He will be in Grenada for the finish of ARC+, then World ARC to Panama. The sea and sailing have been a part of Alex's life since he was born, being brought up living aboard the family boat in Las Palmas Marina. He now lives on his own yacht in the marina. Alex is fluent in English, French and Spanish, with a good understanding of Italian and Portuguese too.

Benno: Swiss cruising sailor Benno is working with the Yellow Shirts for the first time. He has crossed the Atlantic four times and will help the safety team /marina liaison. He lives half a year in Gran Canaria and the rest of the time in Zurich with his family, where he teaches tourists how to play the Alphorn (long wooden horn traditionally used by Alpine herdsmen!).

Clare: Clare has been involved with World Cruising Club for more than a decade, both as staff and as a participant in the events. A passionate sailor, she has crossed the Atlantic with the ARC multiple times and sailed on several ocean stages of World ARC. She has been fortunate enough to sail on a wide range of yachts and will be sharing her top tips for provisioning in the ARC and ARC+ seminars.

Emma: Long-time sailor, Emma has participated in two ARCs and has crossed the Atlantic eight times. She has been with World Cruising Club in the Cowes office for two years. As a core member of the team, she regularly races in the Solent and further afield, notching up 50,000 NM.

Fergus: With his wife Jenevora, Fergus (a Yachtmaster Ocean) sailed from Greece to Australia over eight years in their Lagoon 440, 'Two Drifters', completing a half circumnavigation and three Atlantic crossings. He says his longest passage has been 27 days across the Pacific, two handed. Fergus and Nev were event managers on World ARC 2024 from Saint Lucia to Australia and will be in Grenada for the finish of ARC+.

Lesley: Lesley has sailed sections of two World ARCs and crossed the Atlantic with ARC in 2022. Lesley's career was in midwifery, based in Germany, but she later became a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore and RYA Cruising Instructor with over 35,000 NM of experience. When not working with World Cruising Club she teaches for a RYA training centre in Lanzarote and works as a midwife in Guernsey. Lesley will be one of the event managers on World ARC 2025.

Paul P: Joining the Yellow Shirts this year is sailor and boat building technician Paul. From Munich, southern Germany, he started sailing at a very young age and completed his own 4-year circumnavigation in his 30ft yacht, Wasa. Paul worked in the yachting industry at several points along the route. He holds a commercially endorsed Yachtmaster Offshore qualification and speaks German, English, and French. Paul will be one of the event managers on World ARC 2025.

Rachel: After 11 years, Rachel came back to World Cruising Club to a key role as communication manager. She says this is the best job in the world. Talking to people about boats and adventures, what could be better? This will be the 5th time she has worked on the ARC and as WCC's media guru, ensures local and worldwide media are kept up-to-date with all the latest news. Regularly on the water back in the Solent, she has enjoyed racing doublehanded and has also crossed the Atlantic.

Rachael. Rachael has raced dinghies from a young age and her passion for sailing continued in 2016 as a participant in ARC+. She joined World Cruising full time in 2022 and has since helped run the ARC and ARC+, as well as World ARC as far as Australia. In her previous life she was a ballet dance teacher and avid traveller, having lived in New Zealand.

Rob: Rob has been helping deliver events with World Cruising Club since graduating from university. He was part of the event and logistics team in the 2022 ARC+ and ARC, then continued until the finish of 2023 World ARC.

Roger: Roger has led the safety team for six years, sharing his immense knowledge and offering great advice to hundreds of grateful ARC skippers. Sailing has been a passion for Roger since his early teens and he has sailed thousands of miles as a professional sailor. As an ex-RYA Yachtmaster examiner, he has taught hundreds of people to sail all over the world. Skippering two transatlantic journeys with ARC yachts, Roger has also competed in high-profile races like the Fastnet Race.

Trish: As part of the media team in Las Palmas and Grenada, Trish has been involved with the ARC since the second edition of the rally in 1987, when she was working with Yachting World magazine. She subsequently started working for World Cruising Club on various events around the globe. She runs a PR and Communications company specialising in yachting, based in Cowes.