The crews of around 60 yachts threw the lines in the Marinvon Las Palmas di Gran Canarilos on Sunday afternoon and set out on the 2700 nautical miles long way west. This was preceded by what is certainly the most unusual week of preparation in the 35-year history of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), once founded by Jimmy Cornell and now successfully organized by the British World Cruising Club for many years.
In the Corona year, instead of several hundred yachts as in previous years, only around 90 crews dare to jump across the ocean. A third of them had already sailed on November 8th as part of the ARC Plus. As planned, they made a stopover in Cape Verde before continuing across the Atlantic. But most of the crews were slowed down there.
In Mindelo there were apparently difficulties with the necessary corona tests; insufficient test kits were available. Without a negative result, however, no crew is allowed to leave the port to continue on their way to Saint Lucizu. Only seven ships of the ARC-Plus fleet are already underway again, the rest should follow today.
The participants on the other 60 or so ships that sailed with the regular ARC yesterday also had to pass corona tests beforehand. And otherwise the days before had been completely different from what we were used to from the event.
Instead of the hustle and bustle on all the jetties, instead of social gatherings and instead of evening parties, there was predominantly concentrated calm. The crews were requested to keep their distance from the sailors of other boats. The numerous preparation seminars and training courses offered by the World Cruising Club were not held in conference rooms this time either, but rather virtually as part of video meetings.
The local sailors took it easy, including a handful of German crews. Among others, YACHT photographer and author Andreas Lindlahr was there. In the past few weeks he has captured the atmosphere of this very special ARC in Las Palmas, talked to many sailors and collected numerous impressions. Shortly before his departure for the Caribbean, he submitted his photos and texts to the editorial staff, which will be featured in the next but one issue of YACHT (issue 1/2020).