{"id":137007,"date":"2022-03-02T08:30:03","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T08:30:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/?p=137007"},"modified":"2023-11-28T08:35:25","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T08:35:25","slug":"atlantic-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/cruising\/atlantic-divide-137007","title":{"rendered":"Atlantic divide in the 2021 ARC"},"content":"When the 2021 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC)<\/a> set off from Gran Canaria on November 21, there was one early sign this would be an unusual crossing: the 143 yachts set off with sails sheeted, upwind.\r\n\r\nThe Atlantic Rally for Cruisers has attracted thousands of sailors over its 35-year history, drawn to the appeal of a tradewinds passage to the Caribbean. The rally\u2019s startline runs roughly east-west just outside the harbour of Las Palmas and in mid-November the prevailing north-easterly trades mean it\u2019s almost guaranteed to be a downwind start.\r\n\r\nInstead, a light southerly breeze gave a gentle reminder that nothing should be taken for granted in ocean sailing \u2013 and the 2021 ARC rally proved this adage once again.\r\n\r\nTragically, the crossing saw one fatality and two yachts abandoned at sea (both later recovered). However, across its diverse fleet there were a wide range of experiences, with both first-timers and experienced crews demonstrating great seamanship, camaraderie and determination.\r\n\r\nDuring the pre-departure weather briefing meteorologist Chris Tibbs explained that the fleet had two choices: head south towards the Cape Verde islands to try and find wind off the African coast or head west and for wind on the edge of the low pressure to the north. The southern route risked being very light for the first week, the northern route risked an encounter with heavy weather. He strongly advised the fleet of largely amateur sailors to go south.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_137020\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" ARC line-up at Gran Canaria. Photo: James Mitchell\/WCC[\/caption]\r\n

Early decisions<\/h2>\r\nThe pontoons were soon invaded by an army of crew bearing jerry cans as boats stocked up on extra fuel, with many skippers apprehensive about burning too much diesel in the first few days of a two-and-a-half-week crossing.\r\n\r\nJeremy Wyatt, World Cruising Club director, explained that it was a year that \u201cskippers had a lot of choices to make. They were never going to go down the rhumbline this year.\u201d\r\nAfter the start the fleet split, with the majority of yachts heading south for Cape Verde. A splinter group, led by Vend\u00e9e Globe<\/a> sailor Jean-Pierre Dick on The Kid for Ville de Nice, headed north-west towards the Azores.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_137022\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Jerry cans to fill with fuel for expected motoring. Photo: James Mitchell\/WCC[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhile most of the southern boats sailed about 10% more than the Great Circle route, the northern group, largely made up of performance yachts and multihulls<\/a> sailing broader angles, covered around 15-20% extra miles, recording total distances of 3,100-3,300 miles.\r\n\r\nThe entire fleet faced light winds immediately after leaving Las Palmas and boats in the cruising division, where engine use is permitted, spent a couple of days motoring before the breeze filled in. What took many participants by surprise, however, was the speed with which conditions ramped up, with steady 25 knot winds and gusty squalls arriving at the end of week one.\r\n\r\nCombined with a large cross-swell from the weather system to the north, this made conditions challenging and tiring, especially for lighter displacement yachts. It was a year for the heavyweights: traditional Bowmans, steel Challenge yachts, Oysters and solid Swedish designs all fared well, with one racing division even won by a Nauticat 521.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_137026\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Blue Magic got off to a difficult start when a crewmember caught a finger in a primary winch. Photo: James Mitchell\/WCC[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFor the crew of the S&S designed Swan 65<\/a>, Blue Magic<\/em>, the ARC got off to an even more unusual start. Just as the gun went off, crew member Denise Wiltse turned to Swedish skipper Nicholas Rolander and calmly said: \u201cI lost my finger\u201d. The little finger on her left hand had caught in one of the powerful primary winches, taking the top third of it off. ARC race management swiftly took her ashore by RIB while the Swan 65 headed back into the marina.\r\n\r\nNicholas Rolander had previously worked as a professional skipper, but when an injury in 2018 took him out for the season he and his wife Maria decided to go for their dream. Wiltse regularly sails at home in Juno, Alaska but the ARC was to be her first taste of ocean sailing. She met Rolander on an astro navigation course and joined his largely Swedish crew after he offered her a place on the ARC.\r\n\r\nDespite her injury Wiltse decided to continue with her crossing, explaining: \u201cI didn\u2019t come all the way from Alaska not to do this.\u201d Blue Magic<\/em> set off four hours behind the rest of the fleet.\r\n\r\nAfter spending a couple of days on lighter duties Wiltse got stuck into the normal rota on board. Co-owner Maria, a nurse, removed her stitches along the way, the two bracing themselves in the saloon, to time the delicate procedure for the right moment in the wave cycle. Despite the setback the celestial navigators were able to put their theory training into practice and got a good set of sun-run-suns.\r\n

Go north for speed<\/h2>\r\nA couple of days into the ARC, and the fleet split was becoming clear. While the majority headed south on a 250-260\u00b0 course, a small group of yachts struck north in search of stronger breezes.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_137033\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" The divergent tracks of the fleet shown via YB Tracker[\/caption]\r\n\r\nFormer IMOCA 60<\/a> racer Jean-Pierre Dick on his custom designed JP54<\/a> and the Marsaudon TS5 Addictive Sailing<\/em> took the most radical line, Dick\u2019s The Kid for Ville de Nice sailing almost 500 miles north of the rhumbline.\r\n\r\nOthers taking this northerly route included Graham Clapp and crew sailing his brand new Swan 48, Sarah Mercedes<\/em>. Like many yachts launched this year which suffered Covid-related and supply chain delays, the handover date had been pushed back several weeks. It was mid-September before Clapp was able to take delivery of Sarah Mercedes<\/em> in Finland, immediately hot-footing it south to the Canaries in time for the ARC start.\r\n\r\nSarah Mercedes<\/em> took a northerly routing, working with a shorebased meteorologist. Peter Banham, an experienced crewmember, described the crossing as, \u201csome of the most sustained, challenging, heavy weather weeks\u201d he\u2019d seen. Many of the crew were accomplished dinghy racers and the team had worked hard to get to the front of the fleet.\r\n\r\nSarah Mercedes<\/em> was just 70 miles from the St Lucia finish when a bang came from the rig, and shortly afterwards the D1 on the leeward side went slack and the lower spreader detached from the mast. The crew quickly dropped sail, setting the main halyard and staysail halyard for support \u2013 the self-tacking jib sheet entered the mast at exactly the right point for the missing D1 \u2013 and safely nursed the boat into Rodney Bay.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_137027\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" The Marsaudon TS5 Addictive Sailing was among those taking the most radical northerly route. Photo: James Mitchell\/WCC[\/caption]\r\n\r\nDespite the incident, Clapp was delighted with his new yacht\u2019s performance: \u201cShe just handled the conditions brilliantly, the helm is so well balanced and she sails beautifully.\u201d\r\n\r\nTragically, amid the strongest conditions there was a fatal accident. Max Delannoy was sailing on X-Yachts X43<\/a>, Agecanonix<\/em>, which was among the yachts sailing a more northerly route. The three-man French crew on Agecanonix<\/em> had moved up to 1st place in Racing B division by 25 November.\r\n\r\nLate on the evening of 26 November, Delannoy, 73, was struck on the head by the mainsheet or boom during a crash gybe. Skipper Philippe Anglade, who was also injured in the incident, was able to prevent Delannoy from falling into the water. The crew made a Mayday call around midnight on 26\/27 November requesting a medical evacuation, but sadly Delannoy was declared dead before any outside help could be provided.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s understood that a preventer was rigged, but both the preventer and boom were broken during a violent gybe. The Agecanonix<\/em> crew were evacuated by the 300m cruise ship PV Mein Schiff 1<\/em>, and the yacht was later recovered.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_137034\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Some time to relax: typical ARC tradewind sailing. Photo: James Mitchell\/WCC[\/caption]\r\n\r\nHowever, taking the southerly option was no guarantee of a smooth crossing either. The Oyster 55 Magic Dragon of Dart<\/em> was almost exactly halfway across when they received a Mayday call over VHF from Charlotte Jane III<\/em>.\r\n\r\nThe Hanse 588<\/a> Charlotte Jane III<\/em> had suffered catastrophic steering damage \u2013 Hanse later reported that the skipper believed it was caused by a whale strike. Despite deploying their drogue, the five-person crew reported spending a terrifying night at sea lying beam on to a 4m sea with a cross swell in 30-40 knots of wind.\r\n\r\nAnother ARC yacht, the Beneteau First 51.1 Polygala<\/em>, spent the night standing by as the crew attempted to repair the steering, but the damage was so extensive and the conditions so violent that they took the decision to abandon the vessel on 1 December. Polygala<\/em> already had 12 people on board including a camera crew. Magic Dragon<\/em>, some eight miles away at the time, was in a better position to offer assistance.\r\n

A second rescue<\/h2>\r\nRod and Jane Halling have owned Magic Dragon <\/em>of Dart for two and half years. Both are experienced sailors, and Rod had made several Atlantic crossings<\/a> before. The ARC was the start of a five-year circumnavigation with their three young children, including four-year-old twins, and nine-year-old daughter. Rod\u2019s adult daughter, Lizzie, was also on board, and they\u2019d taken on an additional experienced sailor, Craig Gray.\r\n\r\nAs they approached Charlotte Jane<\/em> the severity of the situation became apparent. \u201cWe made one attempt to get close to them,\u201d explained Rod, \u201cbut both boats were being thrown around so much that there was a real risk of rigs clashing, even from several metres away.\u201d The Hanse\u2019s drogue created another obstacle, obscuring the approach. It became clear that getting into the liferaft was the only sensible option for the transfer.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_137030\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Crew of the Charlotte Jane III deploying their liferaft. Photo: Dorothy Halling\/WCC[\/caption]\r\n\r\nThere followed some nerve-wracking moments when the raft took several attempts to inflate, and the difficulty of getting into the raft from the high freeboard yacht, with the stern lifting up and down in the swell. \u201cFor a moment we wondered if they would actually do it,\u201d recalls Jane. \u201cWe were so relieved when the first person went for it and jumped in.\u201d Fortunately all the Charlotte Jane III<\/em> crew had done the Sea Survival course.\r\n\r\nOnce the crew were off the boat, they freed the raft and hoped it would drift away from Charlotte Jane III<\/em>, making it easier for Magic Dragon<\/em> to approach \u2013 but it didn\u2019t. Even without deploying the drogue, the raft made much less leeway than expected. Rod was concerned that there was a very real chance of crushing the liferaft beneath the 30-tonne Oyster given the sea state, so he manoeuvred to leeward of them rather than to windward. Craig threw a line to Charlotte Jane<\/em>\u2019s skipper who held on while everyone else scrambled on board, assisted by Craig and Lizzie. It was a huge feat of seamanship from all involved.\r\n\r\nThere was one more difficulty to contend with: Magic Dragon<\/em>\u2019s watermaker had failed a few days out of Las Palmas. They now had 12 people on board, 1,500 miles to sail, and only 400 litres in the tank. An attempt to transfer water from another yacht had to be abandoned due to the sea conditions, so rations were tight.\r\n\r\nFortunately a team effort got the watermaker going after a couple of days, and conditions aboard improved. When the two crews finally made it into Rodney Bay they received a hero\u2019s welcome, with the pontoons packed with family, friends and fellow sailors cheering them in.\r\n\r\nThe incident reopened the debate about steering failures leading to abandonment. While Magic Dragon<\/em> felt confident they could offer assistance, a crewmember on another yacht told us that their skipper did not go to Charlotte Jane<\/em>\u2019s aid as they felt that the vessel was not in immediate danger, but that diverting to their position would have involved beating into strong headwinds and so potentially put another crew at risk.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_137019\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Swell and squalls followed light airs at the end of the first week of the ARC crossing. Photo: James Mitchell\/WCC[\/caption]\r\n\r\nCharlotte Jane<\/em> was later recovered by a salvage crew from Martinique who set out with repair equipment and a spare rudder. They were able to re-attach the starboard steering column to the base, by drilling out and replacing the bolts, then sail the boat back to St Lucia.\r\n

Creative solutions<\/h2>\r\nFew yachts made it to St Lucia entirely unscathed by damage, and there were some creative repairs made en route. Ollie Vauvelle and Claire Padilla had bought their Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 410 Amanaki<\/em> at D\u00fcsseldorf Boat Show<\/a> in January 2020.\r\n\r\nDespite being newcomers to cruising, they threw themselves into boat life during lockdown, signing up for the 2021 ARC with a year to go. This gave them a deadline to work towards as they prepared the boat for ocean sailing. \u201cI didn\u2019t even own a set of screwdrivers when we bought the boat,\u201d recalls Vauvelle, \u201cit took me a month to install the radar, and two months to install the watermaker!\u201d\r\n\r\nThe pair opted to route well south to avoid the worst of the sea conditions. During the passage they did a deck walk twice a day, and if in any doubt about the condition of a fitting they compared it against an extensive photo library.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_137028\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Magic Dragon of Dart\u2019s arrival into Rodney Bay with the rescued crew of Charlotte Jane III. Photo: James Mitchell\/WCC[\/caption]\r\n\r\nAmanaki<\/em> was sailing in a comfortable set-up with a poled-out headsail, but 10 days in, the car on the pole track failed. The plastic inserts which hold the car onto the mast track had broken and dropped out. For several days they scoured the boat for a suitable replacement for the inserts: they needed a straight rod about 11mm in diameter.\r\n\r\nEventually Vauvelle\u2019s gaze fell on a solid bike lock: a few hours with a hacksaw and a file later, he\u2019d made a new pair of inserts and Amanaki<\/em> was back up and running.\r\n\r\nThere was little in the way of trends to any damage sustained, and even the most thoroughly prepared yachts were not immune. Liam Shanahan\u2019s immaculate Oyster 625 Ruth II<\/em> carried over 1,400 spares as they were crossing to the Caribbean ahead of taking part in the Oyster World Rally. But when the vang failed mid-crossing, it was down to old-fashioned lashings to secure it in place.\r\n\r\n\u201cIt seems that two grub screws had not been correctly seated and so it started to leak oil and unscrew. We weren\u2019t sure how far the vang would unscrew, so we deployed a jury rig to support and replace the vang function. We noted that it tightened up on one gybe (that\u2019s good!) and loosened on the other (that\u2019s bad!), so we were mindful of that in our route choices!\u201d explained Shanahan, adding: \u201cWe were grateful and relieved to be able to reach someone at the manufacturers on Thanksgiving day who very kindly took our sat call and advised us.\u201d\r\n\r\nFor others the rigorous planning extended beyond boat preparation. Piero Zucchelli purchased his Hanse 588<\/a> Andrew<\/em> after selling his company in 2020. He describes it as a \u201cnew step in life, taking time for myself after 30 years of taking almost no holidays.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_137031\" align=\"alignnone\" width=\"630\"]\"\" Jury repair for Ruth II\u2019s vang. Few yachts escaped the 2021 ARC unscathed. Photo: Ruth II[\/caption]\r\n

Scientific theory<\/h2>\r\nDespite that, Zucchelli\u00a0continued his same work ethic to the project of boat ownership! Applying the rigours of his previous career as a nuclear physicist, Zucchelli committed to thoroughly learn all the systems on board, reading the manuals as though they were Sunday supplements, and attending all the seminars run by World Cruising Club in the run-up to the rally start.\r\n\r\n\u201cThe ARC provides 30-40 hours of training,\u201d he said, \u201cand I did all of them!\u201d\r\n\r\nZucchelli\u2019s meticulous approach extended to crew selection. He interviewed 18 candidates for the crew roles, eventually taking on board an experienced Ocean Yachtmaster, an RYA Yachtmaster Instructor, another competent sailor, and his brother-in-law.\r\n\r\n\u201cNo one on board had the complete picture,\u201d he explained. \u201cI know the boat, and I can repair things on board, but I\u2019m not an experienced sailor. The experienced sailors didn\u2019t have technical knowledge of the boat though.\u201d However the collaborative approach \u2013 based on shared responsibilities rather than placing all the pressure on one person \u2013 made for a successful crossing.\r\n

Awe-inspiring<\/h2>\r\nIt\u2019s easy for experienced sailors to feel complacent about the ARC: it\u2019s an easy tradewind route with lots of other yachts around if things go wrong. But this edition proves that nothing could be further from the truth. The tradewinds are powerful forces: a steady 25 knots is to be respected, and with squalls and a cross-swell, can still make for pretty inhospitable conditions.\r\n\r\nA common feeling amongst the finishers was of new-learned respect for the ocean. Fiona Hart had her first taste of ocean sailing in the ARC aboard the Farr 50 Carioca<\/em>. \u201cI wouldn\u2019t say it was enjoyable,\u201d she said once ashore in St Lucia, \u201cit was borderline terrifying at times, but it was awesome\u2026 I am absolutely in awe of the sea.\u201d\r\n\r\n
\r\n\r\n

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When the 2021 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) set off from Gran Canaria on November 21, there was one early sign this would be an unusual crossing: the 143 yachts set off with sails sheeted, upwind. The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers has attracted thousands of sailors over its 35-year history, drawn to the appeal of a tradewinds passage to the Caribbean. The rally\u2019s startline runs roughly east-west just outside the harbour of Las Palmas and in mid-November the prevailing north-easterly trades mean it\u2019s almost guaranteed to be a downwind start. Instead, a light southerly breeze gave a gentle reminder that nothing should be taken for granted in ocean sailing \u2013 and the 2021 ARC rally proved this adage once again. Tragically, the crossing saw one fatality and two yachts abandoned at sea (both later recovered). However, across its diverse fleet there were a wide range of experiences, with both first-timers and experienced crews demonstrating great seamanship, camaraderie and determination. During the pre-departure weather briefing meteorologist Chris Tibbs explained that the fleet had two choices: head south towards the Cape Verde islands to try and find wind off the African coast or head west and for wind on the edge of the low pressure to the north. The southern route risked being very light for the first week, the northern route risked an encounter with heavy weather. He strongly advised the fleet of largely amateur sailors to go south. Early decisions The pontoons were soon invaded by an army of crew bearing jerry cans as boats stocked up on extra fuel, with many skippers apprehensive about burning too much diesel in the first few days of a two-and-a-half-week crossing. Jeremy Wyatt, World Cruising Club director, explained that it was a year that \u201cskippers had a lot of choices to make. They were never going to go down the rhumbline this year.\u201d After the start the fleet split, with the majority of yachts heading south for Cape Verde. A splinter group, led by Vend\u00e9e Globe sailor Jean-Pierre Dick on The Kid for Ville de Nice, headed north-west towards the Azores. While most of the southern boats sailed about 10% more than the Great Circle route, the northern group, largely made up of performance yachts and multihulls sailing broader angles, covered around 15-20% extra miles, recording total distances of 3,100-3,300 miles. The entire fleet faced light winds immediately after leaving Las Palmas and boats in the cruising division, where engine use is permitted, spent a couple of days motoring before the breeze filled in. What took many participants by surprise, however, was the speed with which conditions ramped up, with steady 25 knot winds and gusty squalls arriving at the end of week one. Combined with a large cross-swell from the weather system to the north, this made conditions challenging and tiring, especially for lighter displacement yachts. It was a year for the heavyweights: traditional Bowmans, steel Challenge yachts, Oysters and solid Swedish designs all fared well, with one racing division even won …Continue reading »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1571,"featured_media":137032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[139,972],"tags":[826,1469,919,1633],"review_manufacturer":[],"acf":[],"introduction":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1571"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137007"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":137040,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137007\/revisions\/137040"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137007"},{"taxonomy":"review_manufacturer","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review_manufacturer?post=137007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}