Yachting

EXPERT OFFSHORE

20 http://www.yachtingmonthly.com MAY 2016

EXPERT OFFSHORE

Lessons learned from

an Atlantic crossing

M

arinas in Britain are

full of lost dreams,

but here we are,

living my dream in St

Lucia. The Caribbean

on my doorstep – not bad, is

it?’ Jonathan Paull, a 53-year

old-part-time teacher was right,

December in the Caribbean is

pretty special. He’d taken seven

weeks off work to fulfi ll his

ambition to cross the Atlantic. For

some people, sailing across an

ocean is a statement send-off into

the golden years of retirement

and the next chapter of their life,

for others it’s a dream realised.

Either way, it’s a real adventure.

What can you learn from sailors who have crossed the Atlantic? Graham Snook met

crews who had just finished the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers in St Lucia, to find out

‘The ARC gave us a

deadline that we

had to work towards’

Tim Aitken, 71, was one of four

skippers to sail in the fi rst Atlantic

Rally for Cruisers (ARC) in 1986,

on his 47ft Wauquiez Centurion,

Airwave. This time he sailed his

Hoek 75, Braveheart of Sark. At

75ft, she could be considered as

far from a family cruiser as a one

of the all-singing, all-dancing

racing boats, but she sailed with

just one person on watch for

most of the time.

A very varied fl eet

The fl eet ranged from round-the-

world racers such as Team Brunel,

a Volvo Ocean 65, and some 80ft

luxury yachts, down to smaller

boats like a Hallberg-Rassy 310

and a Contessa 32. Offi cially the

minimum boat length is 27ft

(8.2m), though dispensations

can be made for smaller boats

providing you can satisfy the ARC

organisers’ queries about passage

speed, tankage, downwind rigs,

self-steering and the like.

It’s easy to procrastinate, only

for poor health to rob you of your

dreams. Some people fi nd paying

upfront to join an organised event

like the ARC makes that less likely

to happen. ‘It gave us a deadline

that we had to work towards’

explains Alex Mayor, 54, skipper

of the Rustler 42 Pantalaimon II.

If you take home nothing more

from the crews I spoke to, just

follow your dreams. But there’s a

lot we can learn from people who

have just sailed over 2,500 miles.

Read on to fi nd out.

Just 27 miles long and 14

miles wide, Saint Lucia is

beautiful tropical volcanic

island that forms part of the

Windward Islands chain.

It’s famous for tourism and

banana production and

the Pitons have formed the

backdrop to many fi lms.

Destination:

St Lucia

http://www.saintluciauk.org

The Pitons, St Lucia’s

trademark natural

feature, loom over the

town of Soufrière

PHOTO: GRAHAM-SNOOK.COM

PHOTO ABOVE: THEODORE AITKEN. LEFT: GRAHAM-SNOOK.COM

The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, organised by

World Cruising Club, started in 1986. ARC

2016 will depart from Las Palmas on Gran

Canaria on 20 November this year. Over 200

boats participate every year, taking around

1,200 people from Europe to Saint Lucia in

the Caribbean. http://www.worldcruising.com

Atlantic Rally for Cruisers

Rodney Bay

Marina in St Lucia

marks the end

of an ocean-

crossing odyssey

for the ARC fl eet