The Great Escape

Against sizeable odds, the 2020 ARC made its departure from Las Palmas and headed out to the Caribbean. Sam Jefferson caught up with some participants in a year like no other

- Sam Jefferson

The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers has always been about providing a framework and a deadline around which sailors can work to. Some form or reassurance if you will - and, by God, if there was ever a year in which reassurance was required it was 2020 – a year in which we all learnt to live with uncertainty. Yet, somehow, with all the travel restrictions in place, the ARC went ahead and, with the storm clouds once more gathering over Europe and basic human freedoms being sacrificed in order to control Covid, the ARC never felt more vital. We often talk of sailing as a form of escape. But this year it's escape in earnest. In the Canary Islands, where refugee boats from Africa arrive with regularity on the road to escape, the mass depart of yachts taking to the seas in search of freedom can be a tough circle to square. Yet this year was very different. There was a real urgency and visceral need for freedom, escape. Yet escape to what? The situation in the Caribbean was not clear either giving the whole event an extra frisson, with sailors taking a step into the unknown.

An organiser's headache

For the organisers, it has been tough, as World Cruising Club CEO Andrew Bishop explained: “It has been an interesting year! To know that the boats have crossed the start line was a tremendous relief after six months on a knifes edge.

“This year we have 61 entrants, that’s about 30% down on a normal year but there’s a hardcore of people who are determined to sail across the Atlantic this winter and they kept us going over the summer.”