ARC Report Heaven or Hell?

The Annual Rally Across the Atlantic Was a Test of Ingenuity and Seamanship for Some.

Imagine a hot day under sail far out at sea with your friends or family, your yacht inching along very slowly through a calm-painted ocean. 

Heaven? Or hell?

On the catamaran Pearl Bali on a day such as this, Barry Harmer and Irina Yatsenko, their two grown up daughters, Polina and Alyona, and friend Brandy watched the sails draw lazily and decided to have some fun. The family, who bought their Catana 4.3 catamaran after taking up sailing in 2014, put on striped sailor tops and made a video of them all lip-syncing to Harry Nilsson’s song Put the Lime in the Coconut.

On Rambler 88, the Juan K-designed flyer, an elite crew of 18 professionals dealt with light winds by spending the day trimming, focussed entirely on speed, speed, speed – no fresh dorado for dinner, no sundowners here.

Aboard a 53ft cruiser far astern, a crew of four with multiple transatlantic crossings and circumnavigations looked out at the mirror finish stretching across the sea all around them and at the sails slatting impotently above, then pulled in the fishing line, furled the headsail and fired up the engine. Saint Lucia calling.

This was the fastest ARC transatlantic rally ever and yet one of the slowest on record. At one extreme, Rambler 88 set a new course record from Las Palmas to Saint Lucia, taking line honours in 8d 6h 29m, logging an average speed of 16.8 knots. The crew, with Andrew Cape as navigator, took advantage of a small depression that formed mid-Atlantic soon after the start, enabling the boat to sail a very northerly route and then have a fast reach down to Saint Lucia. But they had to work hard to beat VO65 Team BrunelÕs time last year by only one hour ten minutes.