Yachts sail away from the start of the first ARC in a brisk breeze in 1986

Our History

World Cruising Club was born out of the first ARC in 1986. The event was the brainchild of cruising legend Jimmy Cornell, who had a vision for a completely different type of ocean sailing event from existing ocean races. It would be fun and social, and the event would be structured to increase safety and enhance the confidence of participants.

Since the first 209 boats in ARC '86, over 8,000 boats have sailed across the Atlantic with the ARC and ARC+ rallies. Rally sailors come from over 40 nationalities and are aged from babies to the over 80s, some returning year after year, others joining for the experience of a lifetime.

Over time, World Cruising Club has developed other ocean crossing, island hopping and offshore rallies, so that now over 450 boats with 1,600 people sail on one of our rallies every year.

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World Cruising Club Timeline

1986	The very first ARC from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Barbados
1990	The ARC finish moved to Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia
1995	The first ARC Portugal sets sail from the UK to Lagos
2000	The first ARC Europe west-to-east transatlantic rally
2008	The first World ARC circumnavigation rally
2013	The first ARC+ rally from Gran Canaria to the Caribbean via Cape Verde
2026	ARC Baltic cruising rally starting in Kiel and visiting five countries

Meet the Team

Paul and Suzana Tetlow co-own World Cruising Club and over the last 15 years have worked on every one of the rallies.

Paul joined World Cruising Club in 2008 as an Event Manager, following an eight-year stint in the British Army. As Managing Director, he has overall responsibility for the planning and logistics of our events, and relations with our sponsors and corporate members.

Suzana has worked with World Cruising Club has a lifetime of experience in the event and travel industry. She is fluent in Portuguese, English, German, Spanish and Italian, and has travelled to almost every World Cruising Club rally destination.

Working with Paul and Suzana in our Cowes office are Martine and Emma, plus Rachael, Claire and Peter. Martine and Emma are the first point of call for anyone with a question about one of our rallies - they're a fount of knowledge about all aspects of our rallies and destinations. Rachael works with Suzana on rally operations, and Claire and Peter are our marketing team.

Away from Cowes, but also there to help and support rally sailors is Kim Touchton, covering North America. We have representatives in Europe too - Bojan in the Netherlands and Mats in Sweden.

Our Noonsite.com editorial team are based around the world. Sue heads up the team, supported by Lynda and Megan.