A Rumble in the Jungle at the ARC Costume Party

The ARC team were in disguise last night at the ‘Jungle Safari’ fancy dress party at the Johnnie Walker Terrace as jungle explorer Andrew Bishop and the World Cruising Club Tribe rid themselves of their trademark yellow shirts. ARC participants made a huge effort to prepare costumes in keeping with the theme for one of the most popular parties of the week. Bodies swathed in animal print fur fabric seemed very popular and more than one Tarzan was spotted swinging through the jungle vines!

Earlier in the day children in the fleet took part in a jungle costume workshop and the best dressed boy and girl were later rewarded for their efforts:- El Corte Ingles, a long term rally supporter, provided gift voucher prizes for the lucky winners: Best Boy - ‘Jungle Boy’ Ola, age 10 - yacht Minerva (Nor); Best Girl – ‘Zebra’ Marthe, age 12 – yacht Thea (Nor); Best Woman – ‘Jungle Jane’ Sally Beaumont – yacht Ideal (GBR); Best Man – ‘Jungle Warrior’ Ben – yacht Talulah Ruby II (GBR); Best Crew - ‘Singing Hunter Quartet’– yacht Solpherino (GBR) and finally the Best Couple – ‘Tarzan and Jane’ – yacht Marelia (Nor) who were awarded an overnight stay at the Hotel Santa Catalina before the start.

Earlier in the evening, Cowes Yachting Magazine and Persuader Too, a 57ft Beneteau owned and skippered by SJ and Mark Ashman, sponsored a drinks party to raise money for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation. The party was a huge success due entirely to the efforts, donations and contributions of their fellow sailors. The party included a raffle and an auction which raised over 815 Euros for the charity. Further info and donations can be made via: www.raydawn.org .

Sea Safety Demonstrations are an important part of the ARC programme and took place today with the help of Rob Gaffney and James Pearson from Hamble School of Yachting and the ARC safety team. Crews were able to remind themselves of important emergency procedures and included a SAR helicopter demonstration provided by the Las Palmas Coastguard which participants watched from the end of the breakwater. The flare demonstration also gave an opportunity to fire flares and a supervised poolside liferaft inflation demonstration saw crews practice boarding the liferaft from the water at the Club Maritimo Varadero.

Later in the afternoon crews swapped reading material and DVDs at a book exchange and the Raymarine sponsored ‘Happy Hour’ at the ARC Bar rounded off the evening with a prize draw to win a LifeTag wireless man overboard system.