Twenty-one boats have now arrived into IGY Rodney Bay Marina in St. Lucia, after a busy start to what will most definitely be a busy week.
Overnight arrivals started trickling in last night around 10pm, with six yachts - including Lupi, Scarlet Oyster, Raven, Nix, Sagittarius and Bristolian - arriving before the ARC office opened early at 0800 this morning. The full ARC staff - the ubiquitous 'yellow shirts' - also arrived on-island yesterday, so everything is now in full-swing in Rodney Bay.
ARC veterans Scarlet Oyster arrived in around 0300 this morning, and were wondering when the party was to start.
"We got in at 3 am, ready for some rum!" exclaimed skipper Ross Appleby. Lucky for him and the rest of the Scarlet Oyster crew, the ARC Programme begins in earnest tonight with a cocktail hour at the nearby Ocean Club in Rodney Bay for early arrivals. It ought to be a well-attended event, as by this evening there looks to be over two dozen yachts already in port.
Ross discussed the crossing on the dock this morning as his crew were scattered about the boat tidying up from over two weeks at sea. "It was a very tough year this year with some challenging weather," he said. Scarlet Oyster has become an annual staple in the ARC, the bright red cruising-turned-racing boat usually finishing high-up in the rankings. "Upwind at the start, and a great deal of changeable stuff, including being parked-up for a day or so," he continued. "Finally we had some good strong Trade Winds at the end to sort of propel us on our way here."
But despite what they felt was a good finish - "We think we did well in our class," Ross mentioned, though official results will not be calculated until the ARC Prizegiving next Friday night - it wasn't all fun and games out there on the Atlantic. Scarlet Oyster suffered a broken shroud and snapped spinnaker pole during the crossing, which they managed to repair at sea.
Indeed they were not the only ones to arrive with damage. Triumph, the big Swedish-flagged Baltic Yachts - which counts none other than Volvo Ocean Race legend Magnus Olsson as a crew member - arrived into the marina mid-morning today, sans their mainsail boom, which broke in mid-Atlantic. Look for a Feature Story this week on the website on how some of the early arrivals handled - quite well, in fact - breakages at sea.
Despite the damage, the crew of Triumph was ecstatic to have arrived, and were greeted by friends and family, who hired the local water taxi - 'Rule the Tide' - to take them out into the bay to watch Triumph sail across the finishing line. Indeed that is one of the best parts about this and every ARC. Watching loved ones greet one another after weeks apart is a touching experience, a big part of what makes the event so special. Earlier this morning, Bristolian had a whopping 32 friends and family greet them on the dock just after sunrise. Their cheering and merrymaking continued throughout the morning, as shouts and cheers could be heard emanating from the boat on I-dock throughout the marina.