The 2012 edition of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers officially came to a close last night. The final event of the year was held at the Gaiety nightclub just outside Rodney Bay.
Taxis began shuttling sailors up from Rodney Bay Marina as early as 4pm. On arrival they were greeted with complimentary rum punch, courtesy of the St. Lucia Tourism Board, and a steel band played in the garden outside the venue while the finishing touches were put together on stage.
Christof Petter, owner and skipper of
Vaquita,was in a cheerful mood when he arrived at Gaiety. And for good reason considering the night they had on stage.
“This has been a fantastic ARC for me,” he said on arrival. “The crew all knows each other and we get along great. The boat is better than ever. And winning over Berenice was just great!” he said with a smile, knowing that he’d been seeing a lot of the stage later in the evening.
Despite Vaquita’s success in the ARC and on racecourses around the world – she represents, in fact, the most successful ocean-racing campaign in Austria’s history – Christof is currently building a new Class 40 in Slovenia, which long-time navigator Andreas Hanakamp is overseeing. It might not be the last.
“I went home for a while after the finish,” Christof explained, “and came back with my wife. She wants a bigger boat, one with more room to do more than just sail and sleep, sail and sleep,” he said. “We’re going sailing tomorrow with Surfing Petrel, a Pogo 50,” he continued. “So it will be fun to get out on a cruising boat for once!”
Christof and the others were soon ushered inside for the start of Part 1, which saw the runners-up and special prizes distributed. What sets the ARC apart from other sailing events is the combination of serious competition and those playful special prizes saved for the end of Part 1. Perhaps the most arbitrary of these is the ‘Yacht whose serial number matches their boat number’ prize, awarded to Sam III (yacht no. 69 and 69th to arrive) and Ravi (yacht no. 171, and 171st to arrive). Other special prizes ranged from Youngest Skipper and Senior Cup to website awards for Best Logs, awards for the Fishing Competition and recognition (and a bottle of Chairman’s Reserve Rum) for the Radio Net Controllers and Finish Line volunteers.
At the end of Part 1, Troskala, the last yacht to arrive – only entering St. Lucia as the prize giving was getting started – were brought on stage to huge applause to be recognized as the last yacht to arrive that started with the fleet on Tuesday.
Part 2 began with opening remarks from Louis Lewis, Director of the St. Lucia Tourism Board, Edwin Chavez, new General Manager of Rodney Bay Marina and the Honourable Lorne Theophilius, Minister for Tourism, Heritage and Creative Industries. Following their remarks they were invited on stage to present the prizes for the winners of each class.
Vaquita (AUT) and Scarlet Oyster (GBR), familiar names in the ARC, took the RORC Racing Classes A and B respectively, with Vaquita coming out on top in Racing Overall.
The X Yacht Nix (NED) won both the Digicel Trophy for Line Honours in the Invitation Cruising Division (for yachts over 60-feet) and the Rodney Bar Marina Trophy for winning the Invitation Division on corrected time, edging out last year’s winner Triumph (SWE), who came second.
In Invitation Racing, Line Honours went to the Italian Swan 80 Berenice. Tyke, also from Italy, edged her out on corrected time to win the Invitation Racing Division.
Amoress 2 (SWE) dominated the cruising division. The Swedish-flagged Swan 48 repeated their feat from 2009, winning Class E and the Jimmy Cornell Trophy for the Overall in the Cruising Division. This year they added the Yachting World Trophy for Line Honours in the Cruising Division, an accolade that skipper and owner Mats Gustavsson is most proud of.
“Line honours really means everything to me,” Mats said last night. “That’s really cool, especially to have done it on a 48-foot boat.”
But Amoress 2 barely made the start this year. They got a last minute entry when the waiting list finally sorted itself out.
“I only arrived into Las Palmas the Wednesday before the start,” said Mats. “We were told there was an extra space, and we took full advantage,” he continued.
The crew was so eager to get moving that they actually incurred a penalty for crossing the start line early. But they easily overcame that over the course of the 2,800-mile passage, sailing fast and efficiently.
In the Multihull Division line honours went to Pelican (GBR). Intrepid Bear (GBR), who despite a calm spell when they stopped to swim – encountering two minke whales in the process – sailed fast enough to win the Multihull Division on corrected time, an impressive feat for a family boat.
The rest of the Cruising Division classes shook out as such: Class H and the SLAPSA Trophy went to the Australian yacht Sundancer II; Class G and the Adlard Coles Trophy to Dream Citta di Rieti from Italy; Class E and the Gran Canaria Trophy to Amoress 2 (SWE); Class D and the St. Lucia Ministry of Tourism Trophy to Leeway (NED); Class C and the St. Lucia Hotel & Tourism Trophy to the Canadian yacht Zabava; Class B and the St. Lucia Tourism Board Trophy to Dreamer from Great Britain; and Class A and the Prime Ministers Trophy to the Kiwi yacht Savarna (NZD). The special ‘Zulu’ Class – created for the four cruising yachts that departed with the racing fleet ahead of the delay – was won by Frangipani from Germany.
Click here for the full results of the ARC 2012.
The Spirit of the ARC award was saved for last, and each year is awarded to the yacht that best displays the general spirit of goodwill and enthusiasm that the rally strives to create amongst the fleet. The yacht Ostrea received the honour this year for selflessly sacrificing distance and time to come to the aid of Johanem whilst at sea. Ostera themselves encountered difficult circumstances in heavy weather, but managed to come to a solution nonetheless. Following the Spirit of the ARC award, Andrew Bishop officially announced ARC 2012 closed – and the bar outside open!
Participants then quickly filed outside into the garden area behind Gaiety for more steel drums and rum punch. Crews that took away prizes celebrated their victories (or in some of cases with the special prizes, luck!), while the entirety of the fleet celebrated the achievement of completing an Atlantic crossing, which is really what the ARC is all about. Until next year.
