The World ARC fleet set off from Cape Town today for their next ocean passage - across the South Atlantic to the very remote island of St Helena and then onto Salvador de Bahia in Brazil. Unfortunately, at less than 10 knots, the wind conditions for the start did not provide a very exhilarating start for 2013, but there was still something special about seeing the fleet departing Table Bay and the impressive Table Mountain overlooking the starting area.
The start line was close to the Port of Cape Town’s entrance and used the starting hut of the Royal Cape Yacht Club. The first across the line was the Swedish yacht, Working on a Dream, crewed by the Hansell family – Hans, Hanna and Ebba. The next two yachts across were the Swiss yacht Mr Blues and the Amel 54 Ruby, crewed by Frenchmen Herve & Jacques and Etienne from Belgium. Having left the start line most of the fleet were on port tack, heading north in the little breeze that there was.
A few of the fleet will restart a bit later. Anastasia and Southern Cross are awaiting parts and hope to restart on Monday. GUNVOR will restart on Sunday. Unfortunately Bronwyn is still waiting to complete works on their engine and hope to be moving again soon. Follow the fleet on the World ARC Fleet Tracker.
The Royal Cape Yacht Club also provided their launch ‘Royal Cape II’ so photographers could take pictures of the start. Have a look at the pictures in our World ARC gallery, and the ones taken by local photographer, Trevor Wilkins.
The fleet are expected to arrive on the remote island of St Helena from the 17 January onwards. They’ll stay on the island for up to three days before continuing on a further 1900 nautical miles to Salvador.