Now only two boats are yet to arrive in Rodney Bay Marina before taking to the start line for leg 1 of World ARC on Saturday 11 January. A total of 32 rally boats are set to take the start and make their way to the San Blas Islands some 800NM due West of Saint Lucia. 141 crew are set to be sailing on this first leg to Panama representing 19 nationalities.
As for the boats, World ARC has five Catamarans on this first leg to Panama and 27 Monohulls. The smallest boat is the Canadian flagged Catamaran Free & BrEasy owned by Roger Stokes whilst the largest is the Amel 64’ Tulasi (GBR) owned by Manfred Stoll. The oldest boat is the beautiful Swan 51 Alpheratz (USA) built in 1982 whilst the newest is the brand new Lagoon 620’ NDS Darwin (ARG) which came out of the shipyard in June 2013. A varied fleet as ever but these differences will lose relevance over time as all crews get to know one another better and all live through this experience together.
Tomorrow, seminars will begin with Chris Tibbs giving a Weather briefing and delivering a seminar on downwind sailing. Paul Tetlow will provide the fleet with a walk through briefing of the whole event, so crews have an idea of what they are in for. Once the briefings are complete, A welcome party organized by IGY Marina will take place in the Bardwalk Café, another opportunity for sailors to mingle and socialize amongst each other.
