Wednesday 4 December.
Eight boats have now crossed the ARC+ finish line in Grenada, and are happily docked at Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina. The Outremer 52 Salto (NOR) was first to cross, closely followed 6 hours later by Simon Cook’s Outremer 55 Sizzle (GBR), with the rally’s youngest crew member on board at 9 months old! Appa (USA), Luminous 3 (GBR), Oxane (FRA), Born to Run (NOR), One Distraction (GBR) and Piment Rouge (FRA) were all welcomed and greeted on the dock by the ARC+ Yellowshirts, and presented with a delicious ice-cold rum punch from Port Louis Marina Manager, Zara Tremlett, and basket of local produce from the Grenada Tourism Authority.
Arriving just after 4pm (UTC-4) on Tuesday 3rd December, was the Norwegian Outremer catamaran Salto, sailed by the Vestnes family and crew. After 11 days and 17 hours at sea, and sailing almost 2,450 nautical miles from Mindelo, Cape Verdes, Henrik & Anne, along with their three children, Sara (9), Vetle (6) and Birk (2), plus crew members Ola and Pernilla, were thrilled to lead the 91-strong ARC+ boat fleet into the beautiful tropical spice island of Grenada - and as the first of five Outremer catamarans.
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“It was a nice feeling to sail my own boat to the Caribbean for the first time, explained Henrik on the dock the next morning. “It was a good feeling to get line honours and a great achievement for us. It’s great to arrive in Grenada and the children were really excited to finally finish the long crossing. It was a good trip for them; they enjoyed themselves, slept well and we had fun. We fished, played and baked Christmas cakes.” Henrik has sailed his whole life and said: “This is definitely a great thing to have done, and after ARC+ we are staying in the Caribbean for a month or two and then going on to Panama, the Pacific and beyond.”
First monohulls
John Mcdonnell, owner of the British Solaris 74 Luminous 3 was the first monohull to finish, and after 11 days 19 hours, the biggest boat in the fleet touched the dock in the early hours of Wednesday morning. His first time in the ARC+, as well as in Grenada didn’t disappoint: “It was fantastic. It was barefoot, t-shirt sailing and absolutely marvellous. We were going fast and that’s why I bought this boat, to do the ARC+ and the World ARC, and I wanted to do it fast, and it does that! After crossing the line everyone hugged each other. I’ve been dreaming about doing this for 30 years and so have most of the other guys, so it’s great. I’m now looking forward to having a look around Grenada,” concluded John.
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Putting in a really great performance as the second monohull to arrive, were the young Norwegian team on their Xp 44 Born to Run, arriving just under 2 hours after Luminous 3, which is 30ft larger! Using zero engine hours, the group of six 20-somethings have been planning to sail the ARC+ for several years. Celebrating on the dock, the youngest skipper in the rally, 24-year-old Peder Stiansen said: “We are really happy to be here. It was a great sail. We pushed our boat and sailed hard. We are pleased with our performance and look forward to our time here in Grenada.”
The rest of the fleet will continue to complete their ARC+ adventure, with arrivals expected over the next few hours and a busy few days ahead for the ARC+ Yellowshirts.