#arcatlanticraceforcruisers #arc #swantransatlanticchallenge #clubswan

A nice fleet of 13 Swan yachts took part to the crossing. Well done to Swan 80 Umiko, as well, on getting 2nd place in Division I Cruising, Swan 441 Charisma, 2nd place in Class F, and Swan 65 Vahine, 3rd in Class C. The best-placed Swan was Titania, deserving the Swan Transatlantic Challenge trophy. Swan 54 Coco attend the ARC as well and the owner has described this amazing experience:
“The ARC is organized by the World Cruising Club and is a friendly “race” for a bunch of salty sea dogs wanting to sail from Europe to the Caribbean. I’d love to say we had a relaxing enjoyable week but that’s just fantasy. Most of the other 170 yachts in the fleet doing the ARC had spent months, even years, getting prepared for this rally and we had a week – hmmmm... So while all the other participants were swilling free beer at the sundowners, we were still doing jobs. Anyway, we worked our arses off and we were still getting our shit together right up until the start gun.

Regardless, on November 25 at 13:00 hours, we set off. My first big ocean crossing that we planned to make in around 18 days. Did we know what we were doing? Not really, but we got to the start line on time.

So, what’s it like to spend that amount of time at sea with nothing to look at but ocean? Anyone who has done it before knows. One day blends into the next, you’re tired a lot of the time, the days go really quickly, and you see a lot of flying fish. They are awesome when they land in the cockpit in the middle of the night with a thump and you’re left wondering what just fell off the mast! We didn’t see any whales, however a yacht about 200 miles north of us did bump into one and damaged its rudder. Ouchies. Here are some notable things about a long ocean crossing:

• I’m getting good at sleeping sideways in the bed to stop me rolling out.And I can now sleep in midair when we hit a big wave. What a skill. I think that’s taking the concept of an airbed a bit far… I think this is the closest to levitating I’ll ever get.

• Trying to cook on the starboard tack is awesome – every time you open a cupboard or the fridge things fly at you, a lot of things.I’m applying for a job with the Boston Red Sox as a catcher...”

Read more on https://kiwitravellers.com/2018/12/15/leg-2-lisbon-to-st-lucia-trip-total-6750-miles/