The final gathering of the 12th edition of the ARC+ transatlantic cruising rally took place last night in Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina in Grenada. 434 sailors from 26 nations came together to acknowledge their shared experience and achievement of crossing the Atlantic Ocean under sail.
The diverse fleet of 91 boats ranging from just under 11m to almost 22m experienced the wonder of life at sea. For many the 11 to 16 days at sea was the longest passage they had ever made, and the fruition of many years of planning and preparation. Their transatlantic crossing began in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, via Mindelo, Cape Verde, and concluded some 3,000NM later, on the beautiful spice island of Grenada in the Caribbean.
The ARC+ is a floating community, and every boat arriving in Port Louis Marina was met at the dock by the rally ‘yellow shirt’ team, the marina team, and student volunteers of TAMCC Community College with representatives from Grenada Tourism Authority bearing much anticipated ice-cold rum punch and basket of local produce.
World Cruising Club Managing Director Paul Tetlow said, “I would like to thank the Port Louis Marina team led by Zara Tremlett, for all their hard work – at all hours – to assure you of a warm welcome and a very comfortable stay here in Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina, Grenada. We also give thanks to Grenada Tourism Authority and all our sponsors, for their assistance in providing such an enjoyable programme here in Grenada.
“Lastly, I would like to thank you, the wonderful participants of ARC+ for joining the event. The energy and enthusiasm you have provided has made this such a special experience. In the weeks and months to come we will look back on this experience with a smile on our faces remembering the friendships made and experiences enjoyed”.
Multihull sailing
Although the ARC+ rally is not a race, there is an element of fun competition to encourage sailing skills, but motoring is allowed. Ten per cent of the fleet recorded zero engine hours in the 2,270NM passage from Cape Verde to Grenada.
The first three boats to finish were all Outremer catamarans sailed by families with children. First to finish on Tuesday 3 December was Henrik Vestnes’ new Outremer 52 Salto (NOR), finishing after 11 days 17 hours and 10 minutes. Salto is sailed by Henrik and Anne Vestnes, along with their three children, Sara (9), Vetle (6) and Birk (2), plus crew members Ola and Pernilla.
The Cook family’s Outremer 55 Sizzle (GBR) was second, with the youngest participant, 9-month-old Charlottle onboard, and third to finish was another Outremer 52, Appa (USA) with two youngsters in the crew. A record 26 multihulls took part in the rally.
Baptiste Peix and Alexandra Marlier, sailing with their two young children on the French Outremer 49 Oxane (FRA) were surprised to win the Outremer Plaque for the Outremer on corrected time, saying they were delighted with the friendships their children had made with others within the fleet, as well as the camaraderie and support given by the Yellow Shirts.
In the Multihull fleet, class winners were: Class A: Piment Rouge (FRA) Catana Ocean Class 50, and in Class B: Yggdrasil (NOR) Nautitech 40 Open.
Pierre de Saint-Vincent, owner of Catana OC50 Piment Rouge (FRA) was taking part in ARC+ for the third time, with the same crew. He was pleased with their result and happy with his new live-aboard Catana.
“We had good conditions and good winds this year. We only used 2-3 hours of engine, at the beginning, and had a beautiful crossing. We have met a lot of great people and had fun with them, so will look forward to seeing them in other countries as we sail on. The ARC+ is very good for the safety and assistance. It’s a good organisation. For us, it’s all about the sailing, fun and music!” he laughed.
Monohull sailing
John McDonnell, owner of the largest boat in the rally, the Solaris 74 Luminous 3 (GBR), was the fourth boat and first monohull to finish in Grenada, on 4 December taking 11d 19h 38m 26s. This was the first time they had joined the rally, and first time to Grenada. On arrival, he said: “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 in 2025. I wanted to do it fast, and Luminous does that! I’ve been dreaming about doing this for 30 years and so have most of the other guys, so it’s great.”
On the same day Xp-44 Born to Run (NOR) skippered by the rally’s youngest skipper, 24-year-old Peder Stiansen claimed line honours as the first boat to finish without any motoring, the young Norwegian co-owners making the most of every tactical decision to sail 2,264NM in 11 days, 21 hours, 31 minutes and 16 seconds.
“It’s been memorable. We are delighted to have done so well in the rally as we have been talking about doing this for almost four years. The time was right now as we were all in studies or work, so we are glad we just did it. We’ve enjoyed Grenada and the rally, and now we will explore the Caribbean and sail up to the East Coast of the US, and back to Norway to complete our 11-month sabbatical,” said Carl Corneliussen, crew on Born to Run.
Taking ratings and motoring penalties into account, prizes were awarded to the first three in each class. Winners in Division 1 for Cruisers were: Class A: Born to Run (NOR) X -Yachts Xp 44; Class B: Isabel (GBR) Southerly 47; Class C: Morgan’s Moon (ITA) Hallberg-Rassy 43, and Class D: Frenesi (SWE) Nauticat 43.
A full list of sailing results is available for download here.
ARC+ Special Awards
The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers is about more than sailing; special awards are also presented and include fleet-nominated prizes such as the ‘most beautiful boat’. The clear winner was Andrew Atkinson’s Harman 60 Scotch Mist (JEY).
The Spirit of ARC+ Award was presented to Steve and Sophie Bax of their home-built Bruce Roberts 532 Santosa (GBR) who had a dream to sail in the ARC, and took thirteen years to complete make the dream come true.
Ken Schwabenton on his Lagoon 400 S2 Myrto (USA) who tirelessly relayed messages to shore on behalf of non-ARC boat Aria.
Crossing the Atlantic is an impressive feat at any age, but the 38 children on the ARC+ rally have achieved it very early on in their lives! They were wooden medals, confirming they had sailed 3,000NM. A special thanks went to Lauren, Rebecca and Michela on the Dutch Excess 11 AtC for looking after Archie the ARC+ teddy bear and helping him with his first crossing.
For the best boat logs and photos at sea, the Amel Santorin Frances Louise V (GBR) received a prize for their wonderful written logs, and James Kenning and crew on the British-flagged Regina 43 Arkyla for their photo logs.
Keeping the rally’s social media fans amused through their fantastic social media posts were Carmen and Ori, with their two-year-old son Leo on Forquilla (ESP).
The 13th edition of ARC+ will set sail from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on 9 November 2025. There are already 55 boats registered for ARC+ 2025.
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