Oyster and new ARC adventures
The crews of 25 Oyster yachts set off from Antigua on 9 January on the first leg of the
Oyster World Rally, a 16-month fully supported circumnavigation. The 27,000-mile adventure comprises 25 stops around the world and is the third edition for the British brand. The first leg sails to Panama City, where the fleet will regroup in early February to transit the canal.
There are five new yachts competing, including three of Oyster’s latest 565s and one 595.
Meanwhile 44 yachts set off from Gran Canaria on the first ever ARC January. The new rally is designed to give owners the option of a postchristmas start and a later crossing. Like the November ARC, it finishes in St Lucia, though there is no racing division.
The January ARC was initially expected to see more consistent breezes. “Statistically the weather should be better, more likely to be able to do the rhumb line route,” explained Jeremy Wyatt of World Cruising Club before the start.
However, early January conditions brought navigational choices for the ARC January fleet which saw the majority of the fleet sailing well south of the rhumb line (see our full report on the November ARC, which also split, on page 28).
Slaven Fischer, skipper of the first yacht to St Lucia, the Akilaria 40 Mowgli, said: “The weather was strange and I really thought it would be more stable. We experienced up to 32 knots of wind changes within minutes at times, with every cloud bringing its own microclimate.”
Mowgli was one of a handful of yachts to opt for a more northerly route.
Slaven commented: “We came here to enjoy some good downwind sailing, staying on the rhumb line was not going to give us enough wind and going south would have taken us too close to
Africa so we decided on a northerly route.”
The ARC January also saw one yacht abandoned. The X49 Brainstorm suffered damage to a rudder stock and water ingress. Due to worsening conditions, the decision was made to abandon, all crew safely transferring to two other yachts standing by, What’s Next and Rhapsodie VI, on 19 January.