BRIDGEDECK
The pros and cons of joining a rally
Many years ago I managed to score a ride across the Atlantic in one of the early renditions of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC). It was on a monohull, since oceangoing cruising multis were pretty rare in those days, but no matter; it was the journey that mattered, not the vehicle aboard which it was accomplished. Since then I’ve had plenty of time to think about the reasons to join a cruising rally, and the reasons not to.
For the skipper of the boat I was on in 1989, safety was certainly a motivating factor. He had sailed for years around the British and Northern European coasts without ever doing an offshore passage of more than three or four days, and the prospect of cruising in company with a couple of hundred other boats, along with the ARC radio net, appealed to him greatly. Should any one of the many unpleasant scenarios of the sort we sailors imagine during our night watches manifest itself, chances were a fellow crew nearby would be able to render some sort of assistance before we were swallowed by the sea, or a kraken, whichever came first.
As it happened, after the first two days we saw only one other boat in the following 19, and that only for a few hours. To me at least, as a student of maritime disasters, the safety net seemed largely illusory. (I have since been proved wrong by the many instances of ARC sailors helping comrades in distress.) I placed more value on the stringent safety checks and seminars that made the ARC more than just a convivial social gathering.
This is not to diminish the value of such social gatherings—I am all for them, and in fact it is the social aspect of the ARC and other rallies that is their chief attraction for many crews. The camaraderie fostered by such a shared adventure as sailing across an ocean is not to be underestimated. Not just across an ocean, either—coastal rallies or cruises-incompany give you the same sense of fellowship, and most people who take part in them make some lifelong friends. You share information, help each other out with spare parts, advice and encouragement, and generally become part of a floating community.
As for reasons not to, well, rallies are not for those who can’t abide the thought of sailing to a schedule or who would rather be the lone boat in an isolated anchorage.
It’s hard to believe the ARC has been a staple of the cruising lifestyle for more than 30 years now, the original, and many believe still the best, of all the sailing rallies that take place around the world. If you see one of these in your future, check out our guide to the rallying world on page 46.