As it does every year, Yachting World magazine, organizer of the ARC (3,000 miles from the Canary Islands to Saint Lucia), has published its study of breakages and breakdowns that occurred during the Atlantic crossing open to cruising boats. These are useful statistics because they allow a sort of ranking of what breaks down most easily on board.
EASY BREAKAGE
Let’s start right away with a very important fact: of the 290 boats at the start (249 powerboats, 41 multihulls) as many as 167 had breakdowns on board. As a percentage, 57.6 percent! This means that when facing long sailings, we have to take into account that the likelihood of encountering a problem is very high, so you have to be prepared (hyper-stocked toolbox, spare parts and respectful equipment).
WATCH OUT FOR SAILS
Above you can take a look at the table we compiled based on data provided by Yachting World: the number of sail failures (as many as 97 out of the total 354 recorded at ARC) far outweighs everything else. This should give pause for thought. We must always set sail after checking our “engine” down to the smallest details, from the mainsail matafions to the battens entrance, from the head board to the base attachment, from the bow drop to the spinnaker bugs.
Try to take good sail tape, repair equipment and so on with you. Immediately behind on the “disaster list” are failures to current rigging, rigging and deck equipment. Again, do not be unprepared with spare parts and respectful tops. This is followed by rigging, desalinators, generators, electronics, and so on.
