Italians at the ARC, Duffy dismounts, Durlindana among the frontrunners

The 30th Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) started from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in high winds. In 195 set off for Rodney Bay (Saint Lucia) for the most famous and crowded Atlantic crossing (2,700 miles is no joke!) of all.

DUFFY DISEMBARKED
Eight Italian boats showed up at the start (plus one if you also count the ARC +, starting in Cape Verde: the Bavaria 41 Amaltea by Jean Carlo Duccini), one of which is unfortunately already out of the picture: Enrico Calvi’s Dufour 34 Duffy (the absolute star at the last Rolex Middle Sea Race), racing in the Racing B category, dismasted. Fortunately everyone on board is fine, currently the boat is returning to the Canary Islands, it is about 300 miles from Gran Canaria.

DURLINDANA III AMONG THE PROTAGONISTS
In contrast, Giancarlo Gianni’s (CC Aniene) Carroll Marine 60 Durlindana III is experiencing the regatta as an absolute protagonist: currently, on the fifth day of sailing, it is in second place overall in the fleet and second in Racing A, behind the impregnable VO65 Team Brunel fresh from the Volvo Ocean Race. A crazy performance for the Lazio architect, who leads a crew of ten. He currently has 1,500 miles to go and is traveling at a speed of 10.7 knots.

THE OTHER ITALIANS
The other Italian boats in the race are the Fabio Scalzi’s Swan 56 Why Not, the Claudio Rigini’s Bavaria 38 My Dream, the Judel & Vrolijk Kleronia proto by the Rosciglione/Sebastiani couple, Massimiliano Terragni’s Oceanis 50 Y2K, Jessica Sheperd’s Baltic 38 Obelix and Valerio Bardi’s Swan 46 Milanto. The fleet is scheduled to arrive in St. Lucia starting at the end of the first week of December. Follow the tracking here: http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/arc/eventfleetviewer.aspx

As a reminder, there is another boat engaged in another rally, Jimmy Cornell’s Atlantic Odyssey, which left Lanzarote on Nov. 18 heading for Martinique (38 boats starting). It is Roberto and Federica Maddalena’s Elan 450 Patuk.