REPORTAGE Here’s why everyone is happy when the ARC arrives in Saint Lucia

Our coverage continues from St. Lucia, where we sent our sailor/philosopher Marco Cohen* to Rodney Bay, where the arrivals of the ARC, the ocean rally “for everyone” (from Las Palmas to Gran Canaria to the Caribbean), are taking place. In three episodes, he tells us all the stories he has collected for us.

• Strange stories from Saint Lucia.

Make yourselves comfortable, in this installment he really unearths some special ones: from someone who crosses the world’s seas even though he is in a wheelchair, to the smallest (and winningest catamaran in the fleet), via carbon megacatamarans, cruising and super-regatta boats, tourism tips and more. Happy reading!

Beautiful stories from the ARC – Part 2

Saturday, December 21. St Lucia. The Instagram story-style temperature I won’t put on you because I’m not a sadist. Finally arrives (finally is a figure of speech because I would have gladly stayed a little longer), the day of the ARC awards ceremony.

ARC’s “welcome pack”

I feel a little bit like Bill Murray in Groundhog Day. I don’t know if you know that wonderful movie, where he wakes up every day in exactly the same spot as the day before, doing the same things over and over again. In fact, the regatta ceremonial, by the World Cruising Club, impeccably provides the same kind of welcome pack treatment, for everyone who arrives, from first to last.

And that is the right spirit of an Atlantic Rally, which is not a normal regatta. Just to give you an idea, while boats in the racing category are forbidden to use the engine, all others are allowed to use it in case of little wind, unless they declare it to the organization, which provides an hourly penalty. What happens: that of course the first arrivals of the biggest and best performing boats have already flown home or started with their boats the Christmas cruise to the Grenadines and Antigua joined by their families. But every day there are new arrivals and so they too have the same festivities with music concerts and the inevitable rum punch to celebrate the crews who have just crossed the finish line.

By now I know the cocktail guide and the compilation of local DJs/artists (awesome) by heart, and I know that after Michael Jackson comes September by Earth Wind & Fire. I have danced more in these 10 days than in the last 20 years, leap years included. I finish the tour of boats at the dock and run into two boats that won their category.

“If you take care of the boat, the boat will take care of you.”

The first, theArcona 435 Ohana, falls under my eye accidentally, only because I have never seen a boat so clean and gleaming. She looks like she came out immaculate for a preview at a boat show and not after an Atlantic crossing (see photo) .

I go to track down its owner, a tall, elegant gentleman who looks like something out of a 1950s movie and who immediately blesses me with this sentence, “If you take good care of your boat then the boat will take good care of you.”

As a hideous owner, I feel guilty and try to change the subject. He then tells me that the boat is an Arcona 435 Carbon version, very beautiful. He picked it up directly from the shipyard in Sweden. And from there they took her, taking a summer cruise, to the Canary Islands just in time for departure because there was a but … when they arrived on the coast of Portugal they suffered a killer whale attack: although he is convinced they were playing with his long carbon rudder blade that was completely severed and repaired just in time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0j3qa1MCH-A

• Read our articles on killer whale boat attacks here

Now having finished the regatta his goal is to participate in the RORC Caribbean 600. Well, I must say that here with these programs they are all rather smiling and serene and I would love to see them sad or bitter as well.

Winning the ARC on a 38-foot catamaran

Another who is very clear-minded and also to be envied is Massimo Guardigli, ceo Comar Yachts and C Cat. With his C-Cat 38 Bellamossa – City of Fiumicino, which won its multihull category, the plan was clear from the start.

“I wanted to have the shipyard design me a catamaran that was as small as possible. We eventually went on the 38-foot size, which has great advantages, including the fact that a cat of this size, inside, has the space of a 50-foot monohull: besides the undeniable one of budget, in the end a 38-footer no matter how much you load it is still a light boat. And lightness means moving well even with little wind and not just aft. We saw this in the first part of the regatta where, leaving Las Palmas, upwind in light winds we performed better than some bigger and pulled catamarans, keeping up with the monohulls in our category. Another interesting point is the handling of an easier to control rig “.

And speaking of safety, he points out to me that with the chosen cockpit configuration so sheltered, in the end they hardly ever had to put on a oilskin, which means staying dry, less stress on the body, and that too, he points out to me, is safety. Very interesting.

Instead, I gnaw in no small part about the plan to sail up via Antigua to Miami to showcase the boat at the U.S. boat show and then continuing with the idea of attending ARC World. I didn’t know this but the ARC also has several routes that allow crews traveling the different oceans to make group and controlled crossings.

The carbon supercatamaran

But in this zig zagging between different boats let’s go the other way and tell you instead about my impression of Jack, a no-nonsense, all-carbon McConaghy 76 (exactly twice as long as the C Cat 38!) brought from China by sea. Before it was then boarded on a ship to come all the way here.

I understand from the commander’s face and stories that this monster must not be the easiest to steer, but the glimpse is sensational because of the spaces and the use of carbon in the furnishings as well as the construction (photos). I look moved at the bar table full of bottles only to find out later that the captain has actually imposed a dry, no alcohol crossing for the crew. A choice moreover shared by many participants.

And it is this mix of technological monsters and normal family boats that is the most original aspect of this regatta/crossing. You really do find everything.

Around the world by wheelchair boat

And indeed, my next meeting beats them all: Axel Doerwalk. A man a myth. Hi-tech entrepreneur and now philanthropist. He has a noprofit that studies effects of climate change. He receives me in a wheelchair in front of his catamaran, a Vision 44. He boards the gangplank flaunting a confidence that I possess only when I pick up the wine list.

It moves with ease in the cockpit by taking advantage of the linear space of the catamaran. Aside from the addition of a few grab handles to hold on to and a wider cockpit opening to stay out of the way, everything is standard. He basically steers and tells me that he respects the sea but is not afraid. He already has more than 20,000 miles of round-the-world crossings behind him with this boat, starting from Capetown, where he went to get the boat, which he personally carried all the way to the start.

But the thing that blew me away the most was to find out that basically, he who made his fortune from hitech and is a digital nomad is the only one I could find who made the crossing without Starlink. “I was thinking about it then I left it at home and this is why”-he picks up his guitar and starts playing.

“With Starlink I would have spent the crossing answering emails and working. So instead I was able to enjoy the sea, read a good book and play music, which is my favorite pastime “.

Dead reed? Yes, but safely

Those who surely did not think to read are the Leaps&Bounds (formerly SuperNikka) crew of my beloved designer Mark Mills and winner in class 1 racing.

I talk to the navigator who tells me something very interesting about managing such a boat on an Atlantic crossing, which cannot be approached as a normal long one: “There were two factions on board. Those who dead reed without letting go even at night and the more cautious ones who wanted to sail with the jib at night so as not to risk breakage. In the end, although it is always said that only one person should be in charge in the boat we voted and made a collective Solomonic decision.

Yes to the gennaker but fractional with one hand (see photo), but with the covenant that if we had to haul it down for a sudden night rump it would not retreat any further up, past the worst of it (as would be natural in a Giraglia), until daylight. Incidentally, interestingly, we have found that these kinds of performance hulls with the longer and less dry ocean wave than those in our seas sail better underpowered and with fractional gennaker than the boat polars with full sails.

Why visit Saint Lucia: tips from the “local”

I end this trip with a short interview with Curtney Thomas, a sailor originally from St. Lucia who has just finished his ARC.

I ask him, “All crews I interviewed do the ARC to get away from home. You, on the other hand, go back. How does that affect you? “. “I get asked this a lot, actually: it’s a mixture of feelings. Especially having friends and family welcome me home and then afterwards immediately ask me how long I will stay, since I am always out at sea away from family “.

I then ask him to explain to readers of the Sailing Newspaper what are the reasons why they should come to visit Saint Lucia for their vacation: “Honestly, and I know I’m biased, but I love my island. St. Lucia is first and foremost a nature lover’s paradise, boasting breathtaking landscapes such as the iconic Pitons (these are two UNESCO heritage volcanic formations and a symbol of the best local beer, ed.), lush rainforests, and pristine beaches. You can go for a ride to the only volcano in the world that can be reached by car, or just relax on the shores of the Caribbean Sea. All this can be found in one of my favorite communities, Soufriere, which is located on the west coast of the island.

And then in addition to the beauty of the island, it is its people who make the difference. We are the ones who make Saint Lucia what it is. We are kind and hospitable, we enjoy lively music and delicious Creole cuisine. Visiting Saint Lucia is a must! If you want to experience the social life of the locals go on Friday nights to the street parade in Gros-Islet, another of my favorite destinations located in the north of the island.

Also visit the historical sites on Pigeon Island and discover the rich history of the island. In short, the island offers you a lot of unforgettable experiences. From water sports, snorkeling, diving, kayaking in Marigot Bay to nature trails and waterfalls at Anse La Raye. Saint Lucia is for all types of travelers !

Top 5 must-see places

I take the liberty, since I have sacrificed to try them out for you as well, to also give you my top 5 must-see places:

• beach restaurant. The Naked Fisherman. Spectacular cove with bar, loungers and tables practically pieds dans l’eau. Part of the wonderful Cap Maison hotel in the north of the island.

• bamboo rafting. I thought it was a boondoggle and it wasn’t. Rafting, but slow progress on the river with rainforest and mangrove landscapes until you get to the beach.
• Sugar Bay. the beach with the most beautiful view on the island.
• For those coming there by boat Rodney Bay, the marina that houses the ARC. Very well run and friendly with small restaurants on the bay and supermarket.
• It is not a place but here the people are part of the beauty of the landscape. Always smiling, hospitable and often humorous.

The freedom to do what makes you happy

As St. Lucia’s minister of tourism said at the award ceremony “We on this side of the world know how to enjoy life and not stress too much. So we are always happy to welcome people like you sailors who have left their work commitments to come all the way here “.

And then he added a very nice sentence addressed to all the participants that, as a sailing philosopher, I can’t help but appreciate: “Every now and then I ask myself, me who stays ashore and only participates in the award ceremonies, ‘but why do you do it? But who makes you do it’…I only cross the Atlantic in four-engine vehicles and with wings…then I see you here, all together happy with crazy energy. And I get it. You are happy because you have chosen the freedom to do what makes you happy. And you have succeeded.”

Marco Cohen

• Read the first installment here
• Here are all the rankings for ARC 2024

*Who is Marco Cohen

The author of this article is film producer and sailor Marco Cohen, pictured here at the helm of a small boat (in that case a Cape 31, designed by his “fetish” designer Mark Mills).

Owner of a MAT 12 (designed, indeed, by Mills) tours the Mediterranean for regattas (losing almost all of them but having a lot of fun). A keen humorist and sailing philosopher (“I re-embraced sailing at age 37 after yet another soccer injury, when I realized it’s the only sport you can do sitting down and with a glass in your hand”), his articles are always a big hit. Below you can read some of his “pearls”:

• How to slow down a racing boat. 10 secrets to not winning
• Phenomenology (semi-serious) of the Winter Championship.
• The owner’s syndrome or how to be happy despite the boat
• How to participate in offshore racing knowing you will lose
• Guide to Dreaming Sydney Hobart
• The boat change syndrome
• Small boat vs. big boat
• Nice Giraglia, with the Maxis it would have been even better
• “My first, unforgettable Rolex Middle Sea Race.”