Perfect Conditions for Start of ARC2003

At the start line. Photo by Patrick Roach

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria: With moderate winds forecast and sunny skies, conditions were near perfect for the start of ARC2003. The atmosphere this morning in the marina was one of excitement and anticipation, with plenty of crew hurrying around finishing off last minute jobs, saying temporary goodbyes to new friends and buying up one more ARC T-shirt!

By 1030 the last boat had checked out and at the final count, 212 boats were scheduled to cross the start line. The weather forecast for the day was NW force 4-5 decreasing during the morning to NW force 3-4 by start time.

At 1200 the Committee Boat, the Spanish Navy vessel "Medas" was in position on the start line.

First start 1240 - Racing Division Yachts favoured the committee boat end with many hooking behind the Committee Boat to come close to that end of the line. One yacht indeed came a little too close in its pre-start manoeuvres when 15 minutes before the start yacht Mazianna became entangled with the Medas' anchor trip line. Divers cut the line and Mazianna was free, but not without some slight sweating from the committee, anxious not to have to postpone the start.

The RORC Racing Division was first off, at 12:40 ahead of the main cruising fleet. Photo by Patrick Roach

Ten minutes after the start nearly all the racing boats appeared to be bunched together heading for the south of the island, with only a few tacking away to port from the land. There were some wonderful sights as the Cruising Division warmed up around the Committee Boat including "Kings Legend", the Swan 65 that took part in the first Whitbread Round the World Race of 1973/4 and the much smaller "Serefe", a Beneteau First 32S5 which has been followed by Channel 4 television since her departure from the UK

The sun shone and spinnakers went up for the start of ARC 2003. Photo by Patrick Roach

The Cruising Division start followed on 20 minutes later at 1300 and having watched the previous start the majority of boats chose to favour the committee boat end of the line.

With almost 200 boats starting together, several yachts crossed in packs and just after the start 5 boats were vying for space with limited sea room due to their close proximity to the committee vessel.

Once clearer air was found, a number of yachts chose to fly their spinnakers and "Lilla", a CNB 76 from the UK was a splendid slight as she glided by resplendent in her claret hull.

Two boats hard to miss at the back of the fleet were the beautiful gaff rigged ketch "Berenice" with all four sails set and the stately barque of the Jubilee Sailing Trust "Tenacious", fully rigged and a magnificent sight at the rear of the fleet.

Finally the last boat across was the French catamaran "Tambay", not in any rush and enjoying the clear air and water at the back of the fleet; why rush with over 2000 miles ahead of you?

By 1800, the majority of the fleet had reached the south of the island, enjoying some lovely night time sailing in around 10 knots of breeze. We wish them all a wonderful first night at sea and a safe crossing ahead.

The first position reports will be available from 17:00 on Monday 24 November

The ARC will finish at Rodney Bay, St.Lucia with the first yachts expected to take around 12 days to cross.