A battle to the finish...ARC 2001

by Jeremy Watt on 4 Dec 2001 After nine days at sea and with a little over 600 nautical miles to go, it
is neck and neck for the front runners in ARC 2001. Swan 68 Lady in Red is
ahead by the smallest of margins with 613nm to go, whilst Farr 65, Spirit
of Diana is at just 616nm. Both crews are pushing hard, hoping for the
honour of first to arrive at Rodney Bay St.Lucia and a new record for the
crossing.

If the winds hold, they either yacht could break the course record of 12
days 18 hours 7 minutes and 20 seconds, held by Open 50 Multicap Caraibes.
On current speeds the first arrivals will be during Friday 7th December,
well inside the deadline of 06:47 hours UTC on Saturday 8th they need to
achieve to break the record. However, winds are expected reduce, so it may
be a close call at the finish line.

For the majority of the ARC yachts, there is still a long way to go. Aboard
Challenge Classic 67, CGU, they celebrated their 'half-way' point on Sun
day. According to skipper John, in a variation of the Equatorial 'crossing
the line' ceremony, CGU was visited by Neptune's brother, on the 'half-way
line' to admit the crew into the fellowship of the sea. A court was held on
the aft deck and the miscreant novice crew were summoned to answer various
charges, including attempted poisoning of the crew (cooking up
olive-omelet-sandwiches), and unlawful impersonation of a lobster (getting
sunburned). During the ceremony the initiates were required to drink whale
urine (I'm told it tastes similar to grappa) as part of their ritual
humiliation by King of the Sea's deputy!

In other ARC fleet news Nirvana was visited by a pod of five killer whales
today! All very exciting reports skipper, Pal Gabrielsen. Meanwhile Lady
Caribe has departed from the Cape Verdes after a detour due to seasickness
of a crew member. All crew now well says skipper Manfred Theissig.

After encounters with Ward Evens Atlantic rowing Challenge boats at the
weekend, there was an encounter with another friend of Challenge Business
at sea yesterday. The Open 60 Kingfisher, on route back to the UK after the
finish of the Transat Jaque Vabre sighted ARC yacht Heya late yesterday
evening. Heya's Swiss skipper Mirko van Roomen, was surprised to see
another yacht going 'the wrong way', but glad of assistance to relay his
position. Heya has a problem with their mini-M satellite telephone and had
been unable to report a position for some days. In fact Kingfisher delivery
skipper, Jonny Malbon, a former Challenge Business skipper and World
Cruising Club event co-ordinator was able to telephone the position
straight to the Organiser Andrew Bishop's mobile telephone! Jonny reports
that all aboard Heya are well and enjoying their crossing.

And finally... Happy Birthday to Colin Holland, skipper of Hallberg Rassy
46 JamJar - 57 today!

More ARC news, pictures, weather and positions at
http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/fleetnews01/fleetnews.htm

Notes for editors:

* ARC2001 is sponsored by the Tourist Board of Gran Canaria, the Port
Authority of Las Palmas, the St Lucia Tourist Board, and in association
with Yachting World.

* The current ARC2001 entry list is available at:
http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/entry01.htm

* ARC2001 started from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Canary Islands on Sunday
25th November 2001 and finishes at Rodney Bay Marina, St.Lucia.

* ARC is the largest transocean sailing event in the world, setting a
record in 1999 of 235 entries.

* The 2700 mile passage will take most of the yachts between 18 and 21
days.

* World Cruising Club events include the Yachting World ARC Europe from
Antigua every May, and the Yachting Monthly Rally Portugal from Plymouth to
Lagos, Portugal, plus cruising seminars organised to help sailors with
their cruising preparations.

* World Cruising Club, organisers of the world's most popular yachting
rallies, is part of Challenge Business, which was founded by Sir Chay Blyth
12 years ago.

* Southampton based Challenge Business events include the BT Global
Challenge, the Ward Evans Atlantic Rowing Challenge, and the EDS Atlantic
Challenge for Open 60 racing yachts. It also runs Challenge Corporate
Events and Challenge Adventure Sailing. See
http://www.challengebusiness.com for more information.


Contacts:
Jeremy Wyatt World Cruising Club, 120 High Street, Cowes PO31 7AX, England
Tel. +44(0)1983 296060 Fax. +44(0)1983 295959
e-mail: mail@worldcruising.com

Rachel Anning Challenge Business
Tel: +44 (0)1453 836 333
M: +44 (0) 7813 803 936
E@ rachelanning@challengebusiness-box.com


websites: - www.worldcruising.com
www.worldcruising.net
www.challengebusiness.com
Official EDS Atlantic Challenge event site - www.edsatlanticchallenge.com
Official BT Global Challenge event site - www.btchallenge.com