World Cruising Club takes Yellowbrick Road for ARC events

by Peta Stuart-Hunt/Sail-World Cruising on 2 Oct 2009 World Cruising Club, the cruising rally specialists best known for the popular transatlantic sailing event the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), has now opened its entry lists for a host of 2010 events including ARC Europe, Rally Portugal and the ARC, and will use second generation Yellow Brick satellite tracking for all events.

Interest is already high and all events are expected to fill up quickly. Resulting from a successful trial with this year's Rally Portugal, from June 2010 yachts in all World Cruising Club offshore rallies will carry satellite tracking units, capable of automatically reporting the yachts' positions, anywhere in the world.

ARC Europe 2010 - Start date 06/05/2010:
Crossing the Atlantic from West to East at the end of the Caribbean season. ARC Europe starts from both Tortola (BVI) and from Florida, calling at Bermuda and then cruising the Azores, before finishing in Portugal and northern Europe. Stuart Gough from s/y Misty Lady commented: 'Thoroughly enjoyable Rally, well organised at each port, with invaluable advice from the World Cruising Club Team'.

Rally Portugal 2010 - Start date 30/05/2010:
This popular cruising rally that crosses the Bay of Biscay from Plymouth and then ventures down the Portuguese Coast to Marina de Lagos, has just celebrated its 15th anniversary. The first entries for the 2010 rally have already been received, proving the event's popularity as a fun way to sail south for the start of the season in the Mediterranean.

ARC 2010 - Start date 21/11/201:
The world's most popular transocean cruising event celebrates its silver jubilee next year. The ARC, which was first established in 1986, covers 2700 nautical miles from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to Saint Lucia in the Caribbean.

Managing Director of World Cruising Club, Andrew Bishop, comments: 'Having been involved since participating in the 4th ARC, I am delighted the event has reached this important milestone and look forward to ensuring the 25th ARC is a memorable celebration for everyone involved.'

Between 1986 and 2008 a grand total of 3908 yachts have entered this annual event, and with this year's Rally already announced as full, the 2009 crossing will push the numbers well over the 4000 mark. ARC 2009 has over 1100 participating sailors representing 28 different nationalities. This level of diversity within the fleet is a tribute to the spirit of the ARC.

Andrew goes on to say: 'The diversity and international appeal of the ARC is what makes the event so special for the participants; cruising is about exploring, and what better way than to meet so many different nationalities; friendships made on the ARC often last lifetimes. A shared experience of crossing an ocean made just that little more special.'

Yellowbrick Satellite Tracking:
The technology developed by Yellowbrick Adventure Tracking, will provide a significant benefit for participants in World Cruising Club events. The system was first used on Rally Portugal 2009 and was a huge success with automatic position reports uploading to the WCC website every six hours via the Iridium Network. Tracking will also be used on the 2009 ARC in the racing division and will be introduced to all World Cruising events starting with Rally Portugal 2010.

'There are tremendous advantages of having automatic position reports from yachts participating in our events. The second generation self-contained Yellowbrick unit is more compact, and will be simple to fit at the start of each event. This is an exciting development of embracing emerging technology for the benefit of our participants, and those following the events on the web,' said Andrew Bishop.

Yellowbrick Technical Director, Ric Searle, commented: 'We are delighted at the success of our technology demonstration during Rally Portugal and look forward to working closely with World Cruising Club providing yacht tracking for the racing yachts in ARC 2009.'

For all information about World Cruising events E-mail: mail [at] worldcruising.com or go to their www.worldcruising.com/arc!Website