THE KNOWLEDGE
Heather Prentice meets the varied group of sailors inspired to join the iconic Atlantic crossing
Sailors have been crossing the Atlantic for centuries, following in the wake of Columbus in 1492, but there is still something about this navigation that quickens the pulse. It is a dream that inspires many sailors that is both life-affirming and, for many, life-changing.
This year 155 yachts, including a record 45 multihulls, crossed the Atlantic with the 38th ARC rally organised by the World Cruising Club, sailing an average of 3,000 miles from Las Palmas in Gran Canaria to Rodney Bay in Saint Lucia. There were 30 junior sailors under age 16, five yachts with a doublehanded crew, five female skippers and 13 racing yachts amidst the cruising fleet.
The yachts enjoyed near-perfect trade wind conditions with sunshine, calmer 3-4m seas and moderate to gentle winds between 18-22 knots, with the odd 30-knot squall. There were few breakages, with most yachts spending around 20 days at sea.
What was most striking was the degree of planning and forward-thinking that has gone into making the crossing. Many of this year’s sailors had been planning for years, even decades, and some for most of their adult lives. Couples talked about how they had dreamed of it before meeting each other, how they sold their houses, switched countries to allow homeschooling afloat, quit their jobs and saved for years to enable them to cross the Atlantic and perhaps continue blue-water cruising.
ATHENA, CONTEST 50CS
This year, one couple chose to get married mid-Atlantic in a beautiful ceremony conducted by the skipper. Aboard Athena, Philip Mrosk had planned a surprise wedding ceremony for his beloved Evelina in a wonderfully romantic gesture. The skipper and his crew were in on the secret and told Evelina there would be a formal celebration for reaching the midpoint of the crossing. ‘I asked Evelina to dress up as there would be a ceremony for reaching the midpoint in the Atlantic and that the skipper would like to say a few words. So everyone was smartly dressed in the heat,’ said Philip. ‘I asked Evelina: ‘Do you want to marry me again in front of Poseidon?’ Then I pulled out a veil I had packed for the occasion.’ Carsten conducted the ceremony, which was particularly poignant as Carsten had taught Philip to sail some years earlier and they are all members of the same Munich sailing club.
