Ten days, 21 hours, 25 minutes and 10 seconds – that’s all it took as Caro with skipper Max Klink and an international crew recorded the fastest time ever to complete the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers commonly referred to as the ARC.
Caro which is based Norway and registered in the Cayman Islands, is among 224 boats taking part in this year’s ARC. The largest trans-ocean sailing event in the world got underway from Las Palmas, de Gran Canaria on November 24, headed for Rodney Bay, St Lucia. Caro crossed the finish line Thursday at about 6:10 am.
The record breaking performance was due in part to stronger winds produced by a mid-Atlantic low pressure system which drove Caro south. It also helped having an elite eight member crew consisting of various nationalities. Their average speed was 11.45 knots (kts) with a top speed of about 25 kts. The previous record for the ARC (11 days, five hours, 32 minutes and 30 seconds) was set in 2006 by Italian Maxi Capricorno.
Caro which was obviously built for speed, is 20 metres in length and a displacement of 8.9 tons
When asked what it was like coming into St Lucia Klink replied: “We had a beautiful time coming into St Lucia. Just as the sun came up the island looked fantastic. There was a slight rain show which helped in cleaning the boat.”
The crew were escorted to the IGY Rodney Bay Marina by officials fromThe ARC race committee and the management team of IGY Rodney Bay Marina, who were also at the finish line to witness the record breaking performance.
On the dock the welcoming party included various officials, including Chairman of the St Lucia Tourist Board (SLTB) Matthew Beaubrun; SLTB Public Relations Manager, John Emmanuel; Chairman of the ARC Planning Committee, Sean Compton; and Digicel Country Manager, Holly McNamara. Digicel is once again a major player in this year’s ARC having sponsored the event for the past five years.
Beaubrun congratulated Caro and crew for a record breaking performance in the ARC and spoke highly of the first ever ARC plus which involves an additional 43 yachts coming to St Lucia.
“This is really great for St Lucia and the yachting sector,” said Beaubrun. “It says that ARC is growing. We have over 200 boats coming here in the next few weeks so now we are seeing a big growth in the ARC as well as the ARC Plus. There will be a lot of benefits to St Lucia and spinoff from the spending of passengers along with their families staying at the hotels which is great for us.”
As of Friday morning 21 of the 224 boats in ARC 2013 arrived in St Lucia, after completing the 2700 trans ocean sailing event, with an additional 35 expected here over the weekend.
