A lucky 13 years after claiming line honours in ARC 2010, Italian sailor Marco Rodolfi has led the ARC 2023 fleet into St. Lucia, crossing the Atlantic in 12 days 13 hours 54 minutes and 34 seconds onboard the Swan 90 Berenice Cube (GBR).

Published 12 months ago

The Italian owned and crewed Berenice Cube crossed the line off Pigeon Island, Saint Lucia on Saturday 2 December at 02:39:34 UTC (local time Friday 1 December 22:39:34) after 3050 nautical miles of classic trade wind sailing from Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands.

Explaining the team strategy, Marco Rodolfi said: “The choice was to go south and use the Code Zero to go as fast as possible.” He added: “The crew are very, very, very good. The best crew in the world, sailing stars.”

Mulithull Line Honours

Seven hours after Berenice Cube was alongside in IGY Rodney Bay Marina, Regis Guillemot took multihull line honours with his Marsaudon ORC50 Ti ana (FRA), crossing the line on Saturday 2 December at 10:22:32 UTC (local time 06:22:32). Regis and the crew of Ti ana covered 3313nm in 12 days, 21 hours 52 minutes and 32 seconds.

Like Marco Rodolfi, this is the second ARC line honours award for Regis, following his 2019 win with Hallucine (FRA), a Marsaudon TS5. Ti ana made the crossing almost 2 days faster than Hallucine, which was first overall to finish in 2019.

ARC Doubles

With Berenice’ Cube’s line honours, Italian teams have won both the 2023 ARC transatlantic rallies as Andrea Nevi’s Italia Yachts 15.98 Nessun Dorma (ITA) crossed the line first in the ARC+ rally to Grenada on 29 November after 11 days 18 hours from Cape Verde.

It is also a double in the 2023 multihull line honours with newly launched Marsaudon ORC50s taking both top slots – Ti ana joining Christopher Murray’s Mongoose (USA) which finished ARC+ in 11 days and 23 hours.

Fleet Update

The next boats expected to arrivew in St. Lucia were Southern Wind SW100 L’Ondine (GGY), Roger Hill Yacht Design Nica (DEU), Marsaudon ORC50 Calamity (VGB), Oyster 885 Babiana (GBR) and Southern Wind SW100 Acaia (MLT).

The 156 ARC yachts have enjoyed sparkling sailing conditions with gentle trades building slowly during the crossing to more classic 15-20 knots. The bulk of the fleet are expected to arrive in Saint Lucia between 6 and 12 December, ahead of the prize giving on 16 December.

This year 252 yachts are crossing the Atlantic with ARC rallies (156 with ARC to Saint Lucia and 96 with ARC+ to Grenada) including a record-breaking 73 multihulls spread between the two fleets. 2023 is also a record-breaking year for junior sailors, with 63 under-16s crossing the Atlantic with the ARC and ARC+rallies.

Follow the fleets on the YB Races app, or on the rally website Fleet Viewer.

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ARC Entry Statistics

• Entries: 156 boats – 112 monohulls, 43 catamarans & 1 trimaran.
• Crews: 934 people aged from 1 to 89 years.
• Children: 18 children aged 16 and under on 11 boats.
• Nationalities: Crew come from 40 countries. 26% are British, 12% German & 11% Swedish.
• Smallest: 10.11m Lady Eleonora (ITA), a Grand Soleil 34. Multi is Tanoa (DEU) an 11.2m Pivilege 37.
• Largest: 32m Alloy Yachts Irelanda (MLT). Multi is Lagoon Sixty-5 Meribel (EST) at 20.55m.
• Boat flags: Boats are flagged to 30 nations. Top 3: Britain 48, Germany 18 & USA 12.
• Top brands: 17 from Oyster, 13 Beneteau & 11 Lagoon. There are five Excess 15s.

General Information

• ARC departed from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria on 19 November and sails direct to Saint Lucia.
• Gran Canaria to Saint Lucia is approximately 2700NM – 18-21 days for the majority of the fleet.
• The ARC record is 8 days, 6 hours, 29 minutes & 15 seconds, set in 2016 by George David’s maxi Rambler 88.
• The ARC is a fun rally for cruising yachts. Boats are allowed to motor, although motoring hours are considered when calculating the results. Yachts in the IRC Racing Division are not permitted to use their engines for propulsion.
• The ARC has run every year since 1986. For the first four years the rally finished in Barbados. In 1990, the finish was moved to Saint Lucia.
• ARC 2023 is sponsored by the Tourist Board of Gran Canaria and the Saint Lucia Tourism Authority and is supported by the Port Authority of Las Palmas, the City Hall of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, IGY Rodney Bay Marina, and runs in association with Yachting World magazine.

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General Enquiries:

For information about participating in the ARC or other World Cruising Club rallies, please contact mail@worldcruising.com or call +44 (0)1983 296060

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Related Links:

• ARC Website
• ARC Entry List
• World Cruising Club

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