Two Irish yachts, Tír na nÓg and Rí-Rá, have successfully completed the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) from Las Palmas to St Lucia. The boats, an Oyster 565 and an Oyster 675 respectively, are safely berthed in the Caribbean port after a challenging journey.
The first day of the journey was difficult due to light winds out of Las Palmas. However, once the boats were away from the Canary Islands, a 15-knot breeze settled in from behind, and most of the fleet headed south towards the Cape Verde Islands to get into the proper trade winds.
Tír na nÓg was ahead of nearly the whole fleet up to and past the Cape Verdes and was the overall leader on handicap. However, on day ten, with over 1000 miles to go, the spinnaker halyard parted, causing the spinnaker to go into the water with too much damage to repair it. This meant that the final 1000 miles had to be completed downwind under just the mainsail and boomed out jib, as the boat only had one spinnaker. Despite this setback, Tír na nÓg still kept most of her gains right through to the finish - a total of 16 days. Rí-Rá came in approximately 12 hours later.
Although overall handicaps have not been applied yet, and some penalties for the use of the engine, which is allowed, Tír na nÓg is still in a position to win overall and their class based on these penalties. This will not be known for a few days.
Tír na nÓg, and Rí-Rá will spend a few days relaxing in St Lucia before travelling to Antigua to join the Oyster fleet for the Oyster Round the World rally, which commences in January.
