Stephen Hyde from Passage West in Co. Cork, sailing 'A Lady', an Oyster 56, is the sole Irish boat in the forthcoming World ARC cruise. There are currently 38 yachts being 'geared up' to carry their crews on a world circumnavigation and cruising adventure of a lifetime in the World ARC 2010/11, organised and run by World Cruising Club (WCC).
The East to West circumnavigation begins in Saint Lucia in the Caribbean in January 2010, and during the year visits Panama, Ecuador, French Polynesia, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, Fiji, Australia, Bali, Mauritius, Reunion Island and South Africa. In 2011, the rally then crosses the South Atlantic via St Helena, to Brazil and then visits Grenada before arriving back in Saint Lucia in March 2011, 15 months after the journey began.
In this second edition of World ARC, the participating fleet is as internationally varied as the countries being visited. There are yachts representing 19 different national flags and an even greater number of nationalities within the crews. The largest contingent is from Germany with eight yachts entered, then the UK with seven and, whilst many of the boats are from Europe or the USA, there are also yachts from Malaysia, Singapore and Australia taking part.
