Grenada has welcomed the first arrival of ARC+ 2021 as Pierre De Saint-Vincent’s Outremer 51 Piment Rouge (FRA) claimed line honours in the second leg of the cruising rally from Mindelo, Cape Verde.
As Afloat reported yesterday, Malahide's Conor Haughey's Hibernian remains the top cruiser with an estimated finish time early tomorrow morning.
The next Irish boat estimated to finish is Tralee Bay's Brian O'Sullivan and Francis Clifford's Navillus Lagoon catamaran currently lying in 19th overall and fifth multihull.
The new French winning multihull, sailed by a crew of six, crossed the finish line off Quarantine Point, St George’s, Grenada at 23:10:23 local time on Wednesday 1st December, completing their transatlantic crossing after 12 days and 14 hours at sea. Arriving after 2,424nm of sailing, there were loud cheers from the crew and music blasting out from the comfortable deck of the catamaran to hail their arrival.
The crew were elated to be the first boat to finish and after crossing the line, made their way into the Carenage, the lively waterfront area which winds around the inner harbour, before being guided by Dock Master Joel into Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina where the ARC+ boats will be hosted over the next few days.
The ARC+ yellowshirts and Marina Manager Zara Tremlett were waiting for Piment Rouge on the dock to give a very warm Spice Island welcome and lines were made fast, the crew donned fun long black wigs and sunglasses for their night time arrival before spraying a bottle of French champagne to celebrate their victory! It has not been an easy run across the Atlantic with light airs haunting the rhumb line route requiring the navigators to sail further south than ever before in search of the tradewinds, but the adrenaline of making landfall and excitement of such a warm welcome provided a fitting end to their voyage.
“I’m feeling good. The ARC+ was a very good experience with a very good crew and there was a great atmosphere on board. We sailed all the time apart from about 4 hours using the engine. We went south and made at least 20 directional changes en route to Grenada from Cape Verde. The last two days were quite difficult, with a lot of rain, but we managed a 240nm run in the last 24 hours. I’ve only had the boat since July but I know now that Piment Rouge is a good boat," said Pierre De Saint-Vincent.
The Piment Rouge crew: Pierre De Saint-Vincent, Hervé Cardona, Catherine Ducret, Vincent Henry, Serge Milliard and Sylvie Servoles.
The first arrival is a special moment as it officially kicks off the ARC+ arrival programme in Grenada. Welcoming the ARC+ fleet for the first time, the Grenada Tourism Authority and staff of Camper & Nicholsons Port Louis Marina have been diligently planning a programme of events compliant with COVID protocols and are dedicated to giving ARC+ sailors the warmest of welcomes to ‘pure Grenada’. A further 70 yachts will make landfall in the coming days and indeed there was not long to wait until the second arrival, Neel 47 BigBird (USA) crossed the line at 04:56:19 local time.
All the yachts are equipped with a YB Tracker, regularly updating their position to the online Fleet Viewer and YB Races app for friends and family to follow the fleet. Tales of fishing triumphs and tradewind sailing will also be sent to the World Cruising Club website, as participants share their ocean adventures.
