Atlantic Sailing

THE coming of steam sent the world's great sailing fleets into decline. The internal combustion engine finally finished them off. So it would be a strange twist of fate if the age of sail was resurrected by what amounts to a child's toy. For several weeks last summer, a team of German engineers sailed back and forth across the Baltic Sea playing with a large inflatable kite. The engineers, from the Hamburg company SkySails, were testing the potential of high-tech kites to pull a ship... Read Full Story

St. Lucia is truly one of the most beautiful places in the world. It is the sort of tropical paradise that a bareboat yacht charterer dreams about. From the white sand beaches to the calm Carribbean waters to the west, it is a gorgeous sight to see. St. Lucia is the type of island that travelers from around the world dream of, and is located midway down the Eastern Caribbean chain, between Martinique and St. Vincent. It has long been inhabited and its cultural treasures are a fascinating... Read Full Story

  2005 was one of the worst years for hurricanes on record—and it was also the year that a British explorer and adventurer named Dom Mee tried to cross the North Atlantic from Canada to England in a tiny 14-foot boat powered only by a kite.. The adventure and the hurricane ravaged seas collided—truncating Dom’s efforts 39 days into the quest.   He was battered at various times by hurricanes Irene, Maria, Katrina and Ophelia while they were in the open ocean. But, it was the remnants of... Read Full Story

Another Night of Squall DodgingIt was another night of squall dodging for many ARC Yachts.  Most yachts seamed to take some comfort from the fact that there were plenty of other ARC yachts to talk to on both VHF and SSB.  Most swapped weather information and discussed routing options as well as describing local conditions across the fleet.  Those able to monitor the large weather systems on Radar attempted to describe what they could see to other yachts in the fleet.  There was a true feeling... Read Full Story

New Sport - Extreme BBQ'ing!  Yesterday the whole crew spotted one adolescent humpback whale.  It breeched a few times just 0.5nm from our port side.  Jonathan had been on 'wild-life' watch and was rewarded after 40mins of gazing at the horizon.  At this point Clare made a timely observation – that she and I would only spot more wild life if we spent more time looking for it!  So I volunteered to sit on the seat at the bow for a couple of hours of sunbathing…… oops I meant wild-life spotting... Read Full Story