who's doing the ARC this year?
Discussion
cjm said:
Have you done it before? My dads currently planning on sailing back in May.
nope.. but my company is a corporate sponsor of the WCC and i head out to las palmas each year to host the owner's cocktail party.. this year rather than heading back to cold and wet blighty, i thought it would be a giggle to stay, hop on a boat and jump off in st.lucia.village idiot said:
cjm said:
Have you done it before? My dads currently planning on sailing back in May.
nope.. but my company is a corporate sponsor of the WCC and i head out to las palmas each year to host the owner's cocktail party.. this year rather than heading back to cold and wet blighty, i thought it would be a giggle to stay, hop on a boat and jump off in st.lucia.Rower
Well have not got time to do the ARC...but bringing a new Oyster 575 ( Grey one you can't miss it ) over from Genoa next week to Las Palmas for ARC start. Shame I can't do the ARC as St.Lucia was my home for a good while and I visit friends there regularly.
Got friends on Jeanneau 51/52 called 'Gwawr' dark blue hull...they are in the fleet..good gang on board... in the middle of Biscay right now. In fact I have just sold there old boat this week Sigma 38 and have been trying to get hold of the owner which has been tricky with them on passage.
Another boat left her a couple of weeks ago with its owner to do the ARC the famous Mr Brunstrom North Wales chief of police speeding fanatic in Hallberg Rassey. Wonder if he is in RORC racing fleet !!!
Got friends on Jeanneau 51/52 called 'Gwawr' dark blue hull...they are in the fleet..good gang on board... in the middle of Biscay right now. In fact I have just sold there old boat this week Sigma 38 and have been trying to get hold of the owner which has been tricky with them on passage.
Another boat left her a couple of weeks ago with its owner to do the ARC the famous Mr Brunstrom North Wales chief of police speeding fanatic in Hallberg Rassey. Wonder if he is in RORC racing fleet !!!
Edited by Rum Runner on Wednesday 13th October 21:30
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
sorry, prefer Marmalade.
Have fun though, its certainly better than steering a desk !!
Marmalade is an S Class of the sailing world where mine is a Bowler Wildcat, very different concepts but both fun sailng.
Nope, the majority will spend the winter in the Caribbean then head back around May I think. You probably don't hear much about the return as it's not an organised event. Also, I seem to remember hearing that it's difficult to sell places on the return leg as you're departing the US and their laws don't allow it unless the boat's been coded for it (this could be complete b
ks but it's got into the back of my mind from somewhere).
My Dad's attempting it again this year on his Bavaria 46. She left Greece this week en route to GC. Hopefully he'll fair a bit better this year after being medivacced off last year mid-Atlantic. Still, he got to the rum punch before anyone else!!
ks but it's got into the back of my mind from somewhere).My Dad's attempting it again this year on his Bavaria 46. She left Greece this week en route to GC. Hopefully he'll fair a bit better this year after being medivacced off last year mid-Atlantic. Still, he got to the rum punch before anyone else!!
We're turning round and sailing back to the Canaries on the 3rd Jan before heading South to the Cape Verde Islands this year. Charter market in the Caribbean is wrecked at the moment and everything has become out of control costs wise (some places in the Caribbean I've been charged $70 + taxes to Anchor for the night not even in a shelter bay!).
Spending time around the Verdes, Canaries and Azores before getting back to the UK in May seem like a better and more fun plan this year. Also means anyone wanting to come on a sailing holiday can get cheap flights down to us!
As for the comment about coding for boats coming back. This is a huge area of contention between those of us who run coded yachts with ocean levels of coverage. Because the ARC is billed as a race, lots of the safety standards for charter yachts can be 'got around'. Biggest issue is most customers have no idea about what they are signing up for and what the differences are between the boats. Sadly it's going to take an accident before anyone seems interested in clamping down on some of the more suitable yachts charging for the crossing. (I know one going this year without naming names that has a skipper taking 9 guests, no other professional crew, no ocean level of coding on the yacht, no back up liferafts etc and the skipper has never personally sailed an Atlantic crossing, but they have a very posh website and it sounds great.... and they seem to have sold a load of places for £3250 each... scares me silly this sort of thing!).
Spending time around the Verdes, Canaries and Azores before getting back to the UK in May seem like a better and more fun plan this year. Also means anyone wanting to come on a sailing holiday can get cheap flights down to us!
As for the comment about coding for boats coming back. This is a huge area of contention between those of us who run coded yachts with ocean levels of coverage. Because the ARC is billed as a race, lots of the safety standards for charter yachts can be 'got around'. Biggest issue is most customers have no idea about what they are signing up for and what the differences are between the boats. Sadly it's going to take an accident before anyone seems interested in clamping down on some of the more suitable yachts charging for the crossing. (I know one going this year without naming names that has a skipper taking 9 guests, no other professional crew, no ocean level of coding on the yacht, no back up liferafts etc and the skipper has never personally sailed an Atlantic crossing, but they have a very posh website and it sounds great.... and they seem to have sold a load of places for £3250 each... scares me silly this sort of thing!).
Edited by SpeedYellow on Thursday 14th October 11:53
dienamic said:
Nope, the majority will spend the winter in the Caribbean then head back around May I think. You probably don't hear much about the return as it's not an organised event. Also, I seem to remember hearing that it's difficult to sell places on the return leg as you're departing the US and their laws don't allow it unless the boat's been coded for it (this could be complete bks but it's got into the back of my mind from somewhere).
My Dad's attempting it again this year on his Bavaria 46. She left Greece this week en route to GC. Hopefully he'll fair a bit better this year after being medivacced off last year mid-Atlantic. Still, he got to the rum punch before anyone else!!
They do ARC Europe http://www.worldcruising.com/arceurope/event_info.... good friend did it the other yearks but it's got into the back of my mind from somewhere).My Dad's attempting it again this year on his Bavaria 46. She left Greece this week en route to GC. Hopefully he'll fair a bit better this year after being medivacced off last year mid-Atlantic. Still, he got to the rum punch before anyone else!!
SpeedYellow .. The Charter market in Carib is ok but you need to based there full-time, for instance say the BVI with the boat registered as BVI business and all above board with a clearing house than manage the calender and money transfers from all the brokers all over the world.
Trying to do it any other is hard work and difficult money wise.
The main market is for luxury not Adventure sailing so having the right tool for the job is a major factor remember in the Carib 80% of all crewed charter guests are from the U.S.
As no doubt you are aware Cats rule for this, and you can then charge big money, and mooring charges are less significant. Plus with the cat to can get shallow anchorages. No rolling on the Anchor is a major factor as maybe 1 out of 6 in charter group are sailors..so marina's are a place you only go for pick up and drop off.
One cat we have on the books a new Lagoon 620 is as we speak being splashed...it has 9 charters booked already at about $29,000 US a week for 8pax. For $10-12K all in 6 of you can have a 45ft newish cat with chef and skip and have amazing food and drink and sail as little or a much as you like which makes it suitable for families.
The room on the 620 is about the same as 100+ft mono hull, basically 90% of the crewed yacht market is for a floating 5 star hotel made up mostly of none sailors.
Also you do a good job as crew ( which would be run by a couple on the 620 ) you will see 10-20% tip of 29k plus wages, say 1K USD per ft of boat length so money is good as crew. Plus you don't have to beat yourself up as you start to creak after while on race boats when a few more years have wizz by !!.
Trying to do it any other is hard work and difficult money wise.
The main market is for luxury not Adventure sailing so having the right tool for the job is a major factor remember in the Carib 80% of all crewed charter guests are from the U.S.
As no doubt you are aware Cats rule for this, and you can then charge big money, and mooring charges are less significant. Plus with the cat to can get shallow anchorages. No rolling on the Anchor is a major factor as maybe 1 out of 6 in charter group are sailors..so marina's are a place you only go for pick up and drop off.
One cat we have on the books a new Lagoon 620 is as we speak being splashed...it has 9 charters booked already at about $29,000 US a week for 8pax. For $10-12K all in 6 of you can have a 45ft newish cat with chef and skip and have amazing food and drink and sail as little or a much as you like which makes it suitable for families.
The room on the 620 is about the same as 100+ft mono hull, basically 90% of the crewed yacht market is for a floating 5 star hotel made up mostly of none sailors.
Also you do a good job as crew ( which would be run by a couple on the 620 ) you will see 10-20% tip of 29k plus wages, say 1K USD per ft of boat length so money is good as crew. Plus you don't have to beat yourself up as you start to creak after while on race boats when a few more years have wizz by !!.
Edited by Rum Runner on Thursday 14th October 15:22
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
sorry, prefer Marmalade.
Have fun though, its certainly better than steering a desk !!
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
village idiot said:
Paddy_N_Murphy said:
sorry, prefer Marmalade.
Have fun though, its certainly better than steering a desk !!
You know I am waiting for the Disco 55 to drop to a price I can manage !
re. disco 55's... the market is holding very nicely indeed for these. we are selling them as soon as they come in (we do all the brokerage for discovery now). the base figure for an old one still creeps into the '6' territory
SpeedYellow said:
We're turning round and sailing back to the Canaries on the 3rd Jan before heading South to the Cape Verde Islands this year. Charter market in the Caribbean is wrecked at the moment and everything has become out of control costs wise (some places in the Caribbean I've been charged $70 + taxes to Anchor for the night not even in a shelter bay!).
Spending time around the Verdes, Canaries and Azores before getting back to the UK in May seem like a better and more fun plan this year. Also means anyone wanting to come on a sailing holiday can get cheap flights down to us!
As for the comment about coding for boats coming back. This is a huge area of contention between those of us who run coded yachts with ocean levels of coverage. Because the ARC is billed as a race, lots of the safety standards for charter yachts can be 'got around'. Biggest issue is most customers have no idea about what they are signing up for and what the differences are between the boats. Sadly it's going to take an accident before anyone seems interested in clamping down on some of the more suitable yachts charging for the crossing. (I know one going this year without naming names that has a skipper taking 9 guests, no other professional crew, no ocean level of coding on the yacht, no back up liferafts etc and the skipper has never personally sailed an Atlantic crossing, but they have a very posh website and it sounds great.... and they seem to have sold a load of places for £3250 each... scares me silly this sort of thing!).
Hi, new here, but surfed in on the topic. Not done the ARC, don't really like crowds much, but sailed my own craft over last year, and spent the whole season out in the Antilles, returning June. Left the boat out there on the hard for hurricaines season, as it was actually cheaper to do this than to bring it back to the wildly expensive UK. I'm puzzled by SpeedYellow's comments above, because I found the charter scene absolutely buzzing, from the Grenadines on up to the BVI. Also, as to mooring costs, some alongside berths are expensive, but as to anchoring charges? Very little. Most often, nothing at all. I spent a good deal of time in almost every island from the Grenadines to the BVI, and rarely was charged at all. Even in some very busy anchorages of the likes of Le Marin and English Harbour/Falmouth, life on the hook is cheap. $70 a day? Where? I do admit that service charges for the likes of sparks and chippys and chandlery stuff is dear, but I do almost all that myself, and carry a world of spares aboard. You can always get stuff sent out if its major. Overall, genuinely, I consider the Caribbean cheaper than the UK, especially the South, by some significant margin. As for anchorages? More than you can shake a stick at, for less money than the stick!Spending time around the Verdes, Canaries and Azores before getting back to the UK in May seem like a better and more fun plan this year. Also means anyone wanting to come on a sailing holiday can get cheap flights down to us!
As for the comment about coding for boats coming back. This is a huge area of contention between those of us who run coded yachts with ocean levels of coverage. Because the ARC is billed as a race, lots of the safety standards for charter yachts can be 'got around'. Biggest issue is most customers have no idea about what they are signing up for and what the differences are between the boats. Sadly it's going to take an accident before anyone seems interested in clamping down on some of the more suitable yachts charging for the crossing. (I know one going this year without naming names that has a skipper taking 9 guests, no other professional crew, no ocean level of coding on the yacht, no back up liferafts etc and the skipper has never personally sailed an Atlantic crossing, but they have a very posh website and it sounds great.... and they seem to have sold a load of places for £3250 each... scares me silly this sort of thing!).
Edited by SpeedYellow on Thursday 14th October 11:53
Almacantar said:
Oh as to the boat, she is an older Oyster 55. And with relation to the question of dodgy boats, she was coded "0" in previous ownership. I have UPGRADED her a great deal since then. She is far more seaworthy and independent than when in receipt of supposedly gold-standard MCA Cat O.
St Bart's anchoring was $70 for a 72 foot yacht and they even came out to chase us for the money. If you check into customs in Antigua and anchor in Falmouth or English harbour there is a daily anchorage charge, about $15 a day including trash charges from memory. Lots of the islands have charges unless for some reason they only decide to charge me...?!?!I wasn't having a go at all yachts not being up to standard, but was pointing out yachts like a beneteau 40.7 cannot be coded for Ocean Sailing with paying guests, but lots of them are doing this at the moment. This is where the risk is coming from rather than Oysters that were built for purpose in the first place.
Also remember MCA rules are updated yearly and continue to get tougher and tougher. Now it is very difficult to be coded for ocean work for more than 4 or 5 people without full watertight compartments in the yacht.
The comment about the charter market was aimed at the market we work in, Adventure sailing and ocean racing. As Rum pointed out the market in the Caribbean is focused on luxury not manual big race yachts, hence for us the market isn't there except for things like the RORC 600.
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