Sister's
Journal
|
| Date: |
13.February.2000 |
| Location: |
Rodney Bay, St. Lucia |
| Position: |
14 degrees 05 minutes North,
60 degrees 57 minutes West |
Crossing the Atlantic (cont) The Start of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers |
| The start of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers
is run much like the start of any sailboat race. There's an official
starting line and official start times for various classes of
competitors. Of the 240 odd boats in the ARC only some 40 of them
were actually competing. Boats in the competition divisions were
to start at 1245. The rest of us were to start at 1300. One's
objective is to jockey for position prior to the start and then
head for the start line trying to cross it precisely when the
starting gun fires. The start line was an imaginary line drawn
between a buoy some 100 meters off shore and the "committee
vessel", a Spanish warship of some sort. The line is probably
a mile long but there were 200 boats trying to cross it at the
same time. Add to that mix lots and lots of generally smaller
local boats out to enjoy the festivities … pandemonium. |
| It would have been completely untenable
except that a lot of us were incompetent and therefore nowhere
near the start line when the gun went off. Other, more level headed,
skippers didn’t want any part of the madness so they laid
back and waited for the rush to be over. |
| In any event at 1300 plus or minus we were
off. I can't describe the feeling. A combination of apprehension,
excitement, adventure, wonder … I can't describe it. |
| Follow these links to read about:
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