DOUBLE ACT
If you could choose anyone to go on a grand adventure with, would it be your life partner? For many couples that’s the ideal.
But what if you don’t have the same level of experience, or one of you isn’t confident to co-skipper? Perhaps you plan to take friends and family with you. But what happens if those plans change halfway round? I talked to World ARC crews near the finish of their circumnavigation to find out how different couples had answered those unknowns over their round the world voyage.
Over the 2017, 2018 and 2019 World ARC rallies (the round the world rally organised by World Cruising Club) around 20-30% of yachts set off doublehanded. But by the time the fleet reached Tonga or Fiji that proportion had risen to about 50%.
Grenada was a homecoming celebration for the World ARC fleet last month. While St Lucia marked the end of the 2018-19 rally, Grenada signalled the fleet’s return to the Caribbean. A full circumnavigation for most, 438 days sailing for those who’d completed it in a single World ARC loop.
Some 38 yachts started in St Lucia in January 2018, 16 were gathered in Grenada this March. Some had started in 2017 – or even earlier – but peeled off to linger in the Pacific or return to normal life for a while, then hooked into the 2018 rally on its way past. Others had diverted to explore New Zealand, Ascension Island, or another outpost, before rejoining their fleet.
‘TO CIRCUMNAVIGATE WAS TOTALLY OUT OF MY COMFORT ZONE’
No matter how they’d done
