Preparation for Bluewater Sailing

Organising the ARC675,000 nautical miles; 250 yachts; 1,250 people and 30 languages! JEREMY WYATTwww.worldcruising.com

A look at the infrastructure behind WorldCruising Club, organisers of the world’slargest offshore sailing event – theAtlantic Rally for Cruisers - and howthey go about organizing and supportingtheir clients, including preparation andtypical equipment that is carried onboardthe sailing yachts crossing the Atlantic.

WCC Organise Sailing Events• Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC)• ARC Europe• Rally Portugal• World ARC• Caribbean 1500• Cruising Seminars

The Atlantic Circuit

Around the World in 2012

The ARC – some statistics 1986 - 2009• First ARC was in 1986• 4,460 yachts• Over 17,000 crew• Over 30 nations annually• Largest to date 1999: 235 yachts• 25th Edition this year: 250 yachts expected

The ARC – some statistics 1986 - 2009• If all the ARC yachts were laid end to end, the line would stretch for over 39 nautical miles or almost halfway around the island of Gran Canaria.• In the period, over 17,000 crews aged from babies to almost 80 have taken part.

How Long Does It Take?The ARC Course Record:2006 11 days 05:32:30 Capricorno Maxi2003 11 days 13:12:20 Spirit VOR 602001 11 days 23:41:43 Spirit of Diana Farr 652000 12 days 18:07:20 Multicap Caraibes Open 501998 13 days 02:58:02 Yes! Sydney 60The Slowest:1986 33 days 21hrs Dunkers Achilles 24due to breakages had to hand steer for the last 1,300nm.A Typical Crossing:An ‘average’ cruising yacht will take 19-21 daysand can motor as required.

What is a typical ARC yacht?The average ARC yacht in the last 5 years is:• 14.2m LOA (45’-46’)• 9 years old• Monohull: Beneteau Oceanis 46, Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 45, or Hallberg Rassy 46• Catamaran: Lagoon 440• Crew: 5 adults• Families: 10% of the average boats will have two children onboard

From Which Countries?

How We Run WCC

Reaching Our Clients• 99% of client enquiries via website• Offers news, yacht logs, photos and yacht positions to involve family and friends

Reaching Our Clients• Clients can enter and pay online• Organise their crew, access event information, get special equipment prices etc via Member’s Area• Forums allow sailors to share information, find crew, buy/sell spare equipment.

Reaching Our Clients• Supporters can follow yachts via our website

Reaching Our Clients• Each year we have over 24 staff on the team for the start of the ARC in Las Palmas• Speaking 7 languages!

Working With Sponsors • Over 30 Corporate Members plus event and port sponsors around the world.

Equipment on the yachts

ARC Equipment Survey• Real experiences from 200 yachts each year• Typically reviewing equipment used for over 900,000 nautical miles• Steering & power; sails; navigation; top 5 items• Equipment Rated for: – Reliability – Ease of Use – Value for Money

Electronic EquipmentAs organisers, WCC require yachts tohave:• E-mail at sea (via SSB radio or satellite phone)• Installed VHF radio (25w)• EPIRB (min. 406MHz)• Positions tracked via Iridium transponders

Communications at Sea ARC Communications Equipment Fit 60% 50% 40%% of fleet 30% 20% 10% 0% 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Year SSB Only Satellite Only SSB & Satellite

Data at Sea ARC 2009 Data at sea System Type 2007 2008 2009 Iridium 80% 79% 80% 70% Inmarsat MiniM 6% 6% 1% 60% Inmarsat Fleet 33 14% 6% 6% 50% 40% Inmarsat Fleet Broadband 0% 9% 13%% 30% 20% • Iridium is cheaper • Fleet BB growing 10% 0% em d um 7 er an -7 • New iSat phone may th od di 33 db O Iri M tF oa B sa Br SS ar et m le In tF make an impact sa ar m In Type

Other Equipment - NavigationNAVIGATION - methods Nr Replies Response RatioPaper charts 100 54.3%Fixed plotter 148 80.4%Computer 70 38.0%Total 184 100%

Other Equipment - RadarRADAR- type Nr Replies Response RatioFuruno 33 16.8%Raymarine 116 59.1%Simrad 4 2.0%JRC 1 <1%Other 6 3.0%No Responses 36 18.3%Total 196 100%Used on average for 8 hours per day

Other Equipment - RadarRADAR: rate for:Top number is the count of respondents selecting theoption. Bottom % is percent of the total respondentsselecting the option. Poor OK Good Superb 6 42 71 33Reliability 4% 27% 46% 21% 5 45 66 31Ease of Use 3% 31% 45% 21% 6 57 59 22Value for money 4% 39% 41% 15%

Other Equipment - AISAIS- What make is fitted Nr Replies Response RatioComar 16 8.1%Digital Yacht 10 5.1%EasyAIS 10 5.1%Furuno 11 5.6%NASA 11 5.6%Raymarine 37 18.8%Simrad 7 3.5%Other 14 7.1%No Responses 80 40.8%Total 196 100%

Other Equipment - AIS AIS: rate for:Top number is the count of respondents selecting theoption. Bottom % is percent of the total respondentsselecting the option. Poor OK Good Superb 9 21 42 42Reliability 8% 18% 36% 36% 6 18 41 49Ease of Use 5% 16% 35% 42% 8 23 38 41Value for money 7% 20% 33% 36%

Power Generation Onboard• 58 fitted wind generators – (17 Rutland)• 24 yachts had a water powered (towed)generator onboard (of which 12 were Duogen)• 53 yachts fitted with solar panels – ave. 200W• 90 yachts had diesel generators:(Onan 23, Fischer Panda 22, Mastervolt 11)• 99 yachts used main engine for charging; with anaverage of 3 hours per day usage.

We asked all ARC 2009Skippers to list their 5 mostimportant items of equipmentonboardThe suggestions were wide reaching. Some moreunusual responses were: yogurt maker, self-inflating airbed and vodka for killing fish!We ranked all the suggestions by popularity andthe top 10 favourite items voted for by ARC 2009skippers were……………………………..

Top 10 equipment items:1 autopilot2 watermaker3 satphone4 generator5 chart plotter6 radar7 AIS8 fridge9 SSB Radio10 spinnaker pole

www.worldcruising.com

Preparation for Bluewater Sailing

by British Marine Electronic Association on Dec 15, 2010

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