Fair winds see the ARC making good progress


The 2011 ARC is ten
days in, and large sections of the fleet heading towards the rhumb line are now
making good progress– having escaped the lighter airs suffered a few days ago.
Leading the way is the crew onboard French multihull Rayon Vert, who were
recently clocked at 19.6 knots.


The improved conditions will have
no doubt lifted the spirits among many yachts, as illustrated by this excerpt
from the blog of Elan 37 Diamonds Are Forever (GirlsforSail);


“This morning I woke up at
dawn very, very happy because it was time to gybe the boat and change
direction; it may only happen a few times, so it’s a big occasion! Bev has been
running around the decks this morning, re-setting the main sail gybe preventer
and doing battle with the spinnaker pole on the foredeck! The rewards of this
early morning dancing and jigging is that we are heading for St Lucia on a
starboard tack and flying along in the direction of home at last! Down here at
17.5 degrees north of the equator, we have glorious tradewind skies and good
winds following us”, wrote Skipper Vicky Blunt.


Diamonds Are Forever’s ARC story
will be featuring in February’s edition of Yachting World. For more ARC news
and stories go to www.worldcruising.com
or follow participants with the ARC Yellowbrick tracking viewer at http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/viewer.aspx