The results are starting to trickle in for the 2025 editions of two of the World Cruising Club’s most notable rallies, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) and ARC+. Both began their trans-Atlantic crossings in Las Palmas this November, with the ARC fleet heading straight for St Lucia while the ARC+ fleet went to Grenada via Mindelo, Cabo Verde.
The first to finish in the ARC+ was Enjoy the Silence, an Outremer 55, that made landfall on Tuesday after posting 10 days, 4 hours, and 28 minutes on the course from Cabo Verde to Grenada. They took line honors in both legs of the crossing, arriving with both an air of triumph and a touch of regret that the fun was over.
“This is a special feeling for me,” says skipper Jullien Jean. “On one hand we are really happy because we have been pushing the boat to cross the line first, but I actually feel slightly deflated now that it is over! Perhaps I just need to do the next ARC+ because the World Cruising Club is an incredible organization.”
Though they finished well ahead, the rest of the fleet is expected to arrive in the coming days. The prizegiving will be on December 11th.
24 hours later, the World Cruising Club was already celebrating another line honors finish about 100 miles to the north. The VO65 Nextgen by Jajo arrived in St Lucia at midday, winning the 40th ARC after 10 days and 48 minutes at sea.
“Line honours is always a special thing, and it’s never easy,” says skipper Jelmer Van Beek. “We knew we had the fastest boat, but you need to execute it so I’m really proud of the team. We had fast sailing day in and day out.”
Though the ARC is, strictly speaking, not a race, there is an engineless IRC racing division. And despite being a fairly spartan race boat, Van Beek says the VO65 is his preferred ocean-crossing vessel—he has made the trek eight times on Jajo. Next, the boat is bound for the Caribbean 600 and Heineken Regattas.
There are still around 800 participants in 144 boats on the course, so there’s plenty more ARC to follow. Now in its 40th year, the 2025 rally saw 113 monohulls, 30 catamarans, and 2 trimarans registered with LOAs from 34 to 100 feet.
For more on the World Cruising Club and their host of rallies and events, visit worldcruisingclub.com.
