Brand Saint Lucia celebrated the 32nd successful staging of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers in 2021 and brought the curtains down on the event with an award ceremony, depictive of Saint Lucia’s hospitality and culture.

The year 2021 Ended on a very high note with gratitude expressed to the World Cruising Club for choosing Saint Lucia year after year as the official home the annual Atlantic Rally for Cruisers.

Multihulls, and vessels in the sailing and cruising divisions began to brave the 2,700 nautical mile journey from Gran Canaria to the IGY Rodney Bay Marina on November 21st and just under two weeks later, Italian Flagged Yacht, ‘12 Nacira 69’ was the first to the finish line.

On December 17, over 900 crew representing 29 nations aboard 146 yachts were celebrated in true Saint Lucian fashion with a display of culture, culinary experiences, and rums as the curtains came down following the successful staging of the 32nd Edition of the ARC, Hosted by World Cruising Club. Andrew Pekersgrill represented the World Cruising Club as he announced top winners in various outstanding categories.

In the Division 4 Multihulls Bombarda took the title in Class B. Guyader Saveol won the Class A category and the Overall Multihull. Winner for Class E in Sailing Division 1- the Grand Canaria cup was captured by Bel Ami The IGY Rodney Bay Marina Award was presented by General Manager Sean Devaux to the Winner of Class C – Another Brick.

This year’s Spirit of the ARC award was presented after a thrilling backstory. The crew aboard Bombarda stepped in and guided fellow crew members aboard ‘Go East’ for about 1000 nautical miles after their instrumentation and their principal navigation system failed.

Lavelle DuBoulay of the Events Company of Saint Lucia noted that the planning process for the hosting of the 2021 ARC event began at the culmination of the 2020 hosting. She Expressed gratitude to all Governmental agencies and corporate sponsors. DuBoulay left all participants present with a heartfelt message.

With focus to further develop the yachting niche and generate more economic impact for the destination, Saint Lucia anticipates welcoming the inaugural “ARC January” fleet. The January Atlantic crossing should give constant trade winds with few calms, where the rhumb line can be sailed more easily. As such, 49 vessels with 250 participants will set sail from Grand Canaria on Sunday January 9th with the first vessel expected to arrive at the IGY Rodney Bay finish line on January 17th .