UPDATE of 11/18: Velocity made it to Cape Verde in good time using wing-on-wing with a a small gennaker as a second headsail.

It worked well when the wind was up 12-18knots but we slowed down at the end when the wind fell to 8-10 knots. In the lighter conditions, a gennaker or code zero would have been better but then the wind would have to be put on one side or the other, making us gybe often to maintain the rhumb line.

On our set-up gybing was more complicated but we didn’t need to do it often. We have all this to think about for the next leg to Grenada starting Nov. 22. 

Parasails were used by a number of boats; some did very well with them… others not so well. One had their $11,000 parasail end up under the boat and probably ruined. They can be hard to handle.  (by Mike Snyder)

TSPS member Tom Proctor on his good-ship Velocity (’40 Hallberg-Rassy), participating in the 2024 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers.

This race-of-sorts is from Las Palmas, Canary Islands, to Mindelo in Cabo Verde (ARC+) and then on to Grenada in the Caribbean. It is quite a journey.

Joining him are two other TSPS members, Vincent Bonhomme and Past Commander Mike Snyder. The rally started on Nov. 10 (eight days ago!). 

Tom has been preparing his boat for this trans-Atlantic passage and already logged many nautical miles just getting his boat from Sweden to the Canaries by way of Norway, Scotland, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. Mike Snyder joined him from Ireland and Vincent caught-up with them in the Canaries for the crossing. Wow.

It promises to be a dead downwind sail all the way with lots of wing-on-wing and asymmetrical spinnaker, which Tom has much experience with. The distances sailed will be 865 nm to Cabo Verde, then leaving Mindelo on Nov. 22 it will be 2167 nm to Grenada. Hoping to arrive there Dec. 8-10. 

To follow their progress as well as that of all the other participating sailboats, on a computer go to https://www.worldcruising.com/arc_plus/eventfleetviewer.aspx  . On a smart phone use the YB Tracker app and look for “Atlantic Rally for Cruisers 2024.” Download and save the data for the ARC+ so whenever you open the app, the rally’s progress will be immediately available. Be sure not to download the ARC event (the ARC is another trans-Atlantic rally with no stop in Cabo Verde due to set out later this month).

More updates as this journey progresses….