The first leg of the ARC+ rally finally started on Sunday 5th November. Valent and all the 95 boats in the rally left the marina in the late morning, ready for a 1 pm start just outside the harbour. It felt strange to be watching from the pontoon, but Sophie and I waved them off and then joined some friends in their dinghy to go and get a closer view of the rally start.
The fleet are making good progress so far with plenty of wind pushing them towards the Cape Verde islands. Valent is sailing conservatively and has been averaging a speed of 7 knots. They are hoping to arrive at Mindelo on Sao Vicente island by late on Friday 10th November, depending on the wind conditions.
If you would like to track where Valent is, there are a number of options:
- Go to the page on our blog called How To Follow Us At Sea. The first link, the Yellow Brick tracker, shows Valent’s position every few hours. Valent can post short messages, and you can leave messages for them, although these are not private and anyone will be able to read them.
2. The second and third links on that page, Vessel Finder and Marine Traffic, use our AIS system but this only works when Valent is within a day or so of land.
3. To see the position of the whole fleet, including Valent, you can go onto the ARC website:
https://www.worldcruising.com/arc_plus/eventfleetviewer.aspx
(If this link doesn’t work, on the website www.worldcruising.com, under Rallies choose ARC Plus and then choose Fleet Viewer from the left hand menu. In the left hand menu you can also see Logs posted by boats including Valent, with a nice picture of Lucy on the first day).
4. Or you can download an App called YB Races, and select ARC23 and then ARC+ from the second menu.
More news once they reach Cape Verde!
Bon voyage! I hope you have a love sail.
Can’t wait to hear more once you reach Cape Verde!
Safe sailing! Super excited for you. x
I watched the start on the ARC+ livestream although I couldn’t manage to spot Valent in such a big fleet. It looked really great although the commentator was predicting some bouncier conditions later, hopefully not too much. Bon voyage and fair winds, and yes I will be watching on the tracker!
Fair winds Will, Neil, Mike, Dwight and Lucy. Wishing you a wonderful crossing! Robyn
Lovely news Susy! All the best and looking forward to know more about the trip! xx
Thank you for reminding me what I’m supposed to be doing. Lovely update darling wife. Currently about 1/3 of the way there. Just spent the last few hours redoing the frd heads.