World ARC Pacific 2023 - Leg 1: St Lucia to Santa Marta

After our last guests left, we were straight into preparing to set off on the World Cruising Club’s World ARC Pacific 2023 (St Lucia to Australia).

We had less than a week to prepare for the off. This may sound a little last minute, but having spent 6 months in Grenada and several weeks in St Martin, most off our bigger jobs had already been done. So, it was just a case of provisioning for the journey, filling up with diesel and storing things away ready for the long sail ahead.

Being part of the rally, we had plenty of support, both in the months leading up to the rally and also in the final days before departure. There was a busy programme of seminars covering weather and routing, emergencies at sea, general information about the route and important information about the first places we would visit. There was also, of course our safety check.  WCC has a rigorous safety checklist and all must be in place to set off.  Having already done the ARC+ across the Atlantic in 2021, we knew what to expect and just needed to replace a few flares.

Leg 1 started with a quick sail down the coast of St Lucia to Castries, before rounding the marker buoy and heading west towards Santa Marta.

Knowing that we would be one of the slower boats in the fleet, we hung back from the start line. Keeping out of the way to allow the faster boats to jostle for their positions. Before long, the fleet was spread out and we could only see a couple of boats. Within a few hours, we were all alone. Nothing to see but the sea and the sky.

Our passage to Santa Marta started with excitement as, just after we left St Lucia, we were hit by a very sudden and very strong squall. The wind changed direction and gusted Force 8 (34 -40 knots). The boom tried to swing across, but the preventer did its job and stopped it. Unfortunately, the sudden movement and increased force meant that the deck clutch holding the preventer for the main sail exploded and the whole clutch side came off. We also got a 20cm tear in the genoa! This was particularly bad news for us, as the genoa is the sail that we use the most. The tear was not too big and we tried, on several occasions, to drop the sail and patch it. Unfortunately, the gusting winds and high sea state made this too difficult to do safely. There was nothing for it, but to sail the whole way to Santa Marta without it. We knew that this would make it a much slower trip, but the alternative was to return to St Lucia. Not an option for us!

The first few days continued to have gusty winds (Force 5-17 to 21 knots) and high sea state (3-4m), making life on board very uncomfortable and neither of us slept much. However by day 3 things had calmed down Force 4 (111-16 knots). Sailing with the wind from behind us, we set up the sails in our downwind plan – goosewing with the main prevented and poled out genoa. Escapade settled well into this and we managed speeds of up to 7 knots.

Anyone who regularly reads our posts will know that, when on passage, we like to keep our eyes open for wildlife. On this trip we had a first when a Booby decided to hitch hike. Uncertain at first, it circled us several times checking for a good landing spot. Then it chose to perch precariously on the guard wires, flapping its wings to try and balance. Eventually, it realised that the deck was far more stable and stayed for with us for several hours preening himself.