ARC 2020 Blog from Bord - 1

This must have been like 10-15 years ago.
57 ships in the ARC. You know each other and everything is familiar. But today everything is different. Due to Corona, only groups of up to 10 people are allowed and we have to wear masks. In addition, we are limited to our jetty and cannot visit the other sailors. The seminars are held online via Zoom.
Nevertheless, everyone is in a good mood, you can only see smiling faces on the jetty. The German fleet is also rather small with 3 ships, in addition to the “Montana” there are “Peter von Seestermühe” and “Yuma”. In addition there is the “Albatros” from Manfred under the US flag. The weather data promise a good start and trade winds right from the start. Unfortunately the wind on the start day is rather light and from the southeast, i.e. from the front. We're doing great and after about 10 minutes we're in 3rd place in our starting group. But then it becomes too much for most of them, they start the engine and everyone past us to find the wind behind Gran Canaria. Unfortunately, we are doing it too late and now have to follow. The old hands head west straight after Gran Canaria, heading for St. Lucia. We want to go a little further south first, but that turns out to be unnecessary. We didn't think that you could really drive a direct course. The winds in the following days are good but require some sail changes, even at night. On the 5th day the first 800 miles are done.