Bring on the ARC

As announced on the latest episode this time next month I shall be taking part in a new adventure, crossing the Atlantic.

I will be taking part in the ARC, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, organised by the World Cruising Club. I will be joining Northern Child which is a Swan 51 owned and sailed by skipper Julian Sincock.

Now I'm sure there will be lots of you reading this blog who will have done more than one crossing but I would ask you to take yourselves back to the few weeks before your first crossing and recall how you were feeling. The longest I have been at sea non-stop is 6 days so straight away there is a huge learning curve and secondly that was a mostly coastal passage. This means quite clearly that I am NERVOUS, but in equal meaure EXCITED.

As I am doing this crossing on behalf of Yachting TV I will be filming the build-up and the crossing. I will do my best to convey the day-to-day experiences, including working in watches with people I have never met before, the physical aspects of the sailing and what it takes to mentally cope with the crossing.

Crossing an ocean for the first time is a big challenge and one that I have looked forward to for many years. But of course it always seemed far away...with just weeks to go I keep wondering have I done enough prep, do I need to do any prep? what do I need to bring? what will I have space for? etc etc...so if any of you have any advice or experiences you would like to offer please get in touch...

I will be sending back a daily blog during the crossing and if possible uploading some video as we go...so I suppose you can expect a mixture of emotions, but whatever my mood they'll all be honest...

Steve