KellysEye
Well-Known Member
We did the finish line that year and I was just re-reading logs that were on our now closed web site. It's often thought that the ARC is a pleasant downwind sail, in 2004 we had too little wind and were praying for squalls to get the speed up. 2007 was totally different, this is what I wrote:
Many boats that came in had taken a pasting during the crossing, in one report a yacht was sailing in steady forty knot winds gusting fifty nine. Fleet damage included: broken booms; rigging failures; broken spinnaker poles; torn sails; damaged stanchions; safety gear torn off deck; broken goose necks (attaches boom to mast); steering failures and much more. In one dreadful incident a skipper was hit by the boom during an uncontrolled gybe and knocked unconscious. He was taken off the yacht by a cruise ship but subsequently died in hospital in Barbados.
Very sad. Also, seeing yachts limping in with a damaged rig, no boom, broken boom on deck etc wasn't a pretty site, we felt really sorry for them.
Many boats that came in had taken a pasting during the crossing, in one report a yacht was sailing in steady forty knot winds gusting fifty nine. Fleet damage included: broken booms; rigging failures; broken spinnaker poles; torn sails; damaged stanchions; safety gear torn off deck; broken goose necks (attaches boom to mast); steering failures and much more. In one dreadful incident a skipper was hit by the boom during an uncontrolled gybe and knocked unconscious. He was taken off the yacht by a cruise ship but subsequently died in hospital in Barbados.
Very sad. Also, seeing yachts limping in with a damaged rig, no boom, broken boom on deck etc wasn't a pretty site, we felt really sorry for them.