ARC followers - immoral? Feb YM

[tome]

When I looked at the ARC I didn't like the amount of control, eg all photos and videos taken by any yacht are their copyright. Seems the organisers are trying to claim exclusive use of this bit of the N Atlantic, and the fact that they code their weather forecasts seems a bit churlish and against the spirit of the sea IMO.

However, have to agree it doesn't seem to be worth getting too stressed about.

 

[Andrew_Bray]

Jerry,

It must be a different Andrew Bray. I did not dream up nor condone NARCS nor did I sail on the ARC while Editor of YM.

I have twice since then on YW and it's a great event. The 'freeloaders' that the organisers are annoyed by are those who deliberately leave with the fleet, use the facilities set up for ARC use (eg forecasts and radio nets) without paying.

As someone else pointed out there are many other Canarian ports you could sail from and likewise many islands on the other side - or leave a week earlier or later and still be in for Christmas.

Cheers

Andrew

 

[Stingo]

Not all the other ports have the facilities that Las Palmas has and that is exactly why the ARC leaves from there, so why shouldn't other cruisers enjoy these facilites?

As for leaving a week earlier, it all depends on how far south you go because it is still in the hurricane season and leaving later, well it depends on how fast your boat is as to whether you will make it by xmas.

 

[ChrisE]

Looks like a classic rant to me

Where and when the ARC fleet sail is not something that bothers me. I have participated in rallies but do most of my sailing independantly. I would consider the ARC for the social side but I don't feel the need for the support. I actively avoid rally destinations when going alone, so the issue of being called a freeloader wouldn't arise.

The ARC have as much right to exist as the independants and FWIW, I would have thought that the label is in the eye of the beholder. If one is genuinely independant then the issue of freeloading does not apply.

 

[tcm]

Harumph - stingo/chris enstone

i understand that stingo STILL hasn't paid Chris Enstone the £500 for going from the canary islands to Cape Verde islands.

 

[ChrisE]

Re: Harumph - stingo/chris enstone

thnx for reminding me, I'm brassic this weekend, could do with a few bob.

 

[Gunfleet]

just moving this thread to the top of the pile.

 

[PeterStone]

Surely the safety in numbers concept works equally for both the ARC boats and the independants. Who is to say that it's going to be an independant boat that gets rescued by an ARC boat and not the other way round. Help will come from whoever is nearest and that could be anyone.

I can see both sides to this in a way but my sympathies lie with NARCS. Someone mentioned a £10,000 fee. Is this correct? Some people pay less than that for their boats.

 

[snowleopard]

[ QUOTE ]
Someone mentioned a £10,000 fee.

[/ QUOTE ]

someone is winding you up. fees for 2005 range from £500-690 per boat plus £50 per crewmember.

 

[Sybarite]

The amount was mentionned in the context of the Round the World rally.

 

[PeterStone]

In the context of a RTW rally £10,000 sounds a reasonable figure, as does the cost for the ARC. I was just enjoying a Victor Meldrew moment - "How much? I don't believe it."

Having said that, an entry fee of say £800 will be an obstacle for many - that's a lot of tins of Fray Bentos.

 

[john_morris_uk]

Twas me and I still think that £10k is a lot for the RTW rally. Doesn't even pay for all your berthing either if I remember rightly. They said something about 'booking berths' for you but you would still have to cough up the harbour fees in some of the places.

£800 for the ARC - not sure if thats value or not - would have to look carefully on what was being offered.

 

[snowleopard]

[ QUOTE ]
£800 for the ARC - not sure if thats value or not - would have to look carefully on what was being offered.

[/ QUOTE ]

to find out what's included, look here and scroll down to page 11 (sorry, acrobat won't allow cut & paste). some of the items are pretty trivial of course but there's a fair bit of good stuff. the biggest benefit isn't on the list - all the new friends we made.

 

[AlexL]

I'm not sure about the ARC but I was recently talking to someone who did the Rally Portugal (same organisers) and then bought the boat back to the Uk independantly and pointed out that the return trip was a bit of a 'mare as they didn't realise all the beurocracy that had to be gone through, at every port they entered. On the Rally this was all taken care of which in their mind, was at least worth the entry cost.

 

[snowleopard]

the requirements to fill in a form at every port in spain & portugal are a right pain in the butt. you wouldn't think we were all in the EU would you?

on the other hand when we got our outbound clearance for the ARC 200 of us had to stand in line while one officer issued all the documents.

 

[jerryat]

Don't understand about all this form filling. We've drifted down to the Med. outside, on three occasions and had an absolute minimum of bureaucracy throughout. We had friends who seemed to 'cop' it with the authorities on a regular basis and spend ages filling out the forms, but they invariably had much bigger boats. We often wondered whether this was the real reason we were left alone.

For example, in Tarifa, the Levanter blew up one afternoon making the anchorage untenable, so we went into the harbour and alongside the quay with all the other boats. Later that day, when we returned from a walk round the old town, it was to meet the long faces of other owners complaining about the 'huge' fees they'd just been charged. 15 minutes later, up rolled the port officials in their landrover. We cringed, handed over our passports and SSR docs and waited. A few seconds later, all was handed back with a smile. 'How much?' we asked. 'Nothing', they said, 'you are too small!!' The other crews couldn't believe it!

Cheers
Jerry

 

[FullCircle]

I just looked at your boat size.32ft. I wonder if our 35ft will be too small too. Lets hope so. Tee Hee

Jim /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[ChrisE]

[ QUOTE ]
I just looked at your boat size.32ft. I wonder if our 35ft will be too small too. Lets hope so. Tee Hee

Jim /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

[/ QUOTE ]


Our 38 footer had no problems either, just signed into Spain, out of Spain, into Portugal, out of Portugal, etc. Didn't have anything other that courstesy and kindness all the way....but mind you we are an exceptionally nice couple! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

 

[snowleopard]

we were charged something like 500 escudos for light dues (under £2) and that was all. both countries expect you to register in every port but i don't know what they would do if they caught you ignoring that.

 

[ChrisE]

Fees

You are probably right, we stopped in marinas in each occasion and I recall telling them where we going next. Regarding the light dues it might be that the fees included the marina charge. This is 9 years ago so things might have changed since then.