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ARC – Creating Worldwide Interest in St Lucia – The Yachting Haven

The world-renowned annual Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) transatlantic event continues to create tremendous avenues for yachting advancement in Saint Lucia – its finishing point for over two decades, making it a favoured destination on the international yachting scene.

ARC – organized by the World Cruising Club – is the single largest Trans Ocean race of its kind in the world, taking sailors across 2700 miles nautical voyage across the Atlantic Ocean from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean on the trade wind route intended to give optimum exciting downwind sailing.

The event regularly attracts more than 200 boats of many different shapes and sizes most of which find themselves in the state-of-the-art berths of either the hurricane holes of the IGY Rodney Bay Marina or The Marina at Marigot Bay.

This is an important annual event for St. Lucia with the unwavering support of the St. Lucia Tourist Board, the government and private sector players – particularly those in the industry.

Saint Lucia’s image and facilities have evolved almost equally since the first coming of the ARC in 1990.

This has allowed for considerable opportunities in both business and employment for islanders, some of whom have managed to secure franchise partnerships with key engine, oil and service partners from around the world – all with an interest in tapping into the vast potential gains to be derived from the ARC finish line.

The island’s tourism product is by no means untouched by the ARC’s presence, having a series of activities in the northern Rodney Bay Marina and the South-Western Marigot Bay. Both locations have annual calendars of activities catering specifically to the hundreds of sailors who make their way around the world to the Helen of the West Indies.

Not so long ago, Saint Lucia graduated to becoming both the finish line and starting point for World ARC.

On January 10, 2015, World ARC began its 2015-16 season from the IGY Rodney Bay Marina in Saint Lucia and will see the fleet of 22 vessels returning to the island in April of 2016. This marked the fifth starting from the island.

Like the ARC+ and the traditional ARC, the island, via the Saint Lucia Tourist Board, provides technical and logistical support towards the hosting of World ARC 2015-16.

Saint Lucia’s Minister of Tourism Lorne Theophilus said the island as a destination was certainly privileged to not only be the finishing point, but critically the starting point of the World ARC yet again.

He said it represents yet another endorsement of the island’s ability to not only host but manage events that boast strong international appeal.

(First Published – Business Focus St. Lucia May 2015)