The Dates for the 11th Annual NARC Rally are:
Arrive in Newport as early as 24 October 2010 for departure
October 31st.
This will be the 11th Annual NARC Rally. If you are planning to sail south this fall there is no better way then sailing with a fleet. Last year we had 31 boats. It is a lot more fun meeting many new like-minded people and benefitting from the socials and discounts that a larger fleet can attract. You will make new friends that you will continue to see all season in the Caribbean. The rally is free to veteran offshore sailors and professionally crewed boats. There is a small head fee to defray the costs of the socials and to cover overhead. First time participants will benefit from two days of pre-departure seminars. The fee for new boats is an additional $500 per boat on top of the per head fee.
If you do not have a boat and would like to join us you can sign aboard a Swan in our Offshore Program or join OPO and see about helping one of the boat owners who may be looking for crew.
Rally participants should arrive in Newport at the Newport Yachting Center by Wednesday Oct 27th. Dockage at the Newport Yachting Center is only $1.00 per foot per day the week before the event so you can arrive as early as Sunday Oct 24th. All other boats should be in by Friday night Oct 29th. There will be a skippers meeting Saturday morning and Rally dinner at 5:00 pm.
Weather routing has been provided by Susan Genett of Real Weather http://www.realwx.com/ since the rally began 11 years ago. Susan is based in Newport and is able to give a live presentation before departure. All participants will be given a weather package and Gulf Steam information for route planning.
In Bermuda we will be hosted by the St. Georges Dinghy and Sports Club. We get discount dockage, the $35 per head fee is waived, there is a Gosling’s Rum Party http://www.goslingsrum.com/ one night and a Fish Fry all included in the rally. After filling up on duty free fuel most boats will head to the final rally destination of St. Maarten in time for the final Rally party hosted by IGY Marina Group www.igymarinas.com with a special discount dockage rate for rally participants. Even if you are planning to end your passage in the Virgin Islands or another island, we encourage everyone to come to St. Maarten first. It is the best place to provision in the Caribbean, has the best repair facilities for marine work in the area and is the easiest and cheapest island to flights to and from.
It is very simple to sign up for the rally. Simply fill out the short form and mail in a check for $300 to cover the first two people aboard. The balance, if there are additional crew, will be paid in Newport just before departure. If you need crew you can use the services of Offshore Passage Opportunities to get free crew that will pay their own way to and from the boat. If you have never made the passage before we would like you to have at least one crew who has. If you do not have a friend or family member that fits the bill we can help get you someone through Offshore Passage Opportunities.
If you have any questions please feel free to call or e-mail anytime.
2009 Rally ReCap
…31 boats in the 10th NARC Rally to the Caribbean
One way to extend your boating season and not pay winterizing and haul out costs is to sail to the Caribbean in the winter. Despite the economy, a record number of boats sailed south this past fall from our waters. However most of the crew in the 10th Annual North American Rally to the Caribbean, or NARC Rally, were helping owners get their boats south and were then flying home to jobs and family like the rest of us. Why so many boats this year? With no entry fee, but a small per head fee to pay for the socials, the fleet enjoyed discount dockage, four parties, free weather routing, waived head tax in Bermuda and a radio net. The Rally organizer, Offshore Passage Opportunities, also offers a free crew networking service and over twenty OPO members were sailing in the fleet. Rally participants can request extra crew for their offshore legs from a pool of OPO members who sail for free and often pay their own way to and from the boat.
Many boats in the rally were from Long Islands Sound including the Beneteau 461 Stagger Lee from Guilford CT, Belvedere Blue a Jeaneau 47 owned by New Yorker Nick Rebraca, and two Swans out of Huntington, Avocation a Swan 48 and Boonasta a Swan 57 to name a few. There were seven Swans this year as the rally started in 2000, when the delivery of the Swan Charter fleet, turned into an organized rally inviting all boats to join the annual fall migration from the Northeast US Coast to the Caribbean after the Caribbean 1500 left Newport and moved to Norfolk. This year there were also five boats from Canada and one Dutch entrant, the Swan 46 Blue Fin, and Fado Fado flying the Irish flag (and 18 kegs of beer) although the owner, Denis McCarthy, has been living in NYC for many years.
The fleet gathered at the Newport Yachting Center the last week in October. Dock master Chuck Moffat and crew did an outstanding job of accommodating the fleet while also getting ready to put the marina to bed for the winter. Social headquarters for the week was the Rhino Bar and Grille, steps away from the Yachting Center in downtown Newport. This year the fleet was able to depart on time after getting the go-ahead from local weather router Susan Gennett of RealWeather. Some boats made it to Bermuda in less than four days and on one tack. The Gulf Stream was tamer than the approach on day two. With a quick passage and no delay, the fleet enjoyed a long layover in Bermuda to work on their boats and enjoy the hospitality of the St. Georges Yacht & Dinghy Club.
The smaller boats that took longer to reach Bermuda had a rougher time as they were caught out the last day or two with bigger winds in to 20’s and low 30’s out of the southeast. Several boats hove to or deployed sea anchors or drogues to get some relief. Three boats had steering problems and the 42 foot Steel Ketch Rights of Man was thankful to get a long tow in from a large boat also heading to Bermuda.
Bermuda Radio and the Customs and Immigration folks in Bermuda spoil the expectations of North Americans as they are so accommodating and helpful to visitors arriving by sea. They even stamp sailors passports with a special “Arrived by Sea” stamp to commemorate ones passage. Bernie, the unofficial greeter would answer new arrivals questions and explain docking options. For the NARC Fleet that meant discount dockage down at the club for much needed showers, laundry and happy hour.
On Saturday the sailors were rewarded with a much appreciated “Dark-n-Stormy” party on the club balcony with the BBQ fired up and manned by Commodore Brian Oatley and the all-volunteer crew of the Dinghy Club. Sunday’s banquet was down below in the new (second year) “Polaris” Restaurant where owner and chef Abdul conjured up some of the freshest Fish & Chips ever, miraculously never ending as it was all you can eat.
For the first ten years the rally was designed to let boats linger in Bermuda if it was their first time visiting and they wanted to stay longer. However next year the organizers plan to host a final destination party in St. Martin in order to keep the fleet together on the second leg. If need be, boats can still elect to sail directly to the BVI if they wish. This year the second leg had the fleet divided into two fleets as some boats elected to stay longer and others decided to take advantage of a closing weather window and depart right after the “Gala Fish Fry” on Sunday. Those leaving early had strong east winds for two days making good time, but then had head winds for the next four or five days of the trip. Not the most pleasant tactics. One entrant Idunn, a Ted Hood 48 Motor sailor, had one pilot house port stove in by a wave and damaged her electronics. Luckily owners Julius & Mette Feinleib, are veteran circumnavigators and were able to handle this emergency with aplomb and on their own. They told the fleet they were going back to Bermuda for repairs and arrived in St. Martin two weeks after most of the fleet. The second fleet group on this leg had lighter winds. More than one boat needed, asked for and were accommodated with a fuel drop from other vessels.
The NARC Rally emphasizes that it is not a race since the boats are loaded with cruising gear, much of it newly installed and many of the crews sailing short handed. Racing encourages risk and delays reefing. However, put any two boats in the water heading the same general direction and you have a race. Line honors for both legs would have gone to the Hylas 54 Freestyle owned by newly retired Don Cody and ably crewed by his two sons Craig & Jim and friend Bob Small. On corrected time, if the rally kept track of such things, the winner would have been Tony Iacona from the very well sailed J-42 Affinity. Both Don and Tony can commiserate over that fact that there are no prizes for finishing first.
If you do not own a boat yet capable of making the passage south you can volunteer to help others sail south. If you have never been offshore before, or need fixed dates well in advance, you can also sign aboard a paid berth on a Swan in the NARC Rally. If you want to sail sooner there is a return trip from the Caribbean to Long Island Sound in May. Going along as crew is the best way to prepare yourself to take your own boat offshore one day and plan your own adventure.
