What Sailing Boat Kit do You Need for an Atlantic Crossing? || Practical Boat Owner
From Starlink to tradewind sails, first aid and cooking, Ali Wood reports on new and traditional gear for transatlantic sailors and how it performed during an ocean crossing
The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), and its sister event the ARC+, is the ultimate gear test – often to destruction – of everything from sails to self-steering, cookers, communications and electronics.
I first visited St Lucia in 2005, and have since covered the event five times.
Sailing boat gear, from sails to watermakers and self-steering systems will be tested during an ocean crossing. Credit: WCC/James Mitchell
While crews are inevitably exhausted when I meet them on the docks, so is their sailing boat kit.
Running sailing boat kit day and night for three weeks in Atlantic swells and squalls, often with tired and inexperienced operators, is a great way to test its limitations, not to mention the problem-solving nous of the crew.
