ARC Thursdays
Monday, December 24, 2018
by By GIS
Every year, over 200 boats and 1200 people set sail across the Atlantic from Gran Canaria to Saint Lucia in one of the largest trans-ocean sailing events, the Atlantic Rally for Cruiser (ARC).

On Thursday, December 20th, approximately 122 cruisers from the ARC arrived via the Carnival Sailin

g boat to Anse-La-Raye to enjoy a mix of local foods, music and entertainment. Coordinator of the ARC, Monica Frederick, explains the ARC being brought to the community gives the cruisers a more profound experience of Saint Lucian Culture.

 

"It gives the tourist an opportunity to interact with our local folk, so that they could understand the lifestyle and the ways of our people, we serve them with a variety of food, we have pork, lamb, chicken fish, the list goes on and on,” Frederick says, “Last week we had the millet drummers, they performed, we had the survivors steel pan, so we have a wide range of talent from the various communities because we want it to be a constituency thing and more so, something for Saint Lucia to come out and enjoy beautiful Anse La Raye,

 

Captain of one of the Cruisers, Jeff Watkins, expresses his elation of the experience.“I am very much enjoying it, its been a fantastic experience, the people are beautiful, the water is beautiful, the pinacoladas are beautiful, the musicis even better,” He says.

 

This is the third year 

that the Events Company of Saint Lucia has collaborated with the IGY Rodney Bay Marina, the World Cruising Club and the St. Lucia Tourism Authority to bring the ARC to the Anse La Raye village. Minister for Tourism, Hon. Dominic Fedee presented the World Cruising Club with a plaque as a form of gratitude for their continuous support.

 

Its simply to say thank you for the support that we have been receiving from the world crusing club who have partnerd with the anse la raye fish fry to put on this event on an annual basis and it is been such a tremendous success and the economic footprint is amazing,” The Minister says.

 

Saint Lucia has been the host destination for the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers for over three decades. The ARC 2018 concluded with the prize giving ceremony on December 22nd marking the end of the rally till next year.