The NARC departed the Newport Yachting Center on Monday, October 30 to the St. Georges Sports and Dinghy Club in Bermuda, and will end in St. Martin by November 17.
"Since 2000 we have been inviting both the private boat owners and delivery skippers taking boats south to join us in the annual WOW (Waiting on Weather) ritual of getting south to the Caribbean from New England," says NARC organizer Hank Schmitt.
“Working with Susan Gennet of "Real Weather" based right in Newport, we pick a five day weather window to scoot down to Bermuda. There we are hosted by the Bermuda Sports and Dinghy Club, while we wait for the next weather window to take us to the Caribbean. While offshore, we keep a radio schedule and many boats now have sat phones.
"God put Bermuda there for sailors heading south each year and it would be a sin to not stop and pay homage in St. Georges on the trips north and south each migration season." Schmitt characterizes NARC as a grass roots rally that has grown by word of mouth.
"One of the reasons why we started the rally was because it creates and provides many offshore sailing opportunities for our members who can sign on as crew through our organization. Every year between15 to 20 members have sailed with us.
"Besides the NARC Rally, we organized the American Fleet boats sailing to Newfoundland for the Cabot 500 and, in 1999-2000, the Millennium’s First Sail Rally bringing boats to New Zealand for the Americas Cup and Australia for the Olympics.”
