The World Cruising Club is a UK-based sailing organisation founded by Jimmy Cornell in 1986, and now run by a team from Cowes, UK, headed by Paul and Suzana Tetlow. Andrew Bishop ran the company from 1993 until the end of 2022. World Cruising Club are the organisers of several offshore cruising events, including the original event, the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), ARC Portugal, ARC Europe and World ARC. [1]
The World ARC begins from St. Lucia in January, circumnavigating the world in approximately 15 months. [2] Boat numbers participating range from between 25 and 35 boats. [3]
World ARC is open to monohulls and multihulls with a minimum LOA of 40 feet (12 m), and must carry a minimum of two crew members. [4] The boats are also subject to thorough safety equipment checks, which are part of the reason the rally is so popular. [5]
Cruising is a maritime activity that involves staying aboard a watercraft for extended periods of time when the vessel is traveling on water at a steady speed. Cruising generally refers to leisurely trips on yachts and luxury cruiseships, with durations varying from day-trips to months-long round-the-world voyages.
Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is divided into two disciplines: sculling and sweep rowing. In sculling, each rower holds two oars, one in each hand, while in sweep rowing each rower holds one oar with both hands. There are several boat classes in which athletes may compete, ranging from single sculls, occupied by one person, to shells with eight rowers and a coxswain, called eights. There are a wide variety of course types and formats of racing, but most elite and championship level racing is conducted on calm water courses 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) long with several lanes marked using buoys.
Yachting is recreational boating activities using medium/large-sized boats or small ships collectively called yachts. Yachting is distinguished from other forms of boating mainly by the priority focus on comfort and luxury, the dependence on marinas for docking, and being typically only for exclusive social leisures such as cruising, fishing trip or racing.
Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar from the inaugural 1973 season until the rally's final running in 2019, and was also frequently included in the British Rally Championship.
Motorsport(s) or motor sport(s) are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific terms automobile sport, motorcycle sport, power boating and air sports may be used commonly, or officially by organisers and governing bodies.
The Mirror is a type of popular sailing dinghy with more than 70,000 built.
The GP14 is a wooden or fibreglass hulled double-handed fractional Bermuda rigged sailing dinghy designed by Jack Holt in 1949.
The Royal Yachting Association (RYA) is a United Kingdom national governing body for sailing, dinghy sailing, yacht and motor cruising, sail racing, RIBs and sportsboats, windsurfing and personal watercraft and a leading representative for inland waterways cruising.
Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other water-borne craft for as long as such watercraft have existed.
Canoe slalom is a competitive sport with the aim to navigate a decked canoe or kayak through a course of hanging downstream or upstream gates on river rapids in the fastest time possible. It is one of the two kayak and canoeing disciplines at the Summer Olympics, and is referred to by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as Canoe/Kayak Slalom. The other Olympic canoeing discipline is canoe sprint. Wildwater canoeing is a non-Olympic paddlesport.
The Iron Butt Association (IBA) is a US-based organization dedicated to safe long-distance motorcycle riding, which claims membership of over 75,000 people.
Jolie Brise is a gaff-rigged pilot cutter built and launched by the Albert Paumelle Yard in Le Havre in 1913 to a design by Alexandre Pâris. After a short career as a pilot boat, owing to steam replacing sail, she became a fishing boat, a racing yacht and a sail training vessel.
The J/24 is an international One-Design and Midget Ocean Racing Club trailerable keelboat class built by J/Boats and defined by World Sailing. The J/24 was created to fulfill the diverse needs of recreational sailors such as cruising, one design racing, day sailing, and handicap racing.
The Royal Thames Yacht Club (RTYC) is the oldest continuously operating yacht club in the world, and the oldest yacht club in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are located at 60 Knightsbridge, London, England, overlooking Hyde Park. The club's purpose is "to provide the members with outstanding yacht cruising, racing and social opportunities in the UK and internationally, building on the club's unique heritage, central London facilities and close reciprocal relationships with other leading yacht clubs around the world."
The Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) is an annual transatlantic sailing event for cruiser yachts held since 1986. It also includes a sailing competition for racers. The ARC starts at the end of November in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and ends before Christmas at Rodney Bay, Saint Lucia, in the Caribbean.
Oyster Yachts is a British brand of luxury cruising sailing yachts established in 1973. The company is based in Southampton but with foundation and ongoing strong links to Wroxham and Ipswich.
The Tawe Phoenix Boat Club is the alumni rowing club of Swansea University Rowing Club, and currently does not have a permanent boating base. The club was founded in 2010 and aims to support the interests of Swansea University Rowing Club, to enter some races and to meet up socially at various points throughout each year.
The Swan 45 is a Finnish sailboat that was designed by Germán Frers as a one design racer-cruiser and first built in 2001.
James Wharram was a British multihull pioneer and designer of catamarans.
The Little Ship Club is a yacht club in London. It was founded in 1926 by a group of yachtsmen for the purpose of providing training and lectures over the winter months. The club operates from its riverside clubhouse at Bell Wharf on the River Thames, and is the only one operating from within the City of London.