Cruising doyen – and founder of the original ARC transatlantic rally, Jimmy Cornell is organising a new expedition route adventure to both the north and south hemisphere high latitudes for experienced sailorsAventura IV, the Garcia Exploration 45, in the NW PassageForty years since he founded the original ARC rally, Jimmy Cornell is launching a new cruise-in-company event for adventurous sailors, the High Latitude Challenge, which features the \u2018bucket list\u2019 expedition sailing destinations of both Antarctica and the Northwest Passage.
\n\u201cThis is not planned as an organised rally, but as a rolling event with interested participants joining anywhere along the route, and finishing wherever they prefer,\u201d Cornell explained.
\nThe clockwise route will start from Cherbourg, France in September 2026. It will then head south, to Rio, Brazil, then from Ushuaia the intention is to cross to the Antarctic Peninsula.
\nThere is a 8,600-mile passage northbound in the Pacific, from Chile to Alaska via Easter Island and Honolulu. Then from Alaska there will be an attempt to transit the Northwest Passage and Labrador Sea to Newfoundland.
\nAntarctic summer
\nThe Challenge has been timed to align seasonal weather conditions \u2013 based in no small part on Cornell\u2019s own experience of sailing in these areas.
\nIt\u2019s timed to deliver the fleet to Antarctica in summer (January-February), and to be in the Arctic during the brief window when the Northwest Passage may be navigable (July-August), while also avoiding tropical storm seasons in all regions.
\nIt\u2019s expected that yachts may join at points such as Ushuaia, Argentina, or Dutch Harbor, Alaska. US-based yachts may leave from Newport on an eastbound transat to join in Cherbourg.
\nThere will be logistical and service support at two key stopover points, with good facilities: Mar del Plata in Argentina, and Honolulu in Hawaii.
\nCornell adds: \u201cThere will be a support team and Cornell Sailing presence in key places: Cherbourg, Las Palmas, Mar del Plata, Ushuaia and later Hawaii and Dutch Harbor, and finally Nuuk [Greenland].\u201d
\nExperience required
\nTo find out more about the event and how to participate email info@cornellsailing.com with \u2018Challenge\u2019 as subject.
\nCornell says: \u201cAnyone interested will be sent a questionnaire with details of their sailing experience in miles and years, the kind of boat they intend to use, etc. Based on those facts I\u2019ll advise them whether I believe they should be attempting such a challenging voyage or not.\u201d
\nQualified participants would be asked to pay a fee of \u00a3500, refundable from a realistic participation fee depending on how many sign up to be part of the event, Cornell added.
\nCornell goes full circle
\nThe Challenge is something of a \u2018full circle\u2019 moment for Cornell in more respects than one, as he recalls the original ARC rally came about through collaboration with Yachting World.
\n\u201cI was contributing articles based on our recently completed world voyage to Yachting World when [then editor] Dick Johnson asked me to fly to Las Palmas in Gran Canaria to interview some skippers on their expectations before the Atlantic Crossing \u2013 and then fly to the Caribbean and try to find some of the same skippers to interview them on completion of the Atlantic passage.
\nCornell\u2019s Aventura III in Antarctica
\n\u201cHowever, while I was in Las Palmas and seeing five or six boats leaving the marina every day, setting off on the long voyage across the Atlantic, the waving and tears of friends\u2026 and the following day witnessing the same scene again, I decided that surely somebody should get all these separate people into one group motivated by a sense of togetherness?
\n\u201cI flew to the Caribbean, met some of those I\u2019d met in Las Palmas, and each agreed a rally idea was something they\u2019d have gladly joined. Back in London, I spoke to Dick about it and he thought it was indeed a very good idea.
\n\u201cThe ARC was launched at a party in St Katharine Docks. Soon after Yachting World hit the stands, letters started arriving at my address \u2013 hundreds of them. And in late November 1986 209 boats left for Barbados in the first ARC.\u201d
\nThe post The ultimate cruising adventure? Jimmy Cornell launches new High Latitude Challenge appeared first on Yachting World.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cruising doyen – and founder of the original ARC transatlantic rally, Jimmy Cornell is organising a new expedition route adventure to both the north and south hemisphere high latitudes for experienced sailorsAventura IV, the Garcia Exploration 45, in the NW … <\/p>\n