The VE2023 fleet departed on the 6th of January as scheduled from the Marina Las Palmas in Gran Canaria, the Canary Islands, after the unanimous decision of the captains at the skippers briefing 2 days before.
Sailing south some 850miles towards the Cape Verde Islands is their first stop.
It has been months, probably for many, years of preparations to achieve their dream to cross the Atlantic. The 11th of December the fleet met for the very first time in Las Palmas Marina and since then participants had been preparing and checking their boats before the crossing of the Atlantic with the help of the organization. The ever growing camaraderie between the fleet was noted during a very bad southerly that surprised many during the night of the 26th of December and the following day, with some broken lines and damaged boats. Fortunately no big damages occurred and no one got injured.
Without an official time and date of departure the fleet decided to leave on the 6th of January around 11:00 UTC for their journey towards Mindelo Marina at Sao Vicente at the Cape Verde Islands.
With 17 monohulls and 6 multihulls, being the smallest monohull a Sigma 362 of 10,95 meters and the biggest monohull an Amel 54 of 17,50 meters. The smallest multihull is a Lagoon 380 of 11,50 meters and the biggest multihull is an Outremer 51 of 15,27m. The international fleet from Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, México, Canada, USA, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Netherlands, Hungary, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and UK The flett will arrive in Mindelo Marina some 6days later and the Marina staff in Mindelo will take care of them, as they have done since the start of the rally back in 2018.
3 boats experienced some technical issues and departed the following day and SY Trim had to do a quick stop in Tenerife and La Gomera.
SY Maiken, an Amel 54, with captain Peter Tinér from Sweden is taking the direct route, crossing the Atlantic without stopping at the Cape Verde and directly to Port Louis Marina in Grenada.
The fleet expects some stronger conditions within the 25knts range and some stronger swells from the north during a few days, easing down as they reach the Cape Verde Islands. The strong Azores High is giving the fleet some good strong NE tradewinds
Viking Explorers suggests the fleet to stop in Mindelo as a stop over before the big jump across the Atlantic.
After a few days in Mindelo, the fleet will cast of for their 2100 miles across the Atlantic, towards the beautiful shores of Grenada.
Check out our video of the departure here, Fair Winds
The Viking Explorers 2023 is supported by the Grenada Tourism Authority, Camper& Nicholson Port Louis Marina, and Clarke’s Court Rum from the Grenada Distillery among many other companies that also sponsor and support the event.
Grenada is such a perfect place to arrive after an Atlantic Crossing as the participants have all the services they might need. Once in Grenada, participants will enjoy a full week of activities before the Official Welcome Ceremony and fun price giving at the tropical True Blue Bay Resort and Marina on the 6th of February 2023.
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