Mick joined the 8-strong crew of the Luminous 3, a 22-metre Solaris 74 owned by his friend and fellow Vistage alumni member John McDonnell, in mid-November to take part in the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers 2024 (ARC +2024).

ARC 2024 saw over 200 boats and 1,200 people sail 2,700 nautical miles from Gran Canaria to Grenada (via Cape Verde).

On December 4th we were pleased to receive news that Mick and the other seven crew of the Luminous 3 completed their transatlantic crossing safely.

The crew had to overcome several disasters during the trip – including a malfunctioning navigation device during the first leg from Gran Canaria to Cape Verde that took them significantly off-course and put the second leg of the trip in jeopardy. Thankfully, Mick’s extensive IT experience came in use.

But when his advice of ‘have you tried turning it off and on again?’ didn’t work, the crew referred to the vessel’s manufacturer for more hands-on technical support.

With the navigation device fixed they were able to set off on the second (and longest) leg, from Cape Verde to Grenada.

The second leg was largely uneventful until the penultimate day when, moving at 13knts, the parasailor halyard broke, resulting in 400m2 of sail in the water.

As a benchmark, a large new build detached house is 250m2 of floor space upstairs and down!

With everyone in life jackets it took the crew about 45 mins, lot of winching, a lot of pulling sail over the rail and sitting on it to prevent it blowing off the other side. All in 20knts true wind and a 1.5m swell.

However, the team recovered well to finish 1st in their class and 4th overall!

Despite the early morning arrival in Grenada the crew celebrated with ‘a few’ drinks.