Andrew Bishop: Mister ARC bows out…
Drawn to the sea from an early age, the discreet Andrew Bishop is about to hand over the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers, which he has been managing since 2006. For the past 16 years, he has made a success of the transatlantic rally created by Jimmy Cornell in 1986, despite two years dominated by the Covid-19 crisis. Here then is a portrait of this man who has enabled more than 10,000 crew members and 3,000 skippers to cross the oceans in complete safety.
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Publié le
01/02/2023
Par
Emmanuel van Deth
Numéro :
188
Parution :
Mar.
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Apr.
2023
Andrew learned to sail at a very young age, and as an only son, he accompanied his father, an accomplished racing sailor. At 15 he competed in his first Fastnet Race. While attending Gordonstoun School in Scotland, Andrew continued to learn to sail and became fascinated with celestial navigation. Today, his love for sailing «the old-fashioned way» has remained intact... Andrew started a career in the Navy: until 1989, he therefore got a much broader and more complete knowledge of what happens on the water than that reserved for the world of pleasure sailing alone. However, it was sailing that took over with a first transatlantic rally under the colors of the ARC. A transatlantic that would undoubtedly mark the start of a long and happy story.
In 1992, Andrew heard that Jimmy Cornell was looking for someone to help him run Europa 92, the first ever round-the-world rally-cruise. Collaboration between the two men was not easy, so Andrew and his faithful lieutenant Jeremy Wyatt set off again with a rally around England. The partnership resumed again in 1997, first with Jimmy, then with Sir Chay Blyth. At the end of the 1990’s, the Andrew/Jeremy tandem tried to take control of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers... but they didn’t manage it until 2006. Andrew then became totally involved. He bought Noonsite, Jimmy Cornell’s website dedicated to ocean cruising and launched Ocean Crew Link, a website dedicated to crew job offers and requests. Mr. ARC is a hard worker, but still very discreet. The man is indeed reserved and thorough, but this does not prevent him from having a vision, on the contrary: “I have been working to redefine the product and to make it more professional and more attractive. I have made sure to increase the number of events with the launch of ARC World in 2008, ARC+ in 2013 and ARC January last year. The two years marked by Covid-19 have obviously complicated our work considerably, but in the end, the requests for participation have increased significantly.”
When asked what he plans to do when he gets home to Cowes, Andrew smiles mischievously and remains evasive: “I don’t have any plans. I’ll have a quiet two or three months and then decide what I want to do.” One more ARC for the road?
