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BLUE WATER RALLY 1999 CREWS PREPARE FOR TAKE-OFF!
Marina Bay at Gibraltar is the scene of hectic activity as participants in the 1999 Blue Water Round The World Cruising Rally make their final preparations for their voyage. A total of 25 cruising yachts will set sail from Europa Point on Sunday 31st October on a world voyage lasting some 20 months and returning to Gibraltar in July 2001. They will be joined by other yachts in Tenerife and at Antigua and party with them there into the Millennium.
Supporting them at Gibraltar is the professional Support Team of Tony Diment, Peter Seymour, Annette Seymour and part-time manager, Jim Allen. During the first few days of the Departure Fortnight the Team has been joined by Blue Water safety consultant, Dick Allan, who has assisted with safety briefings and safety discussions with skippers and crews on board their yachts. Crews have attended a briefing on Rally communications and on procedures for the daily communications net, which will operate whilst the fleet is at sea - a routine that will be very much at the core of the Rally.
In the busy Rally office the Rally noticeboard is full of details about duty-free supplies, gas bottle refilling and items for sale. All is not work and no play, however, and participants have been busy booking organised trips to Jerez to visit the home of sherry production and the famed Spanish riding-school, the white towns and Ronda and, nearer home, trips around the Rock. Special cave exploration trips to the lower caves of the Rock have proved extremely popular amongst the more intrepid.
On Monday 25th October yachts will mark the start of Departure Week by dressing their yachts overall. This ancient maritime tradition of flying groups of flags from bow to masthead and to the stern of sailing vessels marks special occasions - for Blue Water Rally crews the start of their great adventure. On Wednesday 27th October the programme includes a Fun Day at the Royal Gibraltar Yacht Club when crews will test their skills at raft-building, a tug-of-war competition and a mystery relay race, rules for which will only be announced to participants that afternoon. Suffice it to say that participants have been invited to bring a change of clothing, plus 2 fenders, a length of rope and a paddle or an oar. The bar will be open throughout the afternoon and the day finishes with a BBQ at the ever-friendly Royal Gibraltar Yacht Club.
Friday 29th October sees the culmination of the Blue Water Rally Departure Fortnight. The Gibraltar Government will host a farewell reception for participants, friends and families. The Royal Gibraltar Regiment will parade for a "Sunset Ceremony" and add a special touch to this very special occasion.
Saturday 30th October has been kept free of official arrangements and, apart from a skippers’ briefing to discuss departure arrangements, there will be no demands on the crews, their families and friends. Weather permitting, yachts will set sail from Europa Point on Sunday 31st October on the first stage of their voyage of a lifetime.
BLUE WATER 98 YACHTS REACH SINGAPORE - END OF THE INDONESIA CRUISE
Over the next week Blue Water 1998 yachts start to arrive at Nongsa Point Marina on Batam Island, just south of Singapore. First to arrive has been Bill Carlow and his family on their yacht "Matata", which suffered propellor damage during the leg to Bali. (One of the natural hazards of sailing in Indonesian waters is the number of semi-submerged logs floating in coastal waters and even some distance offshore. It is one of these which Bill reported as having caused his damage.)
Bill reports that during much of the voyage between Bali and Nongsa Point conditions were windless and they also had a strong counter-current. Most exciting was a direct hit by a water spout. In Bill's words, "This was exciting and violent, to say the least and we ended up coming up the Straits between Batam and Bintan in a furious thunder squall, making 12 knots over the ground."
After clearing out of Indonesia at Nongsa Point, "Matata" is now safely installed at Raffles Marina, Singapore, where a new propshaft and seals were fitted, anti-foul touched up and a re-launch arranged - all within 24 hours. "Not bad, eh?", comments Bill in his message to UK Rally Control.
For other Rally yachts the political unrest surrounding the post-presidential elections caused few problems, other than restricting movement at Bali over a period of a few days. Most have enjoyed a fascinating cruise in the islands of Lombok, Sumbawa and Komodo. Nongsa Point Marina marks the end of the Indonesian leg of the Blue Water voyage and, despite an enforced diversion from the original planned route, the experience has been a success. Nongsa Point Marina is positioned just south of the Singapore Straits - the busiest waterway in the world. With easy access by regular, fast ferry service, crews will be able to visit Singapore easily for sight-seeing and shopping, before a short transit to their second destination in the area - Sebana Cove on the south coast of Malaysia.
The Support Team (in the form of Tony Diment) will be in situ at Nongsa Point on 12th November ready to meet the majority of the crews as they arrive.
END OF FIRST LEG FOR BLUE WATER RALLY 1999 CREWS - ARRIVAL AT TENERIFE
Despite 11 days of windy and rainy weather, the last 3 days of the Gibraltar Departure Fortnight were sunny and warm. Support Team member and professional meteorologist, Jim Allen, produced the goods on departure day, Sunday 31st October, when a light, easterly wind drove the 1999 Blue Water fleet across the start-line at Europa Point. A large crowd of families, friends and the general public had formed on the viewing platform there and enjoyed the spectacle under the blue sky.
Regular reports from the Rally fleet has spoken of good sailing winds from the north and the east, with occasional patches of lighter weather and yachts have made excellent progress, the first arriving on Thursday, 4th November.
Good communications with UK Rally Control have ensured that technical and logistical requirements have been passed on in advance of yacht arrivals. For "Vandal" this has meant the ordering of a new starter motor and for "Tswalu" a new alternator regulator - both items due for hand delivery soon after their arrival in Tenerife. For "Tigre" problems have been slightly more dramatic, with a broken seacock allowing some serious water ingress. However, skipper Peter Hopkinson has reported that, after fitting a bung and "a bit of bailing and paddling", all is well.
At Tenerife the Support Team (in the form of Jim Allen - shortly to be joined by Peter Seymour) is busy with yacht arrivals occurring almost every hour, but most crews will be safely installed in the Marina del Atlantico, Santa Cruz, by Saturday 6th November. A busy social and tourism programme is planned and crews will be hosted at the ever-welcoming and prestigious Real Club Nautico de Tenerife. Weather permitting, yachts will depart on the transatlantic leg of the Blue Water Rally on 18th November heading for Antigua and the sunshine of the Caribbean.
TENERIFE STOPOVER SUCCESS FOR BWR 99 AND START OF TRANSATLANTIC CROSSING
At this time of the year the Canary Islands are full of yachts preparing for their Atlantic crossing and each year harbours are more and more full. Santa Cruz de Tenerife was no exception and, despite early promises of pontoon berthing, Blue Water Rally yachts found themselves faced with a mixture of pontoon and stern-to berthing at the Marina Del Atlantico. Despite the inevitable pressures Jim Allen, the Blue Water Support Team Manager in Tenerife, cooperated with the marina staff in berthing Blue Water Rally yachts as they arrived day and night over the first few days. A mixture of warm sunshine, good humour and cooperation between participants ensured a satisfactory state of affairs and a good start to a pre-transatlantic stopover.
This is the third occasion when we have arranged a stopover at Santa Cruz and the third time we have been helped by Dr José Miguel Togores, who has become a close friend to our participants and is our "liaison officer" in Tenerife. There is nowhere in the world where we have received warmer friendship or greater assistance from any individual or from a yacht club, than at the Real Club Nautico de Tenerife (RCNT). Rally participants were made honorary members of the extremely prestigious RCNT, with its Olympic-sized swimming-pools, restaurants and club facilities, which would put almost any UK yacht club to shame. Each day José Miguel was on hand, together with Jim Allen, to assist with the myriad questions and problems related to the stopover of the Blue Water fleet. However, all was not work and no play and there was a memorable programme of social activities and tourism to help crews relax during their busy preparations for the forthcoming transatlantic crossing.
Outstanding amongst these were the island tour and visit to the Mount Teide volcano and a welcome ceremony at the town hall of Santa Cruz. A message of friendship from Santa Cruz was given to the Rally to be passed to the Government of Antigua. Later, over 40 participants took "time off" to join in a day out to the nearby island of La Gomera, from which Christopher Columbus made 3 voyages and his original journey of discovery to the New World. During their visit crews gained an insight into local life in a unique island environment and its connections with one of the most outstanding stories of world exploration - a very moving experience for those who were soon to follow in the path of those early explorers.
The final gathering of Rally participants took place at the RCNT, where their ever- generous hosts, the President and members, provided a traditional sardine supper shortly before the Rally departure. A blend of Rioja wine, excellent food, good company and disco music provided a fitting end to an outstanding and enjoyable stopover.
Thursday 18th November signalled the start of the 1999 Blue Water Rally transatlantic crossing. With a forecast of good weather for the next 5 days, yachts set off from Santa Cruz at 1000 hours. Friends and families waved farewells at the Marina entrance as crews passed en route southwards towards the Atlantic. The sun shone, flags were waved and foghorns were sounded - the next stage of the Great Adventure had begun.
Regular updates of yacht positions and news will appear on this website. A twice-weekly report will be posted, based on inputs from the fleet, supplemented by information from the UK Rally office. Photographs from the Gibraltar start and Tenerife stopover may also be found in the Photo Gallery section."
The Crossroads of Asia : Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia
Tony Diment reports on the Rally's departure from Indonesia at Nongsa Point and entry to Malaysia at Sebana Cove:
Having arrived in Bali after a slow, windless passage from Bali most yachts were reluctant to retrace their footsteps to cruise the Spice Islands of Indonesia. The short and normally straightforward passage to Kupang in W.Timor would have allowed a leisurely cruise westwards to Bali but the political situation in Timor precluded this. Instead the Blue Water Rally fleet roughly split in two for the passage northwards towards Singapore.
One group took the eastern option to cruise via Kalimantan, the other the western side of the Java Sea via the island of Bangka off Sumatra. The former group had the unforgetable experience of meeting the Urang-utans of Kalimantan whereas the western group took advantage of favourable currents to get them northward with plenty of time to thoroughly explore the many islands of the Kalimata Strait and the more northerly Riau Group. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed Indonesia and unanimously agreed that the friendliness of the people and their simple lifestyles became a tonic.
With Windfall now having left the rally but remaining in company with 3 other yachts (Matata, Rain Again and Scipio) pushing on to Malaysia for the Raja Muda Cup races, the remaining 16 yachts were happy to arrive in Nongsa Point Marina where they were to clear from Indonesia. Rally Control established `base camp' while people relaxed in the marina and exchanged stories of their exploits and fortunes. Terry and Pam Phillips (Tudor Rose) had been plagued by a series of worrying engine and electronic problems and were grateful to receive a number of invaluable spares on their arrival.
Soon everyone was ready to move on to Sebana Cove in Malaysia and from there to explore Singapore. Sebana is a 5-star resort tucked in the depths of the jungle and accessible only by way of an `African Queen' type trip up the mangrove-lined River Santi. A fast ferry, actually quicker and cheaper than that from Nongsa now runs direct to Singapore from Sebana and it was by way of this that people explored the `big city'. The Rally managed to secure significant reductions on the room rate of a major hotel in Orchard Road, in the heart of Singapore, and this allowed most crews to stay in town for a couple of days until they returned exhausted from shopping or the curry luncheons in Raffles' Tiffin Room.
The stopover culminated in two parties, the first a Thanksgiving Supper and dance, the second a wonderful Malaysian sarong party with exotic local dancing, martial arts display and a mock Malay wedding ceremony. The buffet was fantastic! It was a fitting end to a much appreciated stopover - Alan Haynes (Nikita) publicly thanked the Rally organisation for providing what many had considered the best marina based stopover of the whole rally. The local area abounds in wildlife and the Rally organised trips to see the numerous colonies of monkeys and the simple delights of seeing fire flies and the tasting of durians - an evil smelling tropical fruit. There was reportedly a black panther in the vicinity and just prior to the rally's arrival a wild elephant had been seen swimming across the river, there was also a school of rare pink dolphins at the river entrance. Never be sceptical - you never know what to expect next!
BWR 99 Arrives in Antigua
Tony Diment reports from Antigua. The 1999 Blue Water Rally has landed safely in Antigua! All yachts except Sukanuk, (that departed Tenerife much later than everyone else) arrived in Jolly Harbour between the 3rd and the 14th December.
The early arrivals completed the Atlantic crossing in 18 days whereas the bulk of the fleet took on average about 22 to 23 days. The yachts got off to a good start from the Canaries with favourable North Easterly winds but a slow moving low pressure system approximately 500 miles North East of the Caribbean brought headwinds for almost a week and was responsible for the relatively slow crossing. As yachts approached Antigua the incidence of heavy showers and gusty conditions gave way to sunnier trade wind conditions although the winds were still light.
Jolly Harbour has been the ideal destination port with its comfortable marina and conveniently adjacent shops, restaurants and bars. After getting used to terra firma for the first time in three weeks everyone slowly succumbed to the lure of the white sand beach and marina swimming pool, gradually realising the true meaning of ‘chilling out’. Once everybody was thoroughly rested, this gave way to some very serious partying. On Sunday 12th December the Rally visited Shirley Heights and from its hilltop position overlooking English Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard the sound of steel bands and barbeque smoke drifted out across the Caribbean. For each night since then there has been much revelry ranging from a super beach party hosted by the Minister of Tourism to Arild and Sonia’s (Alchemist) respective hen and stag parties.
Over the period 16/17th December the fleet has moved from Jolly Harbour to English and Falmouth Harbours on Antigua’s south coast where they will spend Christmas and the New Year. Most people have opted for historic Nelson’s Dockyard and are anticipating more social events over the festive season. Some yachts such as Nakatcha and Vagalam have taken advantage of the pause in events prior to Christmas to cruise the coast of Antigua. The more unfortunate such as Vandal( engine removal and repair) have some serious maintenance work to complete before the next stage of the rally through the Caribbean towards Panama. Despite the generally light winds there was still enough wind to blow out three spinnakers ( Windward Lady, Chinatown and Rhapsody in Blue) and Tiger Lils’ (engine) and Meriva (starter motor) have plenty to keep them busy.
Happy Christmas to all at home from a very happy group of Blue Water Ralliers!
BLUE WATER RALLY 1998 ARRIVES IN PHUKET FOR CHRISTMAS AND THE MILLENNIUM
By 20 December all Blue Water Rally yachts had safely arrived in Phuket, Thailand for their Christmas and Millennium celebrations. Whilst two or three crews made an early visit to the highlands of Chiang Mai, most crews were heading for the beautiful island of Phi Phi to spend Christmas together. The first item on the Rally programme was a Welcome Reception given by the Tourism Authority of Thailand and a personal welcome address given by the Governor of Phuket and the Regional Director of Tourism at Phuket’s best hotel, The Royal Phuket City Hotel. Rally participants were entertained by traditional Thai dancers and enjoyed a sumptuous Thai buffet meal.
A Christmas Eve drinks party at the Jungle Bar will be followed by a BBQ on Christmas Day. A New Year’s Eve Millennium Party will be held at the Krabi Resort in Ao Nang Bay. Yachts will be anchored together just off the beautiful beach where at midnight there promises to be a firework display almost equalling that to be seen by the residents of London.
Peter and Annette Seymour (the Support Team) have joined the fleet in a chartered yacht and have reported that the Blue Water fleet is enjoying the sunshine of Thailand, although strong winds have affected some of the planned cruising for the fleet. Everyone is being made most welcome by the charming, friendly people of Thailand and are thoroughly enjoying the exceptional food of the region.
Yachts will prepare for their next leg to Sri Lanka at the Yacht Haven, Phuket around 3 January, where they will be joined by a new addition to the fleet (Yacht "Anicka" and skipper, Peter Wintle)"