When the Tsunami struck Phuket on 26 December 2004 a large number of our Blue Water Rally yachts were at anchor in Phi Phi Bay. Although one owner and his wife were ashore and nearly lost their lives,our remaining yachts and crews somehow managed to escape the death and destruction that surrounded them.   The Rally was then forced to bypass our next stopover at Galle in Sri Lanka as it was also a disaster zone.

Over the years the warmth of our welcome from the people of Galle has made it a very special place on the Rally route. The scale of the tsunami disaster in Galle was enormous and led us to start a Blue Water Rally Charity to assist local people to start their lives again and first donations were made during the 2005 Rally.   As is so often the case when media interest moves on places like Galle and their people can be forgotten. However, local people are still in need today and our Charity led by Christine Diment, wife of BWR Director Tony Diment, continues to collect money to help them.

Since 2004. Blue Water Ralliers both past and present have been generous and imaginative in fund raising in many different ways.  Elena(10) and Bradley(12) sailing with parents Pat and Jeremy Cage on their catamaran Hakuna Matata on the current Rally are no exception. They recently sent a sum of US $201  to Christine to add to the Charity fund. We thought you might wish to read their letter describing their praiseworthy efforts to raise the money.......


Dear Christine,
The way we raised the money was by selling bracelets that I made with all of the beads that I have. I sold them to rally people for $1 or $2.  Some people bought a lot to give their grandchildren and friends.  

Bradley also raised about 70$ by doing a water taxi service in Portobello, Panama.  He shuttled people back and forth from their boats as there was limited space to dock a dinghy. When we were trying to give away our bikes the man that took them gave us 20$ for the appeal. We also got many tips from the rally for helping with Spanish translating in Panama.   We started raising money in the San Blas and finished in the Marquesas.  I still had bracelet orders to fill and I finished all those by the time we arrived in Tahiti.

I am attaching a picture of us from when we arrived in Tahiti.  We are very lucky kids, so we think it's important to help out others.