Sail Tahiti Yacht Rally 2014 - something to dream about for 2015

by Trevor Joyce on 29 Apr 2014 It was a charter boat rally to dream about: Truly tropical, spectacular scenery, a sea with blues and greens you simply cannot catch on camera, sailing on flat seas with some fun racing to add a little more excitement, snorkelling in water with a temperature just five degrees below the air temperature, great food, great people and a rally with a social dimension impossible to put a price on.

'Every day was 100%' said Howard Bellamy from Perth. 'It’s as simple as that'.

Thirty people flew to Papeete in Tahiti for the Sail Tahiti Yacht Rally.

Organiser Trevor Joyce tells the story: 'We arrived in Papeete for a night in a hotel before a short flight to the charter base on Raietea. Our six Catana catamarans awaited us at the base.

'With day time temperatures were about 28 degrees and the easterly trade wind wafting gently across the placid South Pacific Ocean, the following morning we sailed the 20 odd nautical miles to Bora Bora, which reared up from the ocean, a high, misty blue peak on the horizon. The breeze built quickly to 15 knots on the beam and the Catana cats bounded along on a flat warm sea. Of course we were ‘racing’.

'Our post-race gig that night was at the Bora Bora Yacht Club; the food was terrific, our crews were all a buzz with the excitement of the day and the star-spangled sky turned on a partial eclipse of the full moon between courses.

'After a leisure day spent in the quiet of the turquoise Bora Bora lagoon swimming and fishing for clams with our local friend Vetea, we re-assembled for the race to Tahaa accompanied by the south east trade wind – now conveniently redirected from the north east to facilitate our beam reach. It’s all a bit too good to be true so at the finishing line in the lee of Tahaa the wind died and the yachts sat looking at each other across a glassy sea. A few zephyrs finally drove us home and it was then a passage under engine inside the lagoon to our stop for the night at a restaurant in Haamene Bay, an indentation deep into the verdant Tahaa shore.

'There was more magic at dinner when a self-propelled pontoon with its own palm tree and beach turned up with a mob of enthusiastic Tahitians who demonstrated to us with their dancing that their joints work differently from ours. This was no tired performance for the tourists; this was an opportunity to do what they clearly love to do best; smile, sing and dance. As did we – but not with as much panache.

'Next morning the school bus full of singing children went by as we walked along the single street of this tiny town to the vanilla market. Tahaa is the ‘vanilla island’.

'Leisure day again so some took a tour around Tahaa inside the lagoon, some went swimming in the coral gardens, others went and parked behind the motu on the reef to snorkel over the coral while others motored off to a vanilla farm.

'Huahine followed with the same pattern and all toosoon we were heading back to Raietea on the final race and final night moored out in Faaroa Bay.

'More than 700 years ago a twin hulled canoe set out from here en-route for New Zealand. Two thousand miles across the South Pacific with no navigation instruments and no certainty about ever returning was a pretty mean feat by any standard. Toi, the leader of that expedition, settled in what he called Aotearoa in the Bay of Islands.

'Subsequent additional voyages peopled the original Maori population of New Zealand.

'We also had two hulls but that was the only similarity. Air conditioning and water maker on the 47’s, tons of space, retractable dagger boards, square top mains and two furling headsails.

'A river flows into Faaroa Bay and we set off in our dinghies to explore it in search of the source. Our expedition did not compare with Livingston but it was extraordinary. The jungle dripped down to the glassy surface of the increasingly fresh water with just an occasional glimpse of the peaks that climb to the sky in the centre of Raiatea.

'Our local guide James took us to a 'botanical' garden, where he proudly introduced us to an incredible array of plants – most with edible fruit, so there was absolutely no chance we were going to starve on our 'voyage of discovery'. We then returned to our anchored yachts, with a swim to cool off before setting off up the eastern shore of Raiatea Island on the way back to the base and the end of the rally.

YOU could join the 2015 rally, which will be held in September-October. There's plenty of time to plan! For more information go to the Mariner Boating Website. If you prefer, call the Australian organisers of the rally, Mariner Boating on +61 (0)2 99661244.