Sail-World.com : Record fleet for tenth Lord Howe Island Cruise
Record fleet for tenth Lord Howe Island Cruise
|
|
|
'Interested skippers and crew gathered at the Orient Hotel in Sydney to swap notes for the 2012 cruise - Lord Howe Island Cruise'
David Salter
Click Here to view large photo
|
This year’s tenth annual BBQ cruise to Lord Howe Island looks likely to attract a record fleet of participants.
At the traditional ‘Quiet Little Drink’ for interested skippers and crew held at the Orient Hotel in Sydney, a quick roll-call confirmed at least eleven probable starters for the 2012 cruise, plus another six wishing to be noted as 'possibles'.
The event is an entirely informal cruise-in-company with no rules or organizing authority. Its only fixed point is that participating yachts should get to the island in time for the fund-raising BBQ at Ned’s Beach on the first Tuesday after Melbourne Cup day. This year that falls on November 13.
All proceeds go to the Island’s public school. The yachties have raised more than $25,000 for the school’s Parents & Citizens group over the past decade.
There has been heightened interest in the 2012 cruise following the recent cancellation of this year’s Gosford-Lord Howe Island yacht Race. The 416nm Gategory One race normally precedes the cruise by a fortnight.
Nigel Stoke, skipper of Fidelis, the only yacht to have participated in every cruise since it began in 2003, believes the strong continuing interest in the event reflects an underlying change in offshore yachting.
'During a period when fleet numbers for the big blue-water events have been static or falling, the cruise keeps slowly building,' he says.
'I think there are a lot of people who own good, seaworthy boats, love to sail offshore, but don’t want to compete against the latest carbon rocket ships. The cruise really suits them.
'The bonus, of course, is that they arrive at one of the most magical destinations within safe cruising range of the East Coast mainland. It’s hard not to have a good time on Lord Howe,' says Stoke.
Among the 17 yachts to register their interest in making the 860nm return passage for the 2012 BBQ are Polaris of Belmont, Allira, Funnelweb, Morning Bird, The Indefensible, Southern Belle, Indigo, Manly Ferry, Landfall, Sylphide, Commitment, Heather Mist, Taratibu and Fontana.
… ends …
Photo shows:
Skippers and crew swap notes at the ‘QLD’ held at the Orient Hotel in Sydney on 14 June
by David Salter
Click on the FB Like link to post this story to your FB wall
http://www.sail-world.com/index.cfm?nid=98673
5:11 AM Tue 19 Jun 2012GMT
Click here for printer friendly version
Click here to send us feedback or comments about this story.
|
|
|
Our Advertisers are committed to our sport, please support them!
This site and its contents are © Copyright TetraMedia Pty. Ltd and/or the original author, photographer etc. All Rights Reserved.
Photographs are copyright by law. If you wish to use or buy a photograph you must contact the photographer directly (there is a hyperlink in most cases to their website, or do a Google search.) with your request.
Please do not contact
Sail-World.com
as we cannot give permission for use of other photographer’s images.
Only if the photographer named on the image is Sail-world.com, Powerboat-world.com, Marinebusiness-world.com or NZBoating-World.com.
Contact us
.
Ph: +61 2 8006 1873
or complete our
feedback form
Contact us
.
View our Privacy Policy.
[ Go Home]
[ Banner Advertising Specification]
[Bot Archive ]
Customised news feeds -Marine Industry companies, Clubs and Associations have their own customised version of our news feed on their website.
Look_here_to_see_examples
|
CLD
| | |
_USA_05-13[2][4].gif)
