Sail-World Asia- wondering about Cheeki Rafiki

by Guy Nowell, Editor on 27 May 2014 Probably every sailor in the world has been hanging on the story of the Cheeky Rafiki, lost in mid-Atlantic, and then found with her keel missing and liferaft still nested into it’s storage place on deck. It must have been a terrifyingly quick roll-over. The US Coastguard doesn’t ‘do salvage’ as a matter of policy, but one wonders whether anyone else is trying to get to the hull before it sinks, in order to have a good look at the failed joint.

Swimming across the Pearl River delta from Hong Kong to Macau sounds like a truly daunting prospect. 35 km (18.8nm) across a tidal estuary, huge quantities of commercial traffic, jetfoils and jetcats travelling at 40+ kts. Not to mention industrial effluent and , domestic discharge. Yuck. However, last weekend, Simon Holliday did just that, raising HK$250,000 (US$32,200) for Ocean Recovery Alliance and their project Grate Art (which aims to promote understanding that many drains do indeed go straight to the sea) in the process. Along the way he was accompanied by up to 30 pink dolphins, the endangered denizens of the murky waters. When he waded ashore at Hac Sa Beach, Holliday said ''I am going to have a pint of beer, in a glass.' To take away the taste of the Pearl River, no doubt.

Two days’ racing lost at Top of the Gulf due to shifty to non-existent breeze – and now two days wiped off the score sheet at the Rolex Capri Sailing Week. In both cases sterling work from the Race Officers produced right and proper results. And in Capri the scenery makes up for everything else, especially when Carlo Borlenghi is taking the pictures.

Pirates in Indonesia? Come on, this is such an old chestnut. You may as well say that piracy is rampant all over Asia – as described by people who have never been here, never cruised or sailed here, and (in many cases) cannot find the Sunda Strait on a chart. The antidote to the ridiculous scare-mongering is the very excellent commentary supplied by Cilian Buddarleigh (Indo Yacht Support) and Andy Shorten (The Lighthouse Consultancy). Please read. And then start arranging your trip to one of the most remote yet accessible marine playgrounds in the world.

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