Darwin to Ambon is on again in 2017
by Australian Sailing on 21 Jul 2017
Walk on the Wildside Australian Sailing
It’s that time of year again and Darwin is a buzz of activity as yachts are preparing to head north in for the annual offshore yacht races. The 2017 Spice Islands Darwin Ambon Yacht Race starts on Saturday 5th August. There are 18 yachts with over 100 sailors from five countries.
Entries are wide and varied with five yachts from Fremantle Sailing Club making up the IRC Racing Division. Race regulars Sue Sea & Walk on the Wildside are back with some new entries Endorfin 1, Twitch & Prime Factor. Many of them have already competed in the Fremantle to Bali in May and the Darwin to Dili in July. Garth Curren skipper of Walk on the Wildside is keen to tackle the race record set in 2016 and already has eye on the prize.
Cruising Multihull also has five boats. Most of whom are newcomers to the race. One of the crew members aboard Prime Mover from Southport in QLD will be even be making a Guinness World Record attempt for reading poetry!
Cruising Monohull is the largest division with eight yachts. There are many regular entries with a good spread of boats ranging from Mottle 33 to Hanse 575. Boats to watch are Mango Madness & Wallop who finished just five minutes apart after 600 miles of racing in 2016!
There are six Indonesian sailors from competing in the 2017 race spread amongst all three divisions. These sailors are part of the recently formed Ambon Sailing Community. In 2018 they are hoping to be able to charter their own yacht for the event.
Each yacht will be carrying a Yellow Brick Tracker to monitor their safety throughout the race. It’s also a great way to keep an eye on the fleet. To follow the race and all the yachts go to
www.darwinambonrace.com.au.
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