Port2Port - Rally to end Cruising Season in South Pacific

by Des Ryan on 1 Oct 2007 It's like the United Nations. If the Vanuatu to Bundaberg Rally didn't already exist, someone would have to invent it.

This year, more than fifty boats will line up to join this annual rally which is actually a race - not a race against other boats, but a race against time. For the Port Vila to the Port of Bundaberg Rally occurs at the very end of the South Pacific sailing season. Boats must leave these cruising grounds before the onset of the Cyclone Season to find safe haven south of where the cyclones wreak their paths of serious damage.

Some boats, however, take a different option. They hole up in specially prepared cyclone holes in various islands – Tonga and Fiji for instance. These come in various forms.

First there are the mangrove holes, where the boats push their way through the mud and roots of mangroves, deep into the heart of the tangled home of hundreds of bird species and crustaceans that inhabit these areas. The boat are then hog tied to the surrounding undergrowth, and here they wait out the storm.

Then, as in Fiji, there are the deep excavated holes in the dry ground, where the boat is lifted by crane and placed carefully down into the hole, much as you would on normal hard stand, but underground.

Others are cleverly constructed 'in water' cyclone holes. These are small, usually circular marinas with high levee banks around the outside, and a thick hedge of many planted trees on top of the levee banks. During normal times, the marina looks like a normal marina with boats lining the outside rim, bow to the dock. However, at the first cyclone warning, the boats are moved to be attached stern-to a single central specially constructed central buoy, from which they form the spokes of a wheel of boats. Protected by the levee banks and the surrounding trees, the wheel of boats always has the bows of some boats in the wheel facing the wind, no matter its direction.

'We've been cruising the Pacific for three seasons now,' one French couple told me, 'and we like to leave our boat in the water – this has been an excellent solution for us.'

But traditionally, and not to risk even being in a cyclone area in that season (November to May), most boats will head for either New Zealand or Australia.

Some years ago, sailing fraternity of sugar town Bundaberg in Queensland decided that there was an opportunity not to be missed, and created the Cruising Yacht Club of Bundaberg specifically to cater to the boats heading towards southern Queensland, and attract them to Bundaberg.

...and attract them they do! Entry is free, but this year the response to the informally promoted rally has been so good that the rally is closed to new entries, and there is a waiting list. As to the nationalities of the boats, USA heads the list with 18 entries, Australia close behind with 17. Then there are boats from as far afield as Cayman Islands, France, New Zealand, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Finland. On a per capita basis, however, Norway, with only 4.5 million of population, easily has more boats than any other nation.

There are good reasons why the rally attracts so many entries. Boats crossing the Pacific have informal reporting scheds so that their position is known on a twice daily basis. The rally will organise this for this last crossing leg.
Secondly, entry into Australia is renowned as the most difficult and bureaucratic in the world. 96 hours notice is mandatory for boats arriving in Australia, so the casual cruising skipper, used to going with the weather and staying longer or shorter according to need and desire, finds this a sudden onerous requirement. The rally makes this seem easier, as the organisers assist in the process of the arrival formalities.

On the way there are some attractive reefs where you can hang out in for a while – Chesterfield, Kenn and Loyaute - where cruising tales tell of great swimming and of the prolific turtles who are merely curious about strange swimmers arriving from time to time.

Finally, there are the good parties at the other end. It's no secret that cruisers are always attracted to a good party, and it is relevant that the rally organisers don't actually care which day you leave Port Vila (or you can leave Noumea if you like), but insist that you be in Bundaberg for the final arrival parties which occupy the first week of November.

Sail-World's Blackwattle will be participating in the rally this year, and reporting on it as it occurs.

Watch this space!

In the meantime, here's the entry list of boats: