Bundaberg - What a Welcome!

by Nancy Knudsen, Cruising Editor on 5 Nov 2007 Arrival into Bundaberg from Vanuatu has been somewhat of a culture shock for Blackwattle – we have swapped high volcanic mountains, lush tropical jungle and aqua lagoons for wide cultivated plains, big sky, sparse vegetation and murky green seas. That's Australia of course, mostly desert and short of water.......

However, the welcome by the volunteers of the Bundaberg Cruising Yacht Club to the 55 boats in the Port2Port Rally has been nothing short of phenomenal – if hangovers are any indication.... The only cloud is the pall that hangs over the group because of the Australian solo sailor Bill Morton who lost his boat Aquantique on Cook's Reef during the passage. Aquantique had withdrawn from the Rally only days before the start.

Genoa Boat Show is also in the news, with all new technology from Simrad making a splash and the Elan new 450 Cruiser/Racer wowing the experts. Bavaria is 30 year old and continues to expand.

The Turkish coast is in for some changes – most cruising sailors who love it DON'T want it to develop like the rest of the Mediterranean. Let's hope the Turks learn from others' mistakes. However, to see if before it changes, Mariner Boating has a great holiday on offer this week. That's one holiday on offer – the other is a berth in the biodiesel Earthrace as it sets out to break records again.

A must read this week is 'An Ear for the Whale' – how whales are actually becoming deaf because of the noise generated by all the engines on the water.

Read how Adrian Flanagan, almost at the end of the world's first solo vertical circumnavigation, has had to make a hard decision, a Russian sailor is planning to circumnavigate Antarctica, and the delectable Treleavens are well out of the Med into the Atlantic.

Do you know how to deploy your life-raft? How would you go doing it fast in an emergency? UK-Halsey's newest safety video is well worth a watch.

These stories and more, so read on, enjoy, and...

Sail safe!