Rough seas slow rally yachts
by Sail-World Cruising on 30 Jul 2010
Banda Islands of Indonesia - a sailing and diving paradise SW
Yachts who set off from Darwin on Saturday heading for the Indonesian destination of Banda Neira have been delayed through unusually rough seas.
Five metre seas had 25 yachts taking part in the Sail Banda international maritime event trail behind 21 others, which had reached Banda Neira, located around 60 nautical miles southeast of Maluku, capital of Ambon.
Banda islands are made up of three larger islands and seven smaller ones perched on the rim of the country`s deepest sea, the Banda Sea. International divers estimated that the underwater garden in Banda Neira has approximately 400 flora and fauna species of wide diversity.
The yachts, flagged off at Darwin’s Cullen Bay on Saturday to mark the start of the event, were earlier scheduled to reach Banda Neira, a group of islands renowned for its splendid underwater garden, in Central Maluku regency on Tuesday.
'Until Wednesday noon, only 21 yachts had anchored, and the rest are still on the way,' the Sail Banda 2010 organizing committee secretary, Ansori Jawawi, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Despite the high seas, he said the participants would not face problems since the committee was backed by the Navy, the Search and Rescue team and others tightly guarding the participating yachts.
'So far, there’s been no problem,' he said. Ansori said the first yacht to reach Banda was the Convergence, a Wylie 66 from the USA, which reached Banda at 5.00pm Monday.
It took the yacht’s six-member crew, skippered by Randy Repass, 54 hours to reach Banda from Darwin.
Convergence was one of 109 yachts taking part in the maritime event, with participants coming from 19 countries.
Out of the 109 yachts, 46 set sail to Banda, 62 to Kupang in East Nusa Tenggara and another through Bangka-Belitung.
After Banda, the yachts will set sail to Ambon on July 31 where the participants are scheduled to take part in a series of activities including visiting tourist sites and participating in cultural festivals.
'The activities in Ambon are scheduled to run until Aug. 5 and then the participants will set sail to Wakatobi,' Jawawi said.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is scheduled to host a reception to entertain the participants in Ambon from Aug. 3-4. After Ambon, the yachts are set to continue their trip to Wakatobi in Southeast Sulawesi.
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