2015 Fremantle to Bali –Rally boats crossed the finish line!

by Marina Valmadre on 29 May 2015 2015 Fremantle to Bali Race and Rally – Friday heralded the arrival of rally boats Paul Schapper’s Toroa, Robert Bryce’s Albatross and Joanna Pearson’s Odyssey of Fremantle into Bali Marina. It has been a busy week for Principal Race Officer Trevor Milton and Race Director Rob Thomas having been out on the water almost constantly for the whole week.

All three rally boats finished with a couple of hours of each other after a 10-day journey over 1440 nautical miles.

Skipper and owner of Odyssey of Fremantle Joanna Pearson and her three crew consisting of Gary Brabham, Raymond Watson and Vivian Preston had smooth sailing. “We had a great time on board, we were becalmed at times but it was worth it all to get to Bali”, she said.

Toroa is Maori for albatross and in an unlikely set of events Toroa IV had an ongoing battle with Albatross V for the entire sail to Bali with Toroa IV coming out on top by two hours after the 11 days of sailing.

As Albatross V pulled into her berth at Bali marina you could see the grins light up their faces when they spotted Toroa IV berthed directly opposite them. Toroa IV crew member Peter Connor said, “It just made the event, we had to beat Albatross, even though it was a rally.”

The wind has picked up today and is expected to deliver Max Palleschi’s Prime factor and Andrew Dawson’s Knot Dreaming in the dark of night, with Eric Paerels’ Katmai and John Holder’s Plus 16 arriving early Saturday morning. The arrival of the last to yachts on Saturday morning will mean that all boats remaining in the event will be in Bali and able to attend the presentation dinner at Prama Sanur beach Hotel Saturday evening 30th of May at 6pm.