Big fleet for Port 2 Port rally

by Tracey Johnstone on 27 Sep 2007 Bundaberg’s highly successful annual Port 2 Port rally has already reached its maximum entry numbers with 55 Australian and international entries ready to converge on Bundaberg in October.

Serious cruising monohull and multi-hull sailors from New Zealand, Australia, America, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Sweden, Norway, Finland and even Switzerland will start the ten-day rally on the 21st October 2007 from four ports; Vila and Luganville in Vanuatu and Noumea and Koumac in New Calendonia.

The rally is a joint venture between Vanuatu Cruising Yacht Club and Bundaberg Cruising Yacht Club.

Bundaberg Cruising Yacht Club President Judy O’Donoghue says the start-at-large approach to the competitive rally takes the pressure off the participants.

'The reason we made the start this way is last year there was a cyclone off Vanuatu and luckily those that were there were able to pull back and wait. Because they had the choice of starting when they did they all said that was great as they were not forced into going (on the published start date),' O’Donoghue says.

Another attraction of the rally is no entry fee.

'It is one of our quirky things we do. At the moment we don’t need to charge a fee so we don’t. I see in the future we may have to but for the moment it is a great way to promote the event,' O’Donoghue says.

With other international rallies charging anywhere from $500 and upwards this is one innovation few sailors would not applaud.

The team of volunteers drawn from the Bundaberg Cruising Yacht Club, Bundaberg Volunteer Marine Rescue and from local businesses all work hard to raise funds during the event. With the sponsorship support of Port of Bundaberg and the Port Authority they are able to cover the event costs and still have some funds left over to plough back into the community targeting marine rescue, small charities and service clubs.

The sailors have a lot to look forward to when they arrive at the Port of Bundaberg. After a warm welcome from the locals they will be entertained for seven days and nights with activities including a seafood dinner, barbecues, volleyball competitions, tours of the Bundaberg Rum factory and a trash and treasure market.

Boats can also win prizes for the rally and post-rally activities. O’Donoghue has organised a range of prizes including farm-stays out west, scenic flights and car hire giving the rally participants the chance to get off the water for a while and enjoy Bundaberg and its surrounding towns.

'Probably 60 per cent of the sailors are doing circumnavigations so by the time they get here they have seen nothing but islands since leaving Panama. They are looking for good hardstand, good chandleries and leaving their boats in a safe cyclone area so they can fly home.

'About 40% of the rally members put their boats up on the hard-stand. Some of them then work and some travel,' O’Donoghue says.

All good business for the Port of Bundaberg and for local services.

O’Donoghue argues that Bundaberg is one of the most attractive ports in Australia for overseas visitors. 'We have it over most of the competitors who might be thinking of lining up to do something similar as Bundaberg has a number of marvellous benefits.

'We have an all-weather big ship port with good navigation aids and good anchorage areas. We organise very easy customs and quarantine clearance with much of the competitors paperwork already sent beforehand to them electronically. It is a mere formality to clear customs and quarantine and they love that,' O’Donoghue says.

The concept of a rally first started with Jimmy Cornell’s Noonsite.com internet site and his company World Cruising. Cornell launched and organised the 1986 Atlantic Rally for Cruisers. This was the first of its kind and led the way in commercial rally organisation.

O’Donoghue says these rallies are not just about the event. She sees them as a chance for those sailors wanting a new challenge to sail in company with some security.

'They look at it as an approach to safe sailing and the other thing they love is the big social bang when they get in.'

The Port2Port rally was initiated by long-standing Vanuatu Cruising Yacht Club member Roy Ernst. He saw a lot of boats participating in the Musket Cove Rally to Fiji. He was impressed by the number of boats and the style of the event.

Ernst already had a connection with Bundaberg. Both his children were attending a local school in Bengara. After watching with interest the success of the Fiji rally Ernst in 1999 approached O’Donoghue, then commodore of the Bundaberg Sailing Club, and said what about this ?

O’Donoghue’s response some eight years ago was 'Wow ! Yes, it will work, definitely'. In its first year the rally attracted only nine entries. The phenomenal growth of the rally since its inception is due to the passion and energy of Bundaberg club president Judy O’Donoghue and her team of volunteers.

The last words belong to confessed boataholic O’Donoghue whose passion for the rally, the team of volunteers and its participants is the driving force that makes this event a success.

'It is the wonderful camaraderie of the people when they come in. It’s the joie de vie when they arrive. They are like a piece of blotting paper. They want to be entertained and they want to be fed. This is what gives us our adrenalin rush.

'If you look at six years ago with nine boats and we are now knocking back entries capping it a 55, we have probably proved ourselves'.