Farewell Vanuatu! Hello Coral Sea and the land of Oz!
by World Cruising Club 22 Jul 2018 12:57 UTC
Official start for Leg 7 © World Cruising Club
A great big thank you to Yachting World Vanuatu Marina for hosting the World ArC 2018-19 fleet visit in Port Vila on the main island of Efate. After visiting the remote islands of Tanna and Erromango, the fleet enjoyed their final stop to round out the Vanuatu visit.
The fleet's visit to Efate began with an all day island tour including stops at the following: cultural village with fire walking and local dancing, swimming at Eton Blue Lagoon, the Hot Springs, lunch at the Mele Cascades and a visit to the largest village on the island, Mele Village. The enjoyable day wrapped up with afternoon coffee at the famous Tanna Coffee Factory.
Tuesday evening the fleet celebrated at the Waterfront Restaurant for the lively prize giving dinner and party. First place prizes were awarded to Lunatix (Class A) Christine (Class B) and Cayuse (Multihull). Fun prizes were given to PretAixte for the ETA award (only 8 minutes off their expected arrival time). Callisto and Lunatix both guessed air miles flown by Stefano, Galen and Mindy of Rally Control.
Special recognition was also given to Smoke and Roses for their ever present "Spirit". Dave from Mischief presented an award to the crew of Pinta who was quick to respond when spotting Mischief dragging anchor near a reef in Fiji.
Wednesday afternoon before the skippers breifing, everyone gathered together in the "cruisers corner" with charts and cruising guides to plan the free cruising time in Australia.
The official start for Leg 7 was at 11am on July 19. Moses, the Yachting World Habourmaster, skippered the committee vessel which was filled with cheering family members and Rally Control. Twenty two boats gently sailed into the distance to say goodbye to the South Pacific and begin the 1200 nautical mile trip across the Coral Sea to Mackay, Australia, the land of kangaroos and koala bears.