Tuesday, 24 February 2009 17:35 | By Peter Seymour, Rally Director
Early on the 24th February the last of 5 specially formed groups totalling 28 Rally yachts arrived safely in Djibouti after their transit of the Gulf of Aden. The Gulf has attracted numerous headlines over the last 12 months, particularly because of the hijacking of merchant vessels
By Friday 23 January most Rally yachts had left Sri Lanka with 2 destinations in prospect. The bulk of the fleet is going to the Maldives - more days in Paradise, as someone remarked recently! The atolls are similar to the fabulous Tuamotus enjoyed by our sailors in French Polynesia and there is some amazing snorkelling in the crystal clear waters of the lagoons.
Although our news of the last few days has been somewhat sparse, it reflects the difficulties our Manager has had in obtaining e-mail access. Richard has been very busy handling yacht arrivals, refuelling and seeing Ralliers off on their tourist trips to the interior of the island. Gaia (Bob and Phyllis) arrived very late, having had the frustration of an enforced return to Phuket for an intermittent Autohelm fault.
After a great Christmas and New Year celebrating in Phuket, Blue Water Rally yachts are now underway again – heading for the magical island of Sri Lanka.
The fleet has now converged on Oman after having had enjoyable stopovers on their cruising route at Kochi (Cochin) or in the islands of the Maldives.
Our primary destination is, however, Djibouti, which we have visited many times over the last 14 years. Ralliers have always found the stopover fascinating .
51 rally participants have just returned from a 6 day excursion around Sri Lanka. Robert and Wendy Prinsen of the Yacht Heidenskip have sent us the photographs shown below. The excursion started with a safari to an area in the South of Sri Lanka known for its wild elephants and then reached the mountainous area around Nuwara Eliya famous for tea plantations.
Monday, 12 January 2009 09:48 | By Tony Diment, Rally Director
Richard Bolt has reported from Galle in Southern Sri Lanka that most yachts have now arrived safely after a good passage from Thailand. There is frenetic activity within the fleet as they complete their arrival clearances, get refuelled and complete a hundred and one other jobs prior to departing on a 5 day excursion on Tuesday 13th January.
The Wallbank family, participants in the forthcoming Blue Water Round the World Cruising Rally 2009-2011, are to be featured in BBC One's Breakfast show on Monday the 5th of January.
Wednesday, 24 December 2008 17:57 | By Peter Seymour, Rally Director
With the New Year on the near horizon and our current Blue Water Rally safely cruising in Phuket our Boat Show stand at Excel gives us a window onto our 2009 events and a chance to meet friends both old and new.
The new Blue Water Rally 2009 - 11 sets off in October and will be joined by Rally Antigua 2009 for the first 2 legs - from Gibraltar to Antigua via Puerto Calero in Lanzarote. We look forward to meeting up with those joining these 2 events, setting off to "sail the dream" in the sunshine of the Caribbean and amongst some of the most spectacular cruising grounds in the world.
Tuesday, 24 February 2009 17:35 | 
By Peter Seymour, Rally Director
