Even Karma won line honours in the 2010 Darwin-Dili Yacht Rally, passing the finish line under sail at 04:04:46 on Tuesday (7th July), in an event characterized by the full gamut of tropical sailing conditions and frustrating hours for crews, spent virtually becalmed along Timor-Leste’s north coast.
Raucous, the only other yacht to complete the event under sail, finished at 13:30:33 hours on Tuesday, after having at one point taken the lead from Even Karma just 40 miles out from Dili. Ultimately, in a gripping standoff after the two vessels sighted each other, Even Karma pulled ahead of Raucous again to pass the line in a total elapsed time of 89:04 hours, setting a new event record, beating the previous record of 91:37 hours set by Kingo in 1974.
Raucous Skipper Bob Colman said “Even Karma is a bigger, faster yacht and they were 2 hours ahead at Jako. We went north looking for wind . Even Karma was becalmed for hours but when we merged approaching Dili we were alongside”.
Up to that point, Even Karma Skipper John Hardy had had no idea of Raucous’ position: “We thought they’d be a long way back….. we were worried, wondering where they were as we came close to Dili”, Hardy said,”We watched Chantilly and Cattitude come past under motor and then we were searching the horizon. We spotted a boat way out to sea and it was ahead of us. We thought ‘No! It can’t be Raucous!’ so we got the glasses out and gave them to Lee, who has the youngest eyes of the crew, and then we saw the sail”.
“Everyone had had a swim so we had the laundry hanging out. When we thought it might be Raucous we said, ‘This is terrible!’ and we changed our direction and took all the washing in. We were getting back into battle, everyone anxious to get the boat up to best racing speed. We started to converge on him, we started to inch our way towards them and after about half an hour they called us and asked, ‘Are you still racing?’ We said; ‘Of course we’re bloody racing!’“
In the end, the faster boat won out as the two fought currents off Dili: “We worked really hard,” Hardy explained, “Fortunately for us we were able to get that extra speed to go forward at a slow rate. We had a 2-knot current against us and we were only doing 4 knots, but we were going forward. He was going backwards. We pulled away ever so slowly, gradually pulled away from him and got onto his line. We looked up at the statue of Jesus [on the hilltop dominating the view of Dili] all afternoon, all night. But Bob was getting smaller and smaller and we kept going”.
Colman conceded: “At one point we were looking up to the statue of Jesus and praying for wind to bring us in. We had gone from leading to dropping behind, we had a commanding lead but we just lost it. Our crew really had the racing spirit, they did not want to give up even though it’s very tempting to start the motor and head towards a hot shower in Dili, but they just hung in”.
Rally Division yacht, Chantilly, arrived in Dili mid afternoon on 6 July, after motoring the last part of the way because of lack of wind. All other yachts came in throughout the next day, with Dhumbala (the smallest yacht in the fleet) being the last yacht to arrive at 1925 hours in the middle of a tropical downpour.
Chantilly’s Skipper Kevin Hall was thrilled to be met by a welcoming flotilla of official Timorese boats and journalists from the local press, who had not realized that his yacht was not the official line honours winner because he had used the motor. He and his wife, Carole, were also amazed when a local newspaper seller called out to them on the street the following day to show that they had made the front page of the local newspapers.
“I can’t believe he recognized us! We’re taking them home as souvenirs,” Hall said. They will also be taking home trophies as winner of First Under Sail/handicap, First Past the Line in Dili and a prize for rally radio support.
Cattitude’s Skipper Jim Grierson also walked away with an array of prizes, for Best-Dressed Crew, second place in the multihull category and “Fleet Person of the Rally”: the latter was in recognition of his sporting attitude in coming to the assistance of one competitor in technical difficulty and for taking on a passenger from another yacht who needed to be taken ashore urgently to catch a flight home. He was warmly applauded by all of the entrants when he collected his trophy, in recognition of the fact that he had had to forfeit his chance of completing the event under sail, in order to help others.
Most of the rally participants were philosophical about the lack of wind along Timor-Leste’s north coast once they saw the combination of rugged mountainous scenery and spectacular, secluded beaches that are typical of this part of the country. They were also pleasantly surprised by the professionalism of the customs and immigration formalities that had been arranged for them on arrival.
“It worked a treat, one of the quickest clearances we’ve ever had. I think that’s down to all the good preparation and it’s good to see the cooperation between the services. The cruising permit was also great idea. You can stay one month and sail around”, said Hardy.
Colman was also impressed with the harbourside reception and hopeful for the future of yachting in Timor-Leste: ”Dili is in the middle of a major cruising route and I can really see a marina here in the future. Malaysia has six and people sail from one to another. There is huge potential for Dili, with its deep water and the town so close. You could easily have 50 or 60 berths here”.
The 2010 Darwin-Dili Yacht Rally trophies were presented on Friday (July 9th) by the Minister of Tourism, Commerce and Industry Mr Gil Alves and Northern Territory government Minister Chris Burns, at a waterfront ceremony featuring local cultural performances. On Saturday the event was wrapped up with a party on board a large and luxurious visiting yacht, the MV Lissa.
The 2010 Darwin-Dili Yacht Rally was organized by the Timor-Leste Ministry of Tourism, Commerce and Industry, with support from the country’s tourism association, TLTC (Timor-Leste Tourism Centre), the Northern Territory (Australia) government and the Cruising Yacht Association of the NT (CYANT). The main corporate sponsor was the Timor-Leste insurance company, NITL . Originally established in the international yachting calendar in 1973, the event was suspended in 1975 due to the Indonesian invasion and occupation of the country. Now the government of Timor-Leste, which gained its independence in 2002, intends to run the Yacht Rally as a regular annual event. For further information and details of sponsors, see the official website at www.sailtimorleste.org.
