Week of sails, surf and celebration

Yachting

By Sally Andrew

A blast as always, the 17th annual Fiji Regatta Week was held dur ing the first week of September 1996 at Malolo Lailai in the Mamanuca group of islands in western Fiji.

Ocean-going yachts sail in and out of the anchorage at Malolo Lailai Island all season long. But as September approach es, the number of boats dancing round their anchors and the activity at Musket Cove Resort increase to a maximum. This year, Fiji Regatta Week attracted nearly a hundred boats ranging in size from the 30foot Rhythm to the 86-foot Fleur de Singapour.

Sloops, cutters, ketches, yawls, mono hulls, multihulls came from as far away as France, Canada, Israel and the United Kingdom, with the majority of entrants coming from Australia, New Zealand and the United States. During regatta week, skippers and crew participate in semi-seri ous yacht races and miscellaneous compe titions such as Hobie Cat racing, kayak

ing, dinghy paddling, boat decorating and

talent contests. People make new friends and meet old ones, and the socialising,

laughter, craziness, and yacht races keep

everyone busy and involved.

Duty dictates that participants try to cram as much sailing and partying as is physically possible into each 24 hours.

The week-long yachting regatta con cludes with a 520-mile ocean race from Musket Cove (Fiji) to Port Vila (Vanuatu).

This year’s winner was Australian tri maran Ruahatu, a 45’ Chris Mashford

design.. Ruahatu’s owner/skipper, Charlie

Taylor, has been cruising in the South Pacific for over 15 years, and has been sailing trimarans since 1973.

Although an early leader, Ruahatu suf fered rudder damage and had to jury-rig a replacement. The 86’ Fleur de Singapour (UK) skippered by Bob Phelan took the lead, and Bob Taylor’s 45’ sloop, Nero (US), and Michel Evrard’s 36’ ketch, Mektoub (France), fell close behind; The crew of Ruahatu surprised every one by sneaking ahead of the fleet and arriving first at the finish line in Port Vila.

Ruahatu was also the first Australian

boat in 12 years to win the Round Malolo Sailing Classic, which is held each year as part of Fiji Regatta Week. Of the 12 races held since 1984, six have been won by Kiwi boats, five by US-registered yachts and one by a Vanuatu-registered boat.

This year’s race was a slow one, and Ruahatu finished only 18 seconds short of the four-hour maximum time limit.

Kiwi yacht Navara sailed to Tonga and Fiji from Auckland this season with the Carpenter family aboard - Rob, Mandy, Rachel (5) and Peter (3).

Rob is a successful boat designer and his Carpenter 37 won line honours in the Race to Castaway Island and finished sec ond in the Round Malolo Sailing Classic.

The oldest skipper in the regatta this year was 75-year-old Keith Thiele of the Australian yacht Spitfire, an Arends 33 (Swanson design). Keith has been sailing around the Pacific for the past 18 years

and says he found his bride, Faye, on the beach at Musket Cove six years ago. The yacht is named after the spitfires he flew during the Second World War.

Rod and Kerry Waterhouse (Sydney, Australia) and their two children (Jason and Bridget) have just sailed their yacht, Basho , a Jeanneau 44, across the Pacific from San Diego, stopping in the

Marquesas, Tuamotus, French Polynesia,

Rarotonga and Niue - their favourite

place, despite the difficulties of getting

ashore. After the race to Vanuatu, Basho will head to Queensland (Australia) via Chesterfield Reef. The Waterhouses took first prize in the Hobie Cat Challenge and four-year-old Jason could hardly contain his excitement at the win. “I’m proud of my dad. He’s a champion!”

Musket Cove Yacht Club welcomes itinerant yachtsmen and women, and pro vides shower and toilet facilities, mail and laundry services, a boat shuttle, fuel and water, fresh provisions, marina berths and moorings, bar and barbecue facilities and Ratu Nemani Island - in short, anything and everything that a cruising yachtie requires. And the cove at Malolo Lailai Island provides a well-protected anchor age with good holding in about 15 metres.

The idea for an annual Musket Cove to Port Vila Regatta and accompanying race week was conceived back in the early 1980 s by Dick Smith, owner of Musket Cove Resort, the main sponsor of Fiji Regatta Week. Additional sponsorship from Coca-Cola Amatil (Fiji Ltd) ,Mobil Oil, Orams Marine (New Zealand) and Go International contribute to the event’s suc cess. Dick Smith, one of the pioneers in Fiji tourism, attributes the energy of this year’s Fiji Regatta Week to the diverse tal ents and personalities of all those involved. The international mix of cruis

ing yachties, helpful staff at Musket

Cove, and generous support of regatta sponsors are the key elements that work together and guarantee a dynamic event.

The last, and perhaps most important,

ingredient of Fiji Regatta Week has

always been (and continues to be) the unfailing spirit of race-week founders and organisers Dick and Carol Smith. ■

Race week activities were literally smoking Pictures: Sally Andrew

The start of one of the races during regatta week