Darwin to Kupang

CuriousOyster
Steve & Trish Brown
Fri 29 Jul 2011 02:31
The sail Indonesia yacht rally is a fairly loose gathering of boats headed to Indonesia.
Although there are two set routings, with pre-arranged stopovers you are not obliged to follow this route and are free to do your own thing.
Our plan is to meet up with the other boats at some of these stopovers, but head off in search of good snorkelling and diving off the beaten track.
It was good to stay for the start of the rally and head out from Darwin with the majority of the fleet.
Although winds were light it was still a great sight with many boats flying there spinnakers or cruising chutes
Being one of thr bigger boats in the rally we found ourselves at the head of the fleet along with the larger catamarans and similar sized and performance boats. On occassion we were able to get close enough for some great photos. This is Northern Winds a Farr 55.
Rob and Kim were also able to get some great photos of Curious with the big purple crusing chute flying to stb'd.
                                                                Gybing the chute, always a heart in mouth moment.
                                                                        Perfectly execution.
There are other Oysters in the fleet, Wasabi another 56 band two older 435's
After the paucity of wildlife as we headed across the shallow waters of northern Australia it was great to meet up again with the dolphins and on day three were had different scholls and types of dolphins around the boat for much of the day.