The wrap-up story

Here's the detail for those who missed all the fun!

The Gala Night

On the evening of April 21, 2011, the Ward Room of the Fremantle Sailing Club was packed with nearly 350 participants and supporters for a Gala Dinner prior to the starts of the Visit Indonesia Fremantle to Bali Race and Rally events. The Indonesian Ministry of Culture & Tourism were hosts for the evening, which featured spectacular dance performances by a special dance troupe specially flown down from Jakarta for the occasion. The amazing ‘a capella’ dance from Aceh was a particular highlight. The enthusiastic crowd enjoyed a tasty dinner of Indonesian food, specially prepared by a team of Indonesian chefs, and were kept entertained by a ‘batak’ singer. Generous supplies of free Bintang Beer and Margaret River wines, donated by Garuda Indonesia and the Australian Indonesia Trade Tourism & Investment Association (ATTIA), were well appreciated and contributed to this being a memorable night for all concerned.

VIFB2011 Ocean Rally start

The Rally Start was held on Saturday 23 April and in addition to the participants and their supporters who came down to wish the departing boats a safe and enjoyable trip (“Selamat Jalan”) there were about 500 members of other clubs and members of the general public in attendance. A small trade display including an Indonesian food vendor was set up in the Sun Deck area, and members and visitors were able to enjoy Indonesian food and performances by the Indonesian dance troupe. The FSC Pipe band also added colour and spectacle. A spectator fleet of about 150 boats farewelled the rally boats at the start line off the North Mole, and there were another 200-odd well wishers at the end of the North Mole. The start itself was well contested, as tightly contested as any racing start and the boats set off into a rather uncomfortable lumpy north-westerly.

VIFB2011 International Yacht Race start

The Race Start was held three days later on Tuesday 26 April. This was a lower-key event but still attracted a good-sized spectator fleet and land-based audience of well wishers. The start was very closely contested and gave the start boat some nervous moments as the yachts were sailing towards them down the line just prior to the start. Again, the yachts set off into a medium north-wester in a lumpy sea and sailed to Campbell Buoy off Cottesloe, the final mark before the finish in Bali. As intended, the race fleet caught up with the rally fleet for the open ocean crossing to Bali, thus providing greater safety for all concerned.

The Race

The Race was an enthralling exhibition of high-quality yacht racing, seamanship and courage. During the first night’s sailing, a crew member of Limit was injured during an unfortunate incident. First aid was immediately rendered, but with 3 broken ribs and other injuries, it was clear that the injured crew member should be dropped at the nearest port as soon as possible. Limit sailed to Geraldton and with the assistance of the Geraldton Yacht Club and local S&R services the injured crewman was offloaded without further incident and has subsequently made an excellent recovery. Despite the lost time, Limit continued the race and reached Bali in record time, beating the previous race record by nearly 9 hours.

The race for second place was extremely intense, with four yachts racing at close quarters for almost the entire event, often within sight of each other and even crossing tacks in mid-ocean.

The race’s smallest entrant, Bird of the Morning, unfortunately suffered engine trouble and was thus unable to charge its batteries and maintain radio contact. Race Control was monitoring the yacht’s progress through the real-time satellite tracking system and noted that it was making slow but steady progress towards the destination. Alan Brierty offered the services of Limit which was being returned to Fremantle by its delivery crew, to meet with Bird of the Morning to check on their wellbeing and provide them with a fresh battery. This was an excellent feat of seamanship and received extensive media coverage at the time. Bird of the Morning then arrived in Bali on 12 May without further incident.

The wind was mainly light and variable, and this posed a real challenge for skippers and navigators, especially when approaching the finish line in the Lombok Straits, where strong southerly currents are encountered.

The fun of the Rally

The Rally was conducted in a more relaxed manner, with the emphasis being on safe, comfortable and prudent passage making. Most of the Rally fleet reached Bali within 10-12 days’ sailing, some making stops along the West Australian coast.  The large ultra-modern catamaran “Ice Cube” was the only one to retire, after experiencing technical problems with its self steering gear. Many of the rally fleet and some of the racing fleet stayed on to cruise eastwards through the Indonesian Archipelago. We have received many favourable reports about this component of the event and are already planning to provide a more structured ‘eastern cruise’ as part of future events.

The trackers

Each yachts was fitted with a tracking device which fed real-time data, such as boat location, direction, sped and other information via satellite to Yellowbrick’s tracking map, which was imbedded in the event website and click-linked to the FSC site. This proved to be very popular amongst those who were following the event and over 25,000 ‘hits’ were recorded from 14 April to 15 May.

The Grand Finale!

The Visit Indonesia Fremantle-Bali 2011 event formally ended with a lavish Presentation Party on Sanur Beach  on 10 May, culminating in a spectacular fireworks display. The party started with Cocktails and Pizzas in the Bima arena at the Sanur Beach Hotel, featuring pizzas made by Theo Kalegoracos, the World #1 Pizza Chef, who was flown up from Perth especially for the occasion. It then moved to the beach in front of the hotel where the participants were greeted by a traditional Welcome Dance by Balinese performers. A large sound stage had been erected and a local rock band kept the crowd of over 300 entertained while they enjoyed a sumptuous buffet dinner featuring Indonesian and Western cuisine.

The VIP tables included numerous dignitaries from both the Indonesian and Australian governments, including the Deputy Premier of Western Australia, Dr Kim Hames, Mr Paul Robilliard, Minister and Deputy Head of Mission from the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, Mr Brett Farmer, Australian Consul General in Bali, Dr Sapta Nirwandar, Director General of Marketing for the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism (the major sponsor for the event) , Mr Dede Syamsuri, Indonesian Consul General in Perth, and Mr Syahrul Tahir, General Manager Garuda Indonesia Western Australia.

The Winners

An impressive range of silverware was handed out to the prize winners, who were:

Trophy                         Yacht Name                           Owner

Line Honours Winner     Limit                                      Alan Brierty

IRC Winner                   Limit                                      Alan Brierty

IRC 2^nd                           Audeamus                              Adrian Fini & Kim Ramen             

IRC 3^rd                            Australian Maid                       Jon Wardill

Rally Winner                  Knot Dreaming                       Andrew Dawson

Rally 2^nd                         Glasshopper                            Rob Taylor

Rally 3^rd                          Sandale                                  Geoff Chambers

PHB Winner                    Limit                                     Alan Brierty

PHB 2^nd                            Australian Maid                        Jon Wardill

PHB 3^rd                             Audeamus                                Adrian Fini & Kim Ramen

Navigator’s Trophy            Sandale                                    Martin Chambers

After the presentations, speeches and the fireworks display, the band kept the enthusiastic crowd dancing well into the night. Everyone had a wonderful time and the general consensus was that this was an outstanding night to remember and a marvellous finale for Event.

Our Sponsor

The FSC, the Event Organising Committee, the participants and their supporters, all want to thank the principal sponsor of the event, the Indonesian Ministry of Culture and Tourism, for their support and assistance with this wonderful event. Not only did they provide financial support for the event, but their enthusiasm and ‘can do’ approach to providing practical assistance, ensured the event became the huge success that it was. “Terima kasih!”

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The welcome by the evening's MC

The welcome dance

Alan Brierty, owner / skipper of IRC, PHB and Line Honours Winner Limit, receives some of his silverware from the Honourable Dr Kim Hames, Deputy Premier of Western Australia

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