For 3 whole months, from the end of July to the end of October 2016, over 150 yachts from Australia are expected to be ready to sail the Indonesian seas from Darwin and Cairns visiting islands from Indonesia’s farthest eastern islands in the Moluccas all the way across to Sumatra in the west, calling at Wakatobi, Timor, Flores, Lombok, Bali, Java and on to Borneo (Kalimantan) to join the Sail Karimata Rally, where together they will all sail on to Bangka-Belitung to reach Bintan and Batam in the Riau Islands before final departure to Singapore and Malaysia on the last day of October. On all islands at each port of call, local communities are already prepared to prepare all yachters with their warm hospitality, music and cultural performances, and shown the beauty of the countryside, up looming mountains to dives into the wonders of the deep ocean.
At time of publishing this news, near to 100 yachts have already registered for either rally. The one-hulled Sail Indonesia Yacht Rally will start from Darwin on 23 July 2016 , then enter Indonesia at Kupang on the island of Timor for clearance, to sail westwards towards Labuan Bajo, on Flores to get up close to the Komodo dragons. The journey then continues on to north Lombok, north Bali – Semarang in Central Java to admire the mighty Borobudur temple- then cross over to Borneo to meet the Orangutans at Tanjung Puting National Park where yachts rendez-vous with other yachts participating in the Sail Karimata Rally.
Meanwhile, the multihull Sail2Indonesia Rally, is scheduled to leave Cairns in Queensland, arriving at entry point Tual in the Moluccas. Here they will be joined by yachts from Port Moresby in Papua New Guinea. The Rally will then head to Banda Neira – the original Spice Islands – then there will be visits to the legendary Wakatobi islands in Sulawesi to admire the amazing underwater gardens here, and head south to Lembata, to watch the heart-stopping traditional whale hunting, where they are expected to be between 12-15 August.
Here the group joins the Sail Indonesia Rally who have earlier sailed in from Darwin and travelled west having visited Adonara, Maumere, Riung, then together they sail on to Labuan Bajo in the western part of Flores. After the visit to the Komodo islands, yachts will sail on to Lombok, Bali and Semarang city on Java to then cross the Java Sea up north to Borneo to meet up and participate in the Sail Karimata Yacht Rally.
From here they will all sail on to the islands of Bangka-Belitung, and Lingga, Batam and Bintan in the Riau islands. Here all participants will be given a great sendoff party, a great farewell to finally leave Indonesian waters.
For more details and Registration, please log on to : www.sailindonesia.net, and www.sail2indonesia.com.
