Sail Karimata Strait: October Yacht Rally covering four provinces in Borneo and Sumatra

In October 2016, coinciding with the arrival of yachts at the coast of West Kalimantan by participants of the Sail Indonesia and Sail2Indonesia Rallies from Australia, the Sail Karimata Strait Yacht Rally awaits covering the area from the Strait of Karimata to the Riau islands of Bintan and Batam, before yachts finally leave the Indonesian border to Singapore. More Yachts from Singapore and Malaysia are also expected to join the rally at Karimata to converge with yachts that have already sailed across Indonesian waters from Darwin and Cairns Down Under ever since August.

The Strait of Karimata is the sea that flows between the province of West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo and the provinces of Bangka-Belitung, and Jambi on Sumatra to the west, and the Riau islands province to its north, where the sea then meets the Strait of Malacca.

Leading the preparations, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs, Rizal Ramli, recently urged participating Governors to take advantage of this important occasion to boost their respective regional economies. In support of this event, and furthermore, to serve the needs of the provinces to grow  marine tourism in their regions,  the national government plans to build the necessary infrastructure including building main roads, clean water supply, and floating docks , besides supporting strategic events held  in this context that are aimed at the wider regional development. The event is fully supported by the Coordinating Ministry for Maritime Affairs, the Ministry for Tourism, Ministry for Transportation, and the Ministry for Marine and Fisheries.

In response, The Riau Islands Province has determined that Sail Karimata activities will be held together with the Riau Islands (Kepri) Marine Festival, to take place from 20-30 October 2016. Sail Karimata is expected to be officially opened by Vice President Jusuf Kalla and to be held in the evening of 28 October 2016 in Tanjung Pinang, with as highlight the Sail Pass of a flotilla of Naval ships and participating Yachts.

The 28 October 2016 happens to be the nation’s  historically significant Youth Pledge Day, when Indonesia’s youth in 1928 pledged to create: One Country, One Nation, One Language: Indonesia.   

Meantime, the Riau Islands Marine Festival will be filled with a Fashion Carnival, Drum Bands parade, Dragon Boat races, art performances, an expo and Culinary Bazaar, besides Competitions in Traditional games such as Top Spinning, Swimming competition between Tanjung Pinang to the island of Penyengat, and much more,  for everyone to enjoy and participate.

More details will follow nearing the event.