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Brunei-Palawan
Yacht Rally
The
Brunei-Palawan
Yacht Rally
is
designed to assist cruising yachts to explore one of the
most beautiful and relatively undeveloped areas of
BIMP-EAGA
-
the west
coast of the Palawan island chain. This event links together
three of the
BIMP-EAGA
nations - Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines.
The
first
Brunei-Palawan
Yacht Rally
is scheduled to begin in January 2010. Yachts will embark
from Serasa (Brunei), island hopping north along the coast
of Sabah (Malaysia) before making the short passage across
the Balabac Strait to the southern most islands of Palawan.
From there, the journey is mostly short day trips from one
glorious anchorage to the next, heading north, along the
west coast, to finish at a dive resort in the Coron area in
mid March.
This rally will operate principally as a support net, with a
few formal tours events and functions on route, but with
assistance from
BIMP-EAGA
tour operators along the way, and special access to dive
resorts and other marine based visitor facilities on the
coast and nearby islands.
It is anticipated that
participants will form small sub-group of two to four yachts
for most of the trip, coming together occasionally with the
entire fleet at key islands and venues, where particular
shore excursions, official events and formal requirements
(eg CIQ) occur. The many small islands and bays that
provide spectacular anchorages and access to local
communities, markets and beaches, suit small groups of
yachts.
The pre-rally period in
Brunei will give cruisers the opportunity to purchase less
common imported food items from the well stocked
supermarkets, enjoy the hospitality, great food and
functions at the Royal Brunei Yacht Club over Christmas and
New Year, and meet with other rally participants.
The
rally fleet will be limited to approximately 15 yachts and
50 crew, in order to facilitate access to smaller venues,
environmentally sensitive locations, and to avoid
overwhelming shore facilities. If required, there may be
two or more rally
fleets, travelling approximately two weeks apart. Some
yachts have already requested an earlier departure in
December, to match their overall cruising plans.
At key shore venues, a variety of shore
activities and visits will be organised by local tourism
oriented businesses and local government, to highlight the
particular area's attractions. The local knowledge and
experience of these local area contacts will be available to
assist participants with information ranging from boat
repairs, fuel supplies, CIQ formalities and great places to
visit on route to the next key shore venue.
Timing of the
Brunei-Palawan
Yacht Rally
is designed to integrate
with:
1.
Favourable sailing conditions and wind
directions.
The fresh NE Monsoon, blowing across the Sulu Sea to the
east coast of Palawan, bends as it crosses the relatively
narrow strip of land, creating a more easterly breeze along
the west coast. This easterly breeze has proven to provide
great sailing in relatively flat seas, with a short fetch
from the weather shore. Afternoon arrivals at a new
anchorage are with the westerly sun from behind to help pick
a way into the anchorage. Anchorages are against the
protective weather shore.
The NE Monson is the
fresh wind season for Palawan and the NW coast of Borneo.
Afternoon breezes are commonly a reliable 15 to 20 kts,
meaning more sailing and less motoring.
Along the NW coast of
Borneo, the NE Monsoon bends to become a predominantly NW
afternoon sea breeze, from about 1200 to 2000 each day.
Overnight, the normally light offshore breeze is
supplemented by the dominant NE flow, to create some great
pre-dawn and early morning sailing in a steady 8 to 12kts,
with minimal sea because of the nearby weather shore.
In northern Borneo, the
NE/NW Monsoon season is also known as the wet season. This
is characterised by heavy rainfall from late afternoon and
evening storms, sometimes extending through the night,
but normally clearing before dawn, or perhaps early
morning. Rainy days are not common.
2. Beautiful water
clarity for sailing and diving.
In northern Palawan, the NE Monsoon season is also known as
their dry season. November to March is therefore the best
season for scuba diving on the numerous WW II wrecks, and
the reefs. The same lack of coastal river runoff that allows
seawater clarity to be at it's best for diving, also creates
a beautiful colour sea for sailing, and clear water
visibility for selecting anchorages, snorkelling around the
boat, swimming to shore etc.
Options after the
Brunei-Palawan
Yacht Rally
finish in Coron:
1. Yachts looking
for maintenance works.
The Philippines has a variety of low-cost boat maintenance
options. Key areas for haulout and maintenance
services are Subic Bay and the Cebu.
Subic Bay has facilities
previously developed for the large USA military presence,
and staff with trade skills also developed for that past
requirement.
Cruising yachts report the standard of workmanship and
skills with materials such as fibreglass, epoxy, aluminium
etc are good. Some major repair and rebuilt works have been
done for cruising yachts. The yard areas, cranes, hard
standing etc are apparently impressive.
Cebu has some
long-standing yacht maintenance and construction operations
which utilise the traditional craftmanship and creativity of
the Philippines. Numerous cruising yachts have used these
facilities for haul-outs, antifouling, repainting and other
works.
A number of yacht clubs
and marina/resort facilities also have haulout and
maintenance capabilities. These include Manilla Yacht Club
and Maya Maya Yacht Club.
2. For yachts planning to spend more time cruising the
Philippines.
The Philippines has an
amazing diversity of lifestyles, cultures, traditions,
topography and events. The creativity, flair for dance,
music and song, and the desire to have fun and party,
generates a long list of festivals, street parades, musical
events and more.
Some cruising yachts
have ventured into the Philippines and never left!
Others spend a SW monsoon season cruising the highlights of
the southern Philippines, and some stay for a couple of
seasons, mixing shore travel, sailing, boat-works and
periods back home in Europe, North America or Australia/NZ.
After arriving in Coron
area, further Philippines cruising options include to cruise to Puerto Galera
(see
Puerto Galera Yacht Club
), and from there to Cebu region, returning to
Sandakan or the east coast of Palawan before making their
passage down the west coasts of Borneo, to Singapore,
Peninsula Malaysia and Thailand prior to heading to the Red
Sea.
Some yachts have sailed
from Puerto Galera through the islands of Mindanao to
General Santos and Davao prior to making passages back to
Australia or New Zealand around the top of Iranian Jaya and
PNG to the Solomons.
Notes:
1.
Equator-Asia
is the tourism
destination name adopted by the BIMP-EAGA Tourism Cluster (BETC)
following extensive work on the part of two key BIMP-EAGA
supports - the Asian Development Bank and GTZ - and
subsequent market research by BETC members.
2.
The NE Monsoon season in the Philippines is their dry
season. Water visibility is at its best so this is the most
popular time for scuba diving and other water sports in
sheltered areas. It has not been the popular yacht
cruising period in the southern Philippines because of
choppy conditions in the Sulu Sea and surrounding islands.
But it has become the preferred season to travel the
attractive west coast of Palawan; mostly day hopping between
comfortable anchorages.
3. The SW Monsoon
period is the main cruising season in the southern Philippines.
It is also referred to as their wet season, and is also the Tropical
Storm season. A number of Tropical Storms can be expected to
start in the NW Pacific, west of Guam each season. Some of
these can track west to cross the Philippines, or run
parallel with the eastern coastline of the Philippines.
While a considerable part of the southern Philippines
cruising area is south of 10d N - the theoretical southerly
limit of Tropical Storm activity - there will still be
significant wind changes in these areas if a TS approaches
or crosses the
Philippines.
North of 10d N - in the popular cruising areas
around Mindoro, Panay and Negros - it's possible to have a
TS tracking through these areas. Cruisers need to keep a
close watch on potential TSs and act accordingly. As can be
expected in an island nation with so much commercial marine
traffic, the Philippines has
established many facilities to shelter boats during TSs,
along with advanced weather warning systems.
Please return here to
get further details
as the rally schedule develops.
If you would like to add
your contact details to our database to be updated with
details, please click on the For inquiries ....
link below.
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