100 yachts in 8th Blue Water World Rally

9:09 PM Thu 8 Oct 2009 GMT

'Blue Water Rally - not just sailing' . Click Here to view large photo

Over 100 courageous individuals signed up for the eighth bi-annual Blue Water World Rally which will set sail from Gibraltar on 25 October in what is forecast as an 'El Ni?o' year.

Over the next two years 21 yachts will sail with Blue Water Rallies from Gibraltar to the Caribbean, 32 yachts will cross the pacific to Australia, where more southern hemisphere yachts will join for the "Oz-Med" Rally.

Blue Water Rally - Cayuco arrives at Aghios Nikolaos - .. . Click Here to view large photo

Blue Water Rallies, which started running its world rally in 1997, will support this fleet of brave sailors along 23 legs starting in Gibraltar and stopping off in Antigua, Panama, Galapagos, Tonga, Darwin, Phuket, and Djibouti, to name but a few, before finally returning to the Mediterranean.

Blue Water Rally approximate route - .. .

The company was founded in 1996 and no other company in the world has run world-rallies for longer. It has seen seven world rallies through the Panama Canal and has a one hundred percent record of getting boats safely past the Gulf of Aden.

Blue Water Rally support team - Peter and Annette Seymour Richard Bolt and Tony Diment - .. .

"Our sailors are heading off with compatriots known only as kindred spirits, with challenges aplenty awaiting them; but that is what makes this voyage of a lifetime so fascinating," said organiser Richard Bolt. "Our world rally sails to some fairly primitive areas of the globe, but the rewards in terms of beauty, diversity and welcome from different cultures are well worth the effort.

'The crews will meet people who are so different in colour, creed and religion, and yet are so friendly and helpful, that they will forever wonder why the world is at war. And they will make friends for life from amongst their own numbers and in the destinations they visit."

Despite there only being 24 days before the departure, there's still time for yachts to register to take part in this year's rally from the Caribbean onwards; Oz-Med Entries close on 31 March 2010. To find out more please visit www.bluewaterrallies.com

by Blackwattle Studios