8:25 PM Fri 30 Oct 2009 GMT
If you think the 2009 Kalia Cup sounds like a race you'd be right, but it's not. It's really what holidaying sailors call it when they go cruising through the glorious bays and anchorages of Vava'u in Tonga. The annual 2009 Kalia Cup went off again under clear skies and the balmiest of weather.
The whales of course are a highlight of any Tongan experience and on almost every day they graced the 2009 rally with their slow motion nautical acrobatics. Without exception we all wondered at the marvel of a creature finding the way annually from the frigid waters of the Southern Ocean to the exact tropical lagoon of its birth, in this case in the tropical waters of the Vava'u Archipelago, 7,000 nautical miles away, and back.
The 2009 rally was an all catamaran affair and it is in cruising grounds such as Tonga that these floating 'beach houses' come into their own.
Vava'u is an archipelago of some 50 islands in a compact piece of geography in the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga. The islands are fanned by uninterrupted trade winds, detached from their accompanying ocean swells by a barrier reef conveniently placed across the path of these green, foam-crested monsters with origins in Antarctica.
There are no opportunities to berth in a marina, plug into the power and water supply in Vava'u so the expansive communal areas on a cruising cat and the easy connection between galley and cockpit facilitate a live-a-board cruising mode.
With cabins at the four corners of most catamarans, each with en-suite facilities, the privacy advantages are also amplified.
Introduction to the Tongan pace of life started with the Chatham Pacific flight from the capital Nuku Alofa.
The legroom was sumptuous and the windows huge after the more cramped conditions of the Virgin Pacific 737 on the trip from Sydney. The turquoise encircled, palm-coated islands along the route to Nieafu gently whetted the appetites of the sailors on the 40 minute flight.
The transfer from the airport to the charter base suggested that things were about to change again as the minibus crept along the seriously pot-holed 'highway' lined with pigs, dogs, kids and simple tin-roofed dwellings. No matter; the sun shone as the breeze ruffled the fronds of the majestic coconut palms and ushered the fluffy cumulous clouds across the azure sky.
The Kalia Cup Yacht Rally offered a ten day combination of cruising in the benign waters of the Vava'u archipelago, a series of short races and a social program that fuelled its own momentum as the rally progressed, and the personalities of the participants surfaced.
There is limited opportunity for off the boat carousing in Vava'u but the places that do exist were enormously enhanced when a party in search of a home rolled along, as happened on six occasions during the ten day event.
A wide range of vocational and social backgrounds made for an interesting human tapestry and when the final night celebration at the Mango Restaurant arrived the considerable and varied entertainment talents of the group also came to the fore.
The crew of Kepa 2, also corrupted in this case to 'Kuppa Tea', performed a formidable song and dance routine that won the prize for best act, adjudicated by Martin and Kerris the managers of the Moorings operation in Vava'u.
Other highlights in the busy social program included a cocktail mixing competition, again won by the Japanese, lunch with now very Tongan Fileti but previously German Friedel at the exotic Blue Lagoon restaurant, a Tongan feast at Barnacle Beach and a rather different experience at the Spanish La Paella Restaurant on Tapana.
Sydneysider Sharon Delaney stated quite emphatically that she had never been chased off a dance floor by a nanny goat protesting her flamenco imitation of proprietor Maria, another European ?migr?, this time from Spain.
The fact is that the social interaction of yacht crews cannot be scripted but the enhancement of the experience was an invaluable addition to sailing in Tonga during the 2009 rally.
In fact you could easily find yourself a little lost on your own in this part of the world where all of the islands look very much the same.
The limited tourism infrastructure suggests that Tonga as a cruising destination is not going to change any time soon but who knows what the 21st century might unleash on this sensitive island culture.
The Tongan people have infectious good humour and sincere warmth that's part of their Polynesian heritage. They have only small pieces of the material world but whatever they have they will share. I suggest you sail there sometime soon.
And what about the 'Cup' side of the Kalia Cup?
Yes, they do have a winner, along with all the trappings that go with everything from the Ascot Races to a backwoods derby - and they even had an long-odds outside-chance take the winner's pedestal. The boat that won was called Never Us. 'What kind of a name is that for a boat?' you might well ask. It certainly sounds like the name of a boat that didn't expect to win, but it is a corruption of Nereus, and it is a Robertson Cane 4000 catamaran chartered for the rally by a crew from Japan and skippered by Toru Inoue, otherwise known as Sam, with his partner Mako in support.
Now Sam had never sailed a catamaran. So he struggled early in the rally - his prior sailing experience had been exclusively with mono-hulled yachts - so it was thought necessary to make huge corrections to his rating. This gave him an unassailable breathing space, specially in the later races because by then he had gotten the hang of it .
Yes, by the time the last of the five race series came along Sam had mastered the art of tacking a 'small house' and he won the race that gave him the rally and the trophy, a beautifully hand-carved Hump Back Whale.
There will be another Kalia Cup Yacht Rally in 2010 with details to be posted on the Mariner Boating website
www.marinerboating.com.au
. Otherwise email
info@marinerboating.com.au
or phone Sydney 02 99661244 for details.
by Trevor Joyce
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