The Inaugural OECS Rally
On December 28, 2004, six yachts left St. Lucia for the inaugural OECS Rally. The brainchild of Dr. Len Ishmael, the goal of the OECS Rally was to “provide participants of the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC) with an opportunity to be given a guided tour of the OECS islands.” Participants left St. Lucia for Bequia, Carriacou, Grenada, made a provisions stop back in St. Lucia and then hit the last leg of the rally that included Martinique, Dominica, Guadeloupe and Antigua & Barbuda. Daphne Vidal, Tourism Policy Officer stated “Given that participants of the ARC would normally sail from St Lucia to the other islands of the OECS, it was felt that an organized journey could be arranged in collaboration with member states in order that they (the member states) could reap the economic benefits of the yachters visits to the respective destinations. The main purpose was to make the journey an interactive visit…and ‘personalized’ experience.”
The six participating yachts were a wholly international group. Dries and Else Visser from Holland captained SV Thetis, the smallest of the vessels at 35’. An absolutely lovely couple, the Visser’s were full of humor and a passion for life. Doreen and Archie Annan from the SV Asolare are based out of Port Solent in the UK. Another lovely couple, the Annan’s had been to the Caribbean two years ago and loved it. Julie and Peter Turner came to the rally aboard Okura. Peter had made the crossing from Grand Canaria with his daughter and was joined by his wife in St. Lucia to participant in the rally. Colin Hunter and Milan Lim from sailing vessel Nae Hassle added to the international flavor of the race…Colin is from Scotland and Milan is from Malaysia! The teams from Heller West and Moonshadow Star registered for the Rally but were not official participants of the race and did not continue past the first destination.
On December 30th, the participants reached the first destination of Bequia where the Bequia Tourism Association treated them to a welcome reception. While on island, the teams participated in the traditional Bequia Old Year’s Night festivities to everyone’s enjoyment. By January 9th, the four remaining yachts went forth to Grenada for an official stop over before embarking on “leisurely voyages” through The Grenadines (stopping in Carriacou, Union Island and Mystiques) on their way back to St. Lucia. The news from Grenada was encouraging, although the weather wasn’t! The teams were led on an Island Safari tour they “were reluctant to end,” and all signs pointed to a healthy recovery process. The inclement weather continued back to St. Lucia and had the Asolare and Nae Hassle teams asking if they had ever left the UK!
With provisioning completed for the last leg of the rally, the teams set off for Martinique. Arriving on January 19th, the teams had a full and exciting schedule awaiting them. A welcome reception was hosted at La Marin Marina and the following day, they began their island tour which took them to the beautiful village of Vauclin, lunch at Habitation Clement (home to Martinique’s Rhums Clement), finally off to Trinite and Chateau Dubuc. Back onboard, the boats then headed to Grand Anse and Fort de France.
The next destination was Dominica where everyone participated in the Rainforest Ariel Tram tour (a 70 minute guided tour one mile above the rainforest) bordering on the Morne Trois Pitons National Park. To say this was a “high”light of the trip would be an understatement! Others tours in Dominica included the Roseau market, Carib Territory, and the Emerald Pool.
The four teams arrived at their final destination of Antigua and Barbuda on February 9th. Again, the weather was less than desirable (why so much rain this year?) but that didn’t “dampen” anyone’s spirits as they celebrated their journey with a welcome reception at HQ2. The most exciting event of the Antigua visit was the Wobbly Club BYOB race (see accompanying article) in which the OECS team won the “Most in need of rescue” award! Well, you can’t say this crew doesn’t finish a race! At the prize giving ceremony, held at Life in historic English Harbor, the teams were surprised to discover that they had all been declared winners and were presented trophies by the AMTA director, James Benson. The four teams then surprised the Rally organizers and stakeholders by awarding the OECS Secretariat, the Antigua Marine Trades Association and The Antigua Yacht Club with awards of their own…certificates of appreciation that reinforced their experience. All four teams enjoyed themselves during the rally and would encourage other yachts to participate in future OECS Rally’s.
The second OECS Rally will begin in December of 2005 and continue through to the first few weeks of 2006. Dates and routes are yet to be determined but all interested parties are asked to contact the OECS Tourism Policy Officer, Daphne Vidal at dvidal@OECS.org. With the smiles and receptions the inaugural teams met through out their adventure, I can only assume the next rally will be bigger and better!
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