A Thousand Miles From Care
Sydney Morning Herald
Friday April 3, 1987
With the first cold winds of April Sydney yachties get down to final planning for their Pacific migration.
The annual Sydney-Mooloolaba ocean race, starting leg for many winter cruises as well as the Gladstone race and Hamilton Island race week, starts tomorrow with a near-record fleet.
But there is an even better ocean race coming up in just over a month that will take those in the know straight into the heart of a Pacific cruising paradise.
That paradise was found by this city-jaded correspondent down a dusty, bumpy, red-dirt road that turns off the sealed highway between the airport and the village on the Isle of Pines, south of Noumea.
It is a quiet, unelectrified collection of thatched roof cabins among palm trees, looking out on the deep azure of the huge New Caledonian lagoon. It must be the most restful place on earth.
The 1,048-nautical mile passage race from Sydney to Noumea, beginning on May 30, which precedes some organised cruising to the Isle of Pines, will allow just about enough time to slow down to the pace of island life.
It is a race one doesn't hear much about, even though it was first run in 1953. Since then the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia has run it six times, until a scheduled running in 1985 was called off because of what is now referred to in New Caledonia as "the troubles".
That was the start of a bust period for what had been a booming island economy, built on nickel exports and on tourism. New Caledonia took its tourist trade for granted until the start of the troubles.
When the tourists from Australia and New Zealand stopped coming at the first hint of political unrest - something which coincided with a slump in world metals prices - New Caledonia realised just how important its tourism income was.
There are no troubles now. Certainly there is evidence, in a fairly obvious military presence, of a resolve to keep order.
Leaders of the Melanesian population in New Caledonia, while they express disagreement with French Government proposals for a political settlement of grievances, say they are determined that nothing shall happen which could endanger the political or economic security of the islands. They are even formulating their own plans to promote tourism to remote villages.
The whole of the New Caledonian community is now, amazingly enough, focusing on a yacht race to lead a resurgence in tourism to the territory. Of itself, that makes sound economic sense. When the last race was run in 1983, there were 62 yachts in the fleet. That brought 1,900 visitors to Noumea, among crew and families and friends who took the three-hour flight over for the finish of the race and to take a holiday.
Little wonder then that the CYCA's Peter Rysdyk and Aussie-Noumean John Nixon are getting the full backing of New Caledonia's tourism authorities and the Club Med organisation to sponsor and help run this year's race and associated cruising.
The destination itself has enough attractions for any yachtsman. New Caledonia is a part - even though it is thousands of miles from Paris - of metropolitan France, something which other Pacific governments and the Melanesians see as colonialist.
Leaving aside one's own political attitudes to that, the benefits are that European culture and produce is available as readily as anywhere in France.
With subsidies to make sure that the French citizens of New Caledonia pay no more for them than French citizens anywhere else, fine wines sell at prices Australian imports cannot match. Few restaurants anywhere could match the haute cuisine of Noumea's restaurants Le Berthelot or the Surf hotel-casino, the latter also offering a high-style introduction to European gaming.
While the sophistication was worth sampling, the simplicity of the Isle of Pines was more appealing. The island has a population of 1,400 - all but 35 of them easy-going, smiling Melanesians. But one hardly sees a soul, which adds to the ambiance.
Two of the non-Melanesian islanders, Albert Thoma and his New Zealand-born wife, run a diving service and have encouraged the Melanesians to develop their own tourist accommodation. Hence the simple, clean, cool thatched-roof cabins among the palm trees.
There is extensive farming, the islanders hand-producing, as they have done for centuries, exotic fruits and vegetables. Others, also eschewing modern equipment such as outboard motors and nets, fish from suprisingly efficient dugout sailing outriggers. They simply dive into the lagoon to spear mahi-mahi or sweetlip, or they harvest crayfish by hand.
Lunch at a village restaurant run by a beaming Melanesian named Caroline arrived as we did - cartons of crayfish on the back of an ancient Renault utility.
Scores of lively langoustes were poured out on to a bench, Caroline negotiated a price for them and, minutes later, they were cooked and presented on platters. Having pigged out, we found that was but the first course, and plate upon plate of delicately sauced fresh fish and salads were also passed around.
After that, one could only lie on a white sand beach, eventually to recover the energy to lift a stick and jolt a ripe coconut from its tree and open it for a cool drink.
And all that just 1,000 miles of easy tradewind sailing away.
Those on the 75 yachts leaving tomorrow for Mooloolaba need not eat their hearts out, for they could still, if they chose, start from there on May 31 for a parallel race to Noumea.
Meanwhile they face four or five days of intense competition in the 450-nautical mile Mooloolaba race, with one of the best fleets assembled outside a Hobart race.
In fact, the winner of the last Hobart race, the Davidson 36 Ex-Tension(Tony Dunn, Sydney), must be favourite among yachts from NSW, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia, New Zealand and Italy.
Heading the big-boat line-up is Sovereign, the 25.6-metre maxi-racer of Bernard Lewis, which will be sailing in her first long race since retiring from the Sydney-Hobart with mast problems.
She will start favourite to take line honours from the other maxis, the former round-the-world racer Castaway Enterprise, from New Zealand, which was third over the line in Hobart, and Stormvogel, the famous former South African maxi now registered in Italy.
The other NZ entry is Starlight Express, a Davidson 55, which will be skippered by former Queensland boatbuilder, Phil Atkinson, who is now based in the Bay of Islands.
Rod Muir, having retired his classic maxi-yacht Windward Passage to cruising, has chartered his former yacht Doctor Dan for the race.
At the other end of the size scale are two past Mooloolaba winners, the tiny Half Tonners Public Nuisance and Flying Circus. The latter won under both its present name and as Beach Inspector.
Another entry is the 16-year-old former Half Ton champion Scampi A (Ross Perrins, Brisbane), a winner of the Brisbane to Gladstone race, which has just undergone a refit for the races northwards this autumn.
Most of those yachts will also take part in the 308-nautical mile "sprint"to Gladstone, which begins off the Shorncliffe Pier on Moreton Bay on Good Friday, and then go on to Hamilton Island week and perhaps some extended cruising.
© 1987 Sydney Morning Herald
