Cruising Yacht Rally Sail BIMP-EAGA Sailing Around Equator Asia
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Photo courtesy Joanne Booker – S/Y Pied A Mer
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A long awaited cruising yacht rally, that aims to span BIMP-EAGA and the newly defined Equator Asia, was disclosed during a meeting in Davao City on Saturday, 13th March, when BIMP-EAGA members met at the Apo View Hotel in downtown Davao City.
The main impetus to this series of BIMP-EAGA tourism sailing events was an impromptu yacht rally, where cruising yachts sailed from Borneo to Palawan, during February and March, 2010. A series of sailing events now follow, aiming to bring groups of up to 15 cruising yachts at a time, under sail, from their traditional watering-holes in Thailand and Peninsula Malaysia, to Australia.
The yachts under sail events will form an integrated series of yacht rallies that will muster scores of cruising yachts in Brunei before taking them around East Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, allowing them to gracefully exit Equator Asia and head South to Darwin and other ports in Australia and the South Pacific.
Never heard of BIMP-EAGA? BIMP is the acronym for Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines and EAGA is the acronym for East ASEAN Growth Area. The idea of growing cross-boarder tourism between adjoining countries was heavily supported by former Philippine President Fidel Ramos and BIMP-EAGA was created to be the growth area where the four countries have common borders . . . in the case for the Philippines this means the island groups of Palawan and Mindanao.
Equator Asia – the Heart of Biodiversity, is the marketing slogan for the area covered by BIMP-EAGA because it takes too long to explain BIMP-EAGA. A new map has been drawn that focuses the World around the equatorial area of Asia, encompassing the four countries of BIMP.
Eco-tourism and biodiversity are the key watchwords for Equator Asia. Any tourism event that is considered environmentally friendly and able to preserve the extreme biodiversity of the area is fair game. A yacht rally – yachts under sail rely on local resources and their crew are largely wanting to escape consumerism and instead imbibe the natural wonders of the World (see picture – a group of cruising yachties preparing to enter the St. Paul’s Underground River cave system in Palawan) – is a perfect project in support of the Equator Asia theme and concepts.
There are four yacht rallies planned under the banner of Sail BIMP-EAGA, three of which embrace the islands of Palawan and Mindanao: the four month Equator Asia Yacht Rally (June/July to November); the three month Northwest Borneo-Palawan Yacht Rally (December/January to April) ; and, the three month Mindanao-Sabah-Indonesia Yacht Rally (July/August to November).
The Palawan rally legs will focus mostly on the West coast of the Palawan Island group. The Mindanao legs will focus on the route from Dapitan through Zamboanga to General Santos and the Davao Gulf. If this first series of yacht rally sailing events are successful then it is expected that more events will be planned to allow more people to explore more of the World’s greatest area of biodiversity embraced by Equator Asia.
If you are interested to participate in any one of these yacht rallies then you should lodge your expression of interest with the Rally Director, Mr. Allan Riches, in Brunei. It is hoped that one or more of the World’s leading yacht charter companies may offer yachts for rent for one or more of the events, so even if you don’t own a yacht you will be able to rent a yacht for the duration; event sponsorship opportunities are available for companies wishing to show their support for eco-tourism and the preservation of Equator Asia’s biodiversity.
Links:
Expressions of interest to Allan Riches