Expo '98 Round the World Rally
From January 1997 through September 1997, we participated in this rally that consisted of over 50 sailboats, traveling as a fleet around the world. Sponsored by the World Cruising Club and the 1998 World Fair in Lisbon (Expo '98), this rally gathered boats from Europe and North America in various ports, with the intent to complete a circumnavigation in roughly 18 months. World Cruising Club (and its founder, Jimmy Cornell) started the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers many years ago, which brings a fleet of over 200 boats from the Canary Islands to St. Lucia in the Caribbean. The Expo '98 rally was the third of its kind to go around the world.
This page has many of the photos from our trip. Unfortunately, they were taken before we had a digital camera, so the quality isn't always great, and some are scans from our original website back in 1997. Here is also a link to the full text of our original log entries, combined into book form (Microsoft Word document, plain text file.) Keep in mind that this document was last edited years ago, before we completed cruising in the Med and well before we began plans to repeat our voyage.
The original fleet included roughly 25 boats that started in Lisbon and continued on to St. Lucia and then Panama, and about the same number from Ft. Lauderdale that headed to Jamaica and then Panama. From Panama, the combined fleet crossed the South Pacific to Australia. Since we had been cruising in the Caribbean for 5 years at that time, we joined the European boats in the Rally in St. Lucia. Here are Geoff and Paul in front of the fleet in St. Lucia.
After going around the top of Australia to Darwin, the Expo '98 fleet continued pretty much straight west across the Indian Ocean before going down to South Africa, then up the Atlantic to Brazil, back to the Caribbean and finally either back to Lisbon or Ft. Lauderdale.
While the companionship of other boats in the Rally was great, and the logistical support from World Cruising very helpful, a number of boats dropped out from time to time to pursue their own itineraries. We were part of the largest group to leave the Rally in Darwin. We wanted to visit Indonesia, head up to Thailand and then cross over to the Red Sea and into the Mediterranean. Unfortunately, the Rally sponsors didn't want to support this alternative route, and when we left, the remaining participants called us the Rally "Rebels" and themselves the Rally "Remnants". Our actual route was from #1 below (St. Lucia) in January 1997, to #26 (Turkey) in August 1998. We then cruised the Mediterranean for several years before having Encore shipped back to Ft. Lauderdale, and trucked back to Michigan.
In fact, the majority of the Rally fleet did continue on their route, and one of our "Rebels" was waiting for them to arrive in Lisbon in May of 1998. Our group of about 6 boats had a diverse background. Three boats (Dasein, Vuela, and ourselves (Encore I) were from the USA; Ocean Dream was from the UK, Zandunga was from Mexico, and Mantra 3 was from Poland.
The Rally fleet was divided into three groups. The first group included the largest and most serious race boats, the second, which we were in, had "cruiser/racer" sailboats from about 40 to 55 feet long, and the third group were smaller "cruising" sailboats. Between most of the ports, the boats "raced" and finishing times were recorded. While the serious race boats couldn't use their engines, the other classes could motor, but with a penalty.
Although
the purpose of the Rally wasn't to race, the friendly competition made each
leg a bit more interesting, at least for bragging rights, and we all
probably sailed a bit more efficiently as a result. The wide variety
of boats made handicapping difficult (done by the Royal Ocean Racing Club),
and the accuracy of some boats "engine hour logs" were sometimes suspect.
Nonetheless, we turned out to be pretty competitive on Encore, and finished
1st in our group a majority of the time. In fact, had we stayed in the
Rally, we probably would have won overall in our group, not that it came
with any special prize. We did collect our small trophies at the
awards presentation after each leg.
The crew on the overall winner of the serious racers, a Swan 65, called Blue Magic, did get valuable airline tickets as a prize.
Between the "racing" legs, the fleet would cruise casually for several days or weeks. These "cruising legs" included the Galapagos Islands, most of French Polynesia, Fiji, Tonga, and about a month around Australia.
Our first leg, from St. Lucia to Panama was a good shakedown cruise for us. Here we are sailing downwind with our "genoa" jib, poled out on one side and the mainsail on the other. Until we reached the Red Sea, nearly all of our sailing was downwind, a pretty easy point of sail. We sometimes went days without having to adjust our sails.
At the same time, this leg proved to have the only major storm of our trip. An area of high winds (40-50 knots) and big seas (20-30+ foot high waves) just north of Columbia, gave us 3-4 days of challenging sailing. We learned how to cope with these conditions, and didn't have anything break or anyone get hurt. We did lose our rail mounted BBQ to a big wave, and in the process of stowing things, some of Jennifer's shoes were lost for a couple months.
The following photo gallery includes many other pictures from our trip. Click on each link to see the associated picture. These photos are currently in alphabetical order based on their filename. Click on any of the underlined words to view the underlying pictures.
Picture of Geoff (on right) with his friend Martin from Portugal who came on board for a few legs including the race from Thursday Island to Darwin. On that leg, Encore finished once again in first place for class B, and 4th overall on corrected time for the 30 35 boats that entered that leg. This picture was taken at the prize giving ceremony in Darwin, Australia.
Picture of Geoff after surfing at Kuta Beach in Bali, Indonesia. Bali is internationally known for its surfing which comes from swells in the Indian Ocean. Geoff bought this board in Fiji, however he has had to repair it numerous times with fiberglass. Surfing is one of Geoff’s alternatives to snow-skiing. Kuta was unfortunately the site of the terrorist bombing of a night club several years after our visit.
Bali was the most exotic of our destinations. The buildings (a bank is shown), were ornate, temples and shrines could be found up and down every street, and statues (this one is outside the yacht club) everywhere were adorned with black and white wraps and bright yellow sashes. Up in the mountain villages, people lived more simple lives, and each region focused on different trades (stone carving, wood sculptures and furniture, silver jewelry).
Nancy is standing behind a Blue-footed Boobie bird, which only lives in the Galapagos Islands off of Ecuador. The animals in the Galapagos are not brought up with human contact so they are very tame.
This picture is of the Carnival on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, where Encore joined up with the European Fleet. This parade featured amazing displays of costumes and extremely loud music.
The sun rises first in the Kingdom of Tonga, which is the first country to the west of the International Dateline. This Hotel isn’t exactly on the Dateline, but close enough. We had just come from church where we saw the king of Tonga.
Although we were no longer cruising with the Rally, we really enjoyed our visits in the Mediterranean, including Israel, Cyprus, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Monaco, France, and Spain. We thought we'd spend a few weeks in Turkey, and ended up spending months. There are more Greek and Roman ruins and artifacts in Turkey, than supposedly in Greece and Italy combined. The ancient city of Ephesus was one of our side trips, seeing the ruins of the library (second only to Alexandria in the ancient world) and learning about the preaching of the apostle Paul. The Lycian tombs carved into the sides of rocky hills could be found not so far from the modern town and marina at Marmaris.
Sailing one night up the Red Sea along the coast of Egypt, we had a visit from a large bird (we think a falcon) that sat on our steering wheel for a long time. It was a bit spooky as we had just visited Luxor and the ancient capital of Egypt, Thebes. We had learned that perhaps the oldest of the Egyptian gods was Horus, in the form of a Falcon. We had many other birds land on our boat during our voyage. Near the Galapagos, a finch, one of the birds that Darwin studied and based his theories of evolution upon, landed and stayed aboard for several days. We've had sea gulls, pelicans, and even sea eagles land on our boat, rigging, and dinghy.
On Easter Sunday, 1997, we were just leaving the Galapagos when we had several of these False Pilot Whales come near our boat. We were always on the lookout for whales, but sightings were rare. Finally in the Red Sea, we had several very large whales go by.
Another interesting animal in the Galapagos is the land tortoise. These very slow reptiles can grow up to over 200 pounds and reach an age of close to 100. These animals are a prime example of Darwins evolution, as these tortoises are believed to have evolved from sea turtles which swam from the mainland, 500 miles away.
Geoff (on right) and Martin went body-boarding on the famous Sea-Lion beach in the Galapagos Islands. The beach is named after the large colony of sea lions that live there.
Many Protestants believe that Jesus' tomb was actually outside of the walls of Jerusalem. This photo is of that location. We spent several weeks in Israel, and drove all over the country, including two trips to Tel Aviv and Jerusalem (Temple Mount and Western/Wailing Wall are shown). Being able to see many spots in the Middle East (Egypt, Cyprus, Israel, and Turkey) with cultures dating back thousands of years, was one of the highlights of our trip. At that time, we were cautious, but felt safe traveling in areas where today, we might not. We spent two days visiting the area around the sea of Galilee, including climbing to the top of the hill where the Sermon on the Mount (Beatitudes) was given overlooking this inland sea.
Egypt has too many sights to visit in just one trip. We stopped in Safaga on the Red Sea, and took a tour inland to Luxor and visited the Karnak and Luxor palaces as well as the Valley of the Kings and Valley of the Queens, where the tombs of the ancient pharohs (e.g. Ramses II and Tutankamen) and their queens (e.g. Nefertari) are located. When we arrived at Port Suez at the south end of the Suez Canal, we took another trip into Cairo and Alexandria. We visited the Pyramids and the Egyptian National Museum in Cairo. Everyone except Nancy when to the bottom of the Cheops Pyramid at Giza, and we all went into one of the oldest step pyramids shown here. We were surprised to find that the Pyramids were literally on the edge of metropolitan Cairo with fast food restaurants and billboards across the street in one direction, and the desert starting off in the other. This map of Egypt shows where Safaga, Luxor, Cairo, and Giza (Al Jizah) are located.
Nancy and Jennifer pet the tame Kangaroos at an open zoo in Cairns, Australia.
Nancy (on left) with Gail from the boat “Vuela” stand next to a caution sign on Komodo Island, where the 15 foot long Komodo Dragons live. These lizards have an amazing sense of smell and are viscious predators.
Manihi is an atoll (circular island with a lagoon in the middle) located in the middle of French Polynesia in the South Pacific. It was the first location of cultured pearls, which now has developed into a large business including rare black pearls. This picture in particular shows a plush resort perched over the pristine waters of the lagoon.
Between Sri Lanka (tea plantation shown) and the Red Sea, we stopped at Ulagama, an atoll in the Maldives, a chain of islands in the Indian Ocean. The anchorage and snorkeling was among the best on our trip. More interesting, however, was the simple lifestyle of these happy people. Their homes were built out of blocks of coral, their streets were crushed coral, and absolutely clean . They had one small gasoline powered generator by the village chief's house, with some extension cords to the "post office" and "grocery" store. Seeing how satisfied they were with their simple paradise, convinced our family that western materialism isn't the roadmap to happiness. They had one small well for the village and invited us to use their water to do our laundry.
Moorea is a beautiful island just west of Tahiti. Unlike Tahiti itself, and Bora Bora, Moorea is less touristy and developed. We anchored off of one of the resorts where the Rally fleet had a reception. Geoff later returned to a research facility across the bay, to spend several weeks doing his coral research. Captain Cook did an amazing amount of exploration in the Pacific, and this is just one of many places that bear his name.
Ou Pou (also spelled Ua Pou) is an island located in the Marquesa group of French Polynesia. The Marquesas were our first landfall islands after making a 19 day, 3200 miles passage from the Galapagos Islands off Ecuador. The large spires, and steep cliffs are characteristics of the Marquesa group.
While in Darwin, Australia, we took a 4 day safari into the Outback of Australia. We spent 3 nights out under the stars, with only sleeping bags in Arnhem land. This land, about the size of Ohio and Indiana combined, is owned by the Aborginals, who limit access to the area. We were fortunate to see 30,000 year old rock paintings and hundreds of water-buffalo, in this truly rugged Outback area in Northern Australia.
This picture was taken as we transited the Panama Canal which was still U.S. controlled at the time. It took us 1 1/2 days to motor from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean. The amount of work it took to create this water-way is truly amazing.
Here, Nancy is taking SCUBA diving training in Fiji. Paul and Geoff became certified "open water" divers in the South Pacific. Jennifer was the star of an underwater video that had her scuba diving on the Great Barrier Reef. Geoff obtained an MS Degree in marine biology which required him to become a certified "scientific" diver, as he researched coral in the Caribbean and South Pacific. As part of his PhD program, he now dives in fresh water researching zebra mussels. Other photos: 1, 2, 3 show Geoff and Jennifer and underwater views.
While on our Safari trip into the Outback of Australia, we slept outside under the stars in swags, which are simply a bedroll and a sleeping bag. This picture has us sleeping on a dry river bed, which during the rainy monsoon season would be covered with 5 feet of raging water. Within a short walk of here is some terrific rock painting, which is thought to be well over 30,000 old.
Jennifer and Nancy stand in front of a beautiful waterfall on the Island of Tahiti, in French Polynesia. Tahiti is an island of tall mountains and crashing waterfalls.
Geoff, Ray and Jeff Duenhauer from another boat “Namiko” decided to scale one of the highest peaks in Tahiti. The all day hike/climb took 9 hours, but Geoff and Jeff reached the 7,000 ft summit. Here Geoff stands at the summit, above the clouds, looking out toward the Island of Moorea, where the movie the “Bounty” was filmed.
Bali is unique for its Hindu temples. Here Geoff and Jennifer feed a temple monkey which lives around the Temple of Ulu Watu. The temple is in the background, overhanging a cliff dropping into the Indian Ocean.
Thailand is famous for its unique scenery. The islands in the Adaman sea are distinct by their cliff sides and hongs (a sinkhole in the middle of the island which also connects to the saltwater. The James Bond movie “The Man With the Golden Gun” was filmed in these islands. The picture of the hong is at Phi Phi Li island, just south of Phuket. It was used to film the movie "The Beach" with Leonardo DiCaprio, and has a beautiful isolated anchorage after the day trip visitors leave. Unfortunately, Phi Phi Li and the larger sister island of Phi Phi Don were devastated by the tsunami in 2004.
Encore receives another first place trophy in the Kingdom of Tonga. This time the trophy is a carved dolphin out of Black Coral.
Encore carries two spinnakers which are very light sails that are used when sailing downwind. Both have a University of Michigan “M” on them, this one is also colored in Maize and Blue. Paul attended U of M, in the early seventies, while Geoff started there after we finished our cruise. As an alumni, Geoff is still loyal, even though he teaches as part of his PhD program at the "other" Michigan school (Michigan State University)
Jennifer and Nancy stand next to local girls on the island of Tanna, in Vanuatu, which is located 1000 miles east of Australia. Some villages on this island still live the same way they did thousands of years ago, without the aid of westerners. This village in particular first saw westerners in 1987.
On the island of Tanna, there is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. We were fortunate enough to climb to the edge of the crater. The volcano itself was spotted by Captain Cook as a red topped mountain when he came here in the 1700’s. Explosions louder than anything we've ever heard, occur every few minutes. Once the sun set, we saw red molten rocks flying up above our heads and crashing down again inside the crater.
Once again, here is a link to our original log book entries for our first world voyage.
This site was last updated 01/04/06