The Island Cruising & Down Under Rally began the much-anticipated Pacific Rally 2024, on Friday, 10 May. Over 100 boats registered from across the Pacific to take part in the annual sailing event.

Over the last few weeks, the rally has hosted the pre-departure activities at the Bay of Islands Marina in Opua, New Zealand, and at the Boat Works on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

“We are thrilled to have such an incredible turnout of the rally this season” said Rally Director, Viki Moore.

The first group of yachts that left Opua, New Zealand on the weekend, will be sailing to either Tonga or Fiji and the passage will take them around a week to complete.

Meanwhile, the second group which departed from the Gold Coast, is bound for New Caledonia.

“The rally is flexible and there are other vessels departing from different ports and at later dates,” Moore explains. “This allows people to sail to their own schedule but still stay connected with others heading in the same direction.”

The entire Pacific Rally fleet is made up of mid-size sailing vessels and power boats from Australia, New Zealand and international cruisers from around the world. The smallest vessel is 10m and the largest is a 32m superyacht.

The organisers said that the rally enables people with their own boats to blend adventure with safety and camaraderie with independence, fostering a sense of community among the participants while empowering them to explore the Islands of Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, and New Caledonia. They can choose to sail independently or join in with the events that are held along the way. At the end of the season, they can choose to return to New Zealand, Australia, stay in the tropics, or continue their adventures further north to Asia.

“We encourage our rally participants to be mindful and respectful of the local people, culture and environment on our travels. We also love to support various community based projects with our partners such as Days For Girls, Sea Mercy, Rotary, and this year we are very excited to be partnering with Citizens of the Sea. Many of the vessels on the rally will be helping collect eDNA samples and mapping the seabed to enable scientists to better understand our Oceans," said Moore.

The Pacific Rally participants will be away in the Islands until November this year.

Background Information

Island Cruising has been running the Pacific Rally since the 1980’s and since then has helped hundreds of cruisers fulfil their cruising dreams. Owner Viki Moore is a qualified Offshore Yachtmaster and keen sailor. In 2023 she also purchased the Down Under Rally based in Australia and has combined both rallies together in to the Pacific Rally for 2024.

The Pacific Rally is now one of the largest yacht rallies world wide.

Island Cruising was awarded Best Yacht Rally in the Global Nautical Tourism Awards by Lux Life in 2023 and also won a Yachting NZ excellence award in 2023.