Regatta Week At Fiji's Musket Cove

Regatta Week At Fiji's Musket Cove

The South Pacific's premier regatta for international cruising yachts starts at Fiji's Musket Cove Resort September 8 with more than 100 international yachts competing.

Well-known to the cruising yacht fraternity, the regatta is a week of races and other activities before the start of the annual Musket Cove to Port Vila Cruising Rally, this time celebrating its 25th anniversary, on September 18.

If Fiji offers an outstanding destination for yachting enthusiasts then Musket Cove, with its yacht club, marina and safe anchorage for about 120 boats, is the sailing hub of the South Pacific.

Musket Cove Island Resort owner and regatta founder, Dick Smith, said he was delighted how cruising yacht visits to Fiji had grown in popularity.

"Yachties are used to pulling in where are 40-50 yachts," he said.

"In some anchorages they still see high rises on the horizon but here there are enough scattered islands to make a private escape,"

As a veteran of Fiji's tourism industry, Dick Smith convinced government to approve Musket Cove marina as a port of entry to Fiji. As a result Fiji's yachting potential was "tremendous," he said.

Sailing conditions are excellent in the Mamanuca and Yasawa group of islands.

Fiji's western division climate varies little, but it is more humid between December and April. Temperatures range from 27-30 degrees Celsius.

Water temperature varies slightly between the lagoons and the reefs of between 22-26 degrees Celsius.

Musket Cove Resort offers sailors its restaurants, a supermarket and "As far as worldwide marketing is concerned, we're doing very well," Dick Smith says. "Yachties talk about us everywhere."

ENDS

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