MILLENNIUM ODYSSEY To celebrate the coming of the new millennium, participants in World
Cruising's fourth round the world rally, starting in the summer of 1998, will carry a message of peace and goodwill to all corners of the globe. Each yacht will carry on
board a light taken from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The light will be passed on to yachts starting from other points and, on completion of the circumnavigation, the
light will be delivered to Rome on Easter Sunday in April 2000. Local communities in all the countries to be visited will join in this worldwide project as sailors in the rally will hand
over the light to local churches during special ceremonies held in every port of call.Another group of yachts will start the rally on the zero meridian at Greenwich in London, the projected
site of the most spectacular millennium festivities. The two groups will meet in the Canary Islands, from where there will be a choice of a cold or a warm water route around the world, the
former around Cape Horn, the latter through the Panama Canal. A choice of routes will be available in every one of the three oceans and participants will be able to sail whichever route
they prefer. Thus, in the Pacific Ocean, the majority will probably follow the traditional route through the South Seas and Torres Strait, while for the first time in a round the world
rally the alternative will include countries on the Far East. In the Indian Ocean the choice will be between the classic clipper route around the Cape of Good Hope and the northern route
via South East Asia to the Red Sea, Mediterranean and the symbolic finish in Rome. |