More than 20 yachts are expected to take part in the Blessing of the Fleet Festival from the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and the Jervis Bay & Batemans Bay Yacht Clubs.

Organised by Blessing of the Fleet committee member Clive Cross, the event will see the yachts enter the harbour on Good Friday, particapte in the Easter Saturday Yacht race, a Sail Pass on Easter Sunday moring before being blessed along with the fishing fleet on Sunday.

The yachts will take part in a sail past between 9am - 11am on Easter Sunday, cruising past popular beaches in the area before returning to the harbour. Mr Cross has been working hard to secure the event and anticipates a strong interest from the local community.

"It will be magnificent to see a small fleet of yachts, decked out in coloured flags, sail in and out of the harbour," Mr Cross said.

"It is hoped we will be able to have the yachts carry passengers in the sail past, giving a lucky few a unique opportunity to see the coastline from the ocean."

All of the yachts will participate in the Easter Sunday Sail Past, on March 23, sailing up to the Narrawallee inlet hugging the shores of Mollymook and Narrawallee beaches& the foreshores & back to the harbour.

The yachts will be dressed from stem to stern in colourful flags and regalia and will be line astern to each other. Everybody is encouraged to line our foreshores & witness a spectacle not seen before in Ulladulla.

Our Coastal Patrol vessels will accompany this centerpede of weaving yachts. The event will start around 0800 on Easter Sunday and return into the harbour by around 1030. It is going to be a spectacular Easter long weekend in Ulladulla as part of the Blessing of the Fleet Festival

Mr Cross who had organised the yachting events with the Royal Prince Alfred Yacht Club and was delighted when contacted by the Batemans Bay and Jervis Bay Yacht Clubs.

"The Batemans Bay and Jervis Bay Yacht Club have come on board and will send a fleet of approximately 12 yachts up here on the same weekend so we should have an impressive fleet enter the harbour and take part in the festivities," he said.

The yachts will also feature in a traditional Aboriginal celebration with a message stick from the Budawang people at One Track for All on Easter Monday. The message stick will be delivered to the Ryde Rotary Club president, who will in turn present it on to the Guringai people Aboriginal community.

The message stick will pass on greetings from the local community and it is hoped, will be returned during the Blessing of the Fleet festival in 2009.

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Story: Karisa Whelan Milton Ulladulla Times