sailing expedition, described his 21-month experience as the ultimate in rally-cum-racing.

John Nicholls, 25-years-old, says that the once in a lifetime opportunity to participate in the international event was different from most, in that the rally is organised to take advantage of the prevailing trade winds, giving sailors a unique opportunity to spend time in areas accessible only by boat and totally off the beaten tourist track.

The annual boating event which saw entries from ten countries, is organised by World Cruising Ltd. and offers both racing and cruising class for sailors who dream of covering long distances, but feel safer as part of a group. In spite of careful planning designed to avoid hurricanes and typhoons, one boat was lost in the notorious Torres Straits off the coast of Australia. On that occasion, the crew was rescued but one Finnish sailor died when he was swept overboard during a night storm near the Marquesa Islands in the Pacific.

Mr. Nicholls was invited to crew on a Finnish boat and on January 5, 1991, the Princess of Tonga fired the starting gun as the flotilla of 35 boats set out from Europa Point, off Gibraltar. After pausing briefly in the Canary Islands, the first long haul was the 2,700 miles to St. Lucia. The eight-day cruise to St. Cristobal in Panama was followed by a round of parties in Panama City.

"One side of the city is like any high-rise western capital but the other side is a mass of bullet-riddled shacks, armed guards everywhere and young kids toting guns -- not very reassuring! But the Panamanians are desperate to rebuild their tourist image so they were very good to us, and threw huge parties for us all,'' he said. "I'll never forget going through the Canal. We were totally surrounded by jungle and you could hear all the birds and monkeys -- then suddenly, a great big tanker would loom into view.'' One of the truly memorable highlights of the voyage was their stop at the Galapagos Islands, where, said Mr. Nicholls, "you just step back in time''.

Only one of the 12 islands is inhabited and tours around the archipelago found them sharing their boat with giant pelicans perching on the hand rails, "waiting for lunch to swim past. We were stepping over huge iguanas and Darwin tortoises and sea turtles. Enormous manta rays were swimming through groups of sea lions who came right up and and stared at me through my swimming mask.'' One of the many birds that caught his eye was a sea bird known as a blue-footed booby: "It was white, but had sky-blue feet as if it had just walked through a pot of paint.'' The mid-Pacific Marquesa Islands, which form part of French Polynesia are, according to John Nicholls, one of the last, virtually undeveloped spots left on earth. "We went through jungles to amazing waterfalls. The ocean was teeming with fish and there was wonderful fresh fruit, vegetables and coconuts to eat. The islanders weren't interested in money, just wanted things like rope and nails. They threw a big party for us, where they cooked an entire cow on a spit and gave us home-brewed wine that knocked us sideways.'' Bora Bora, Fiji and Tonga (where they helped the king celebrate his birthday), were some some of the exotic islands they visited en route for Cairns, off the north east coast of Australia. A spot of bunjy-jumping there was followed by a leisurely, week-long cruise along the Great Barrier Reef before they made for Bali, in Indonesia.

In Singapore, which Mr. Nicholls found to be spotlessly clean, "but also lacking in character'', he changed boats to a high-performance Swan 53, so that he could take part in some of the racing. "In Malaysia, we raced all day and partied all night! We did some serious sailing in Thailand and entered the King's Cup.'' There was another inland diversion there, when he joined a long mountain trek to stay for a few days with the hill people of northern Thailand, on the Burma border and close to Laos.

The beautiful island of Sri Lanka, over 1,000 miles away was the next port of call, where again, they took another side trip, this time by train through the jungle to the capital of Colombo.

A rough passage up the Red Sea was further dramatised when one of the boats was briefly kidnapped by the Eritreans, but after some diplomatic wangling, was soon released.

After another pause for the sights of ancient Egypt, on through the Suez Canal and it was back once more into the Mediterranean where, after a call at the island of Malta, the flotilla finally sailed into Gibraltar, where huge celebrations awaited the returning sailors.

Mr. Nicholls' most frightening moment? "Near Tahiti, when the boat was suddenly thrown on its side. It only lasted about five seconds but it seemed like an eternity''. And his favourite country? "Well, I was very attracted to Australia. I loved the people and their outlook on life -- they don't seem to have the hang-ups of America and the western world.'' EUROPA '92 -- A round the world ocean cruise-cum-race gave 25-year old Mr.

John Nicholls a unique chance to visit locations that most tourists miss.