Europa 92 First round the world cruising yacht rally.

[aukepalmhof]

Gibraltar issued a set of stamps and a miniature sheet for Europa 92 First round the world cruising yacht rally.

Jimmy Cornell being a great believer in the European concept, organized the first round the world cruising yacht rally which was called “Europa 92” to celebrate this burgeoning political union that promised to bring peace and prosperity to a continent that had been divided and at war for so many centuries. Europa 92 started from Gibraltar at the beginning of January 1991, Gibraltar’s far-seeing government doing everything possible to support this international event, whose aims coincided so closely with Gibraltar’s own endeavors and hopes.
After stopping in the Canaries, the rally crossed the Atlantic, passed through the Panama Canal in February, and, via the Galapagos, headed for the South Pacific, which was reached at the start of the safe winter season. Visiting a number of island nations en route, the rally reached the Torres Strait and entered the Indian Ocean. From Bali, the route turned north to Singapore, before crossing the North Indian Ocean to the Mediterranean and eventually to a grand finale in Gibraltar.

http://www.blueplanetodyssey.com/about- ... y-cornell/

Gibraltar Post gives the following by the stamps.
Gibraltar issued four stamps and a miniature sheet on 15 April 1992 to commemorate the 15-month sailing event Europa 92. Only the miniature sheet depicts watercraft, a stylized sailboat in the lower border which takes the place of the letter “A” in “GIBR LTAR” while the stamps show paper pulled back to look like sails and to reveal various legs of the race. The event was conceived by nautical author Jimmy Cornell as a competitive event for amateur sailors and was open to monohulls between 40’ and 80’ length overall. The competition was divided into two divisions. Sailing and Cruising. The latter was distinguished by boats being permitted to use their engines when the wind fell light.
On 6 January 1991, HRH Princess Pilolevu of Tonga gave the start off at Europa Point and 31 yachts from 13 nations set off bound for Las Palmas da Gran Canaria on the first of 17 legs.
The fleet then raced across the Atlantic to St Lucia, through the Panama Canal, across the Pacific to the Galapagos Islands, Marquesas, Tahiti, Tonga, Fiji, Vanuatu, Darwin, Bali, Singapore, Phuket, Djibouti, the Red Sea, the Suez Canal, Alexandria, Malta, and Gibraltar.
On the longest leg, from the Galapagos to the Marquesas, a young crewman was knocked overboard on the Finish yacht CACADU (IV). Despite an extensive search all night and the following day involving 10 of the yachts, his body was not recovered. While approaching Tonga at night the Australian yacht AMADE ran onto a reef under full sail. She was pulled free after 8 hours without serious damage. In the Torres Strait, on the leg to Darwin, following a steering failure the Hungarian yacht JOLLY YOKER struck Bet Reef. The crew spent the night in their life raft on the reef, and were picked up the next day by ELAN ADVENTURER, JOLLY JOKER was holed so badly that she was not salvageable,
Between each competitive leg, time was allowed for the participants to cruise in the areas or to travel inland.
The yachts completed their 23,000-mile rally in the second week of April 1992.

Gibraltar Stamp Bulletin 14/2 as given in Watercraft Philately May-June 1993 page 72.
Gibraltar 1992 678/81 21p/49p and MS 70p sgMS 681, scott?.