News of Cruising Yachts

• TE MATANGI: A letter in from Jacques Ferguson, the First Mate of this yacht, is headed: “Papeete, Tahiti . at last!” Woman-like, or maybe cruising yachter-like, Mrs. Ferguson doesn’t date her letter, but we guess that it was written about mid-September. The Fergu sons had quite a voyage between Honolulu and Papeete, broke a backstay and had a lot of subsequent trouble because of It.

Expecting to reach the Marquesas in three weeks, the NE Trades failed them and they had to fight for every inch of East ing. Alternating calms and storms and the unexpected strength of the counter current further complicated things. They finally arrived in Papeete, 36 days out of Honolulu.

Plans were for a swift refit and larder restocking at Papeete, then a cruise around

Tench Polynesia before heading: for iimoa, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia, here was no mention of hurricane season ilans; they appear to be planning: to keep ght on going:, regardless. • SEA CHANTY: Ketch, from Van mver, owner-skipper Roy Kempel, with tree crew members was still in Papeete , late September. SEA CHANTY and TE ATANGI will likely be sailing neighbours ir some time as Kempel plans to follow le same route, at the same time, as the ergusons. • MARCO POLO reached Papeete mid jptember and expected to stay around tere for some time before taking on the ;xt leg of the voyage. Destination is enmark. • LADY ELLEN, a sailing commercial 'oposition rather than a cruising yacht, id arrived in Papeete and moved on fain to Honolulu arriving October 12. bis big Tasmanian-built yacht is being died to the States with the idea of a ■ofitable sale there. Is expected to leave onolulu late October. • NOVIA, with owner-skipper Lee regg, was last reported around the •ench Polynesia group, but ultimate istination is home port, San Diego. Just •tore leaving Tahiti waters, they lost e top of the mainmast in a night squall id yacht now carrying on somewhat lOrtened in this department. (This is as ported from Papeete although, if cor ct, the Greggs must have been getting ound very smartly. Ann and Lee Fegg left NOVIA in New Zealand when ey had to fly back to the States on isiness last year. NOVIA followed, per ttle boat, which left Auckland at end June). LATER: Reported arrived in molulu October 6; Ann Gregg arrived ’ air from US to rejoin the yacht. • ALTAIR was in drydock in Papeete following an attempt to reach molulu in August. After striking much mble, the yacht had to return to Papeete r repairs. • MERIDAN: There was another worried luiry for this yacht and Richard and >bie Stafford this month—this time from eir ex-crew member Carol Rice, of Ft. uderdale, Florida, who had heard that M had reported them “missing, feared it”. PIM hadn’t—our June paragraph id that they had, for the time being, pped out of our net. But not for long Stuart Inder rediscovered them in >vau, in July. They were last reported Fiji. • MOONFLEET, 40 ft. schooner, pur ased from American owners by Suva ivy officer, Bill Kite, about 18 months o, is up for sale again. Kite and his fe planned to sail MOONFLEET back to ' but crew was the problem. There were snty of Fijians offering—but all wanted e Kites to get them permits to stay in e Dominion. The Kites decided that s easiest way out is to sell the schooner d take the plane home. (This yacht, dch has not been mentioned before by is name, in these columns, is probably )NA, about which we had a great deal ien she was cruising, a couple of years o She disappeared from our ken when e reached Suva). • EDEEVEE, a converted 65-ton fishing ssel with motor and sails, owned by a tired Hull trawlerman, Jack Howson, iared an English port for New Zealand tober 23, presumably via Panama. With iwson are two nephews, three Aus ilians, an another English boy. • New YANKEE, successor to the well own brigantine yacht which the Irving bnson’s sold to Mr. Reed Whitney, is • likely to be seen in the Pacific—at ist not for some years. A much smaller Bal-draft staysail ketch, the new vessel

is designed for cruising the inland waterways of Europe. The hull is of Corten steel and dimensions will be 50 ft. 7 in. x 42 ft. 6 in. x 15 ft. 4 in. With centreboard up she will draw 4 ft. only; down she will draw 7 ft. 6 in. High-sterned and beamy aft. she will have five windows across the stern of a 19-ft. long owner’s cabin. There will be accommodation for two paying guests. There will be a very large midships cockpit, and she will have ballast tanks which can be pumped out in the event of grounding, which is very common in waterway navigation.

The Johnsons plan to cruise from April to October each year and to continue their lecture tours in the US for the remainder of each year. The yacht will be capable of ocean cruising, but present plans are for “8 or 10 years’’ of European waterway cruising. • ADIOS of Newport, Cal., with Tom and Janet Steele aboard, plans to remain at Tahiti until next March. They’ve found a snug anchorage around the coast from Papeete ttvvt with Rill and Jean Schallenberg at the controls, which arrived at Papeete early August, was still cruising around French Polynesia in ° ctober • FIESTA, 72 ft x 17*2 ft. x 8 ft Panama-registered schooner, which cruised Polynesia in 1955-56, was in the news in October. Since the commencement of the IGY Martin J. Vitousek and his yacht have been maintaining sea communications between the lonely Line Islands scientific observation station of Palmyra and Jarvis, with calls at Fanning and elsewhere,

operating out of Honolulu. Following the death of Otto Hornung at Jarvis on October 11, FIESTA, which was lying at Fanning at the time, went out, dismantled the radio station and equipment, and transported the only other residents of Jarvis, a native couple, back to Fanning, T yp|?E, with Bob and Marie Grant and Ken jyiiidon aboard, which cleared Auckland August 31 for Papeete, was blown to the north soon after leaving the NZ coast so j a id a course for Tonga, staying at Nukualofa for several weeks before heading east again—with the pros _ect f a tough windward slog in view. p • MIRANDA of Auckland after a year in French Polynesia, arrived at Rarotonga September 24, apparently again westbound With Australian owner John O’Donnell aboard the 34-ft. gaff ketch now are Kurt Hari of Switzerland and A. J. Giddens of the USA • DIANA. 43-ft. English yawl, owned by Norman E. Young, CB. CMG, im , continuing the world wander, cleared Darwin early October for South Africa.

DIANA entered the Pacific via Panama in

Gi^re‘dlANa’

J ut y same y owner-skipper, cru f sed back to Xahiti and return during the second half of 1957, sailing again for Australia earlier this year. nf Van • TAHOE 37-ft. schooner. o^Van^ couver, now lying at 5. diligently Auckland has been a^® rti ®*f tian 0 f for cost-sharing cr . through the cruise to Sydney and back the Islands to Canada. Sailing d * J at November 20-if crew are found.

The trading ketch "Arthur Rogers" back at the wharf at Totara North, NZ, after a second unsuccessful attempt to get back to the New Hebrides in September. Present in this photo: the crew, the dogs, the cat, and Diana Hepworth. Absent, skipper Tom. Shortly after this photo was taken, another member joined the crew (see page 107).

Photo: Bingham Green.

• FLEETWELL, 29-ft. converted life boat, which arrived at Auckland from Sydney October 1, lies near TAHOE.

Aboard are Messrs. Svedlund of Sweden and Taumees of Finland. Will remain in NZ waters through summer, then may head Islandwards. Mr. Svedlund bicycled through Europe 2,000 miles to Port Said in 1950-52. The yacht was purchased in Sydney. • NGALOA of Sydney, manned by Mr. and Mrs. M. Luhtanen of Canada, arrived in the Manakau Harbour, NZ. September 29 after a rough 31-day passage across the Tasman in which damage was twice done to the rigging-spreaders by careless albatrosses. The couple purchased the 31ft. yacht last March. • MAMARI of Auckland, 28-ft. ketch, circling back home from Polynesia reached Suva September 18. They planned to re main there at least two weeks but future movements were uncertain. With owner skipper J. F. Oliphant are G. T. Pedersen and C. L. Sherry.

O MARY ANNE, with New Zealander Russell Elliott and his wife aboard, having cleared Falmouth, England, September 25, was towed in to the Scilly Isles in battered condition October 5 after losing the rudder in heavy weather. This is a 9-ton yacht, other details unknown. • ANNETTE, the 30-ft. Honolulu cutter manned by Doc and Dottie Tanner, was reported overdue at Suva on October 24.

The yacht was at Pago Pago in mid- September having arrived from the Lee ward Isles of French Polynesia. A call was planned at Suwarrow but the weather decided otherwise. Moving on to Apia the Tanners advised the Suva Harbour Master that they should reach there about October 6. They departed Apia September 24 but had failed to arrive in Suva to October 24 so ships were advised by radio to keep a lookout along this route. (See news section this issue). • PUORI (formerly GOLDEN RULE) left Honolulu end of September for a pleasure cruise to the Marquesas. New owner-skipper is Gene Pettengill, of Cali fornia, who purchased the yacht in Hono lulu. With him on this cruise are a nephew. Wayne Pettengill and Ron Quail, ex yacht SWALLOW. • PHOENIX arrived in Honolulu after a 60-day crossing from Kwajalein on October 13. On board were Ted Reynolds. $O, acting-skipper, Mrs. Earle Reynolds and

their Japanese crewman Nichl Mikami. To greet them on arrival was Dr. Reynolds, recently convicted of sailing into a pro hibited atomic testing area and sentenced to six months gaol and 18 months pro bation. A letter from Dr. Reynolds says that he is out on bail, pending appeal.

He ends his note: “If we are permitted to do so, we intend to set sail about March or April and try again to reach Hiroshima by way of the high seas”. • UTOPIA got away from New Guinea in mid-October with four new crew mem bers—Miss Mildred Dickeman who has just completed 12 months anthropological re search in the Highlands area; David Hewston. formerly of Gibbes Sepik Air ways; John Thomas, formerly of the De partment of Civil Aviation; and Laurie Joebstal. Retired Wisconsin boat-builder Fred Peterson, her owner-skipper, expects to tie up in Singapore over Christmas, when he will be two years out on his round-the-world voyage. After leaving Madang, the schooner sailed up the Sepik River as far as Angoram and is expected to make a call also at Hollandia, in NNG.

The 500-ton "Ai Sokula", reportedly "in mothballs" in Suva because of falling off in trade.