News of Cruising Yachts

• Goods Under Drawback: When A

visiting yachtsman protested, on clearing Suva in October, that he had not been allowed to take aboard ship-stores free of duty, the Customs Department drew atten tion to a law which applies in the United Kingdom, in Fiji, and presumably in most British colonial territories. This forbids the delivery of such stores to any vessel of less than 20 registered tons under any circumstances—or to any larger vessel which has not the means of properly securing such stores. Probably the original reasoning behind the stipulation of 20 tons was that it was not considered that any smaller vessels would be genuinely making foreign voyages—in which case the law may be considered outmoded. Until it is revised, Customs authorities have no option but to enforce it. Yachtsmen are therefore advised to take note. • ADIOS with Tom and Janet Steel of Newport, Cal., and STAGHOUND with Paul Hurst. Mile. Terii Marama. and Plazi Miller aboard, cleared Suva for Noumea within half-an-hour of one another on October 7 and planned to sail in company Sam Reynolds left STAGHOUND in Suva.

The dimensions of this handsome ketch are 40-ft. x 32-ft. x 10V 2 -ft. x 6-ft. and she has a Mercedes-Benz diesel auxiliary. • BABOON, at Tahiti, was to be taken in hand by Robert Bradshaw and Gene Bledsoe who flew down from Los Angeles. • REPOSADO, offered for sale in Suva at £22,000 but unsold, headed for Auck land on Ocober 10. (Crewman Gerald Burns transferred to MOONFLEET to assist Joe Pachernegg to sail his purchase to Madang, NG. They cleared Suva October 10.) Don Bahl and Miss Tryna Saindon went ashore from REPOSADO but French chef Marchand Roger remained aboard, and new members joining were. B.

H. McLeod. D. Canty, and W. Langley ex the Sydney motor yacht STARDUST, also Aseri Uio, Harry Chand, Ram Karan, and Amika Prasad of Fiji. John Ewing of New Zealand, ex CRUSADER who had joined at Tahiti, also remained aboard with Auck land owner Brian Neill, Mrs. Neill, Eyvonne and Denis. • MANAWANUI which Mr. Neill of REPOSADO formerly owned, has been purchased in Papeete by Stanley Toogood of Nassau, Bahamas, and left Papeete August 13 for Panama and Nassau where she is employed as a tourist cruise craft. • SEA CHANNTY w r ith Roy Kempel, Lyle Monk, and Allen Cherrington, was ex pected to leave Suva for New Zealand late October. • KIWI of Auckland. 28-ft. x 26-ft. x 5ft. ketch, which left her home port June 18 and has since visited Tonga, Samoa and Fiji, sailed from Suva on October 15 for Lord Howe Is. and Sydney, where all hands will turn to and earn some more money before venturing further west. With owner Tom Bott are Australians John Vukovich and Denny Webb. • FAITH, 37-ft. ketch with Larry and Bebe Baldwin of Los Angeles, was at Wreck Bay, Galapagos, early September and about to sail for Papeete via Islands. • FLYING WALRUS and the Wells family, of Westview, BC, still at Whan garei, NZ, these many months, now plan to move on westward about next April. • TE MATANGI should be at Auckland from Tonga when this appears.

[IRON, 40-ft. ketch of Santa Bar fa Ed and Ruth Vessey, was in the s in September and believed ipeete via Marquesas. tV SILVER GULL and the H.

Scotts were still in Suva early Harry, back aboard following spell in hospital, is steadily im n health. A volunteer yachtsman ience was being sought for the if the voyage back to Sydney.

IONAIRE, which the Fisk family im England to New Zealand via orts in 1950 and later sold, was ;e of some inquiries in October, ner Jack Roberts was reported bound Suva. There was a later led report that the yacht had to Auckland.

P. Fisk, former owner, has never ted since his car was found on a ;ry road abandoned in December, lA, the Spanish-owned junk which im Hongkong earlier in the year, at Barcelona late August. The lad been mainly under power— trans-Pacific.

SNCE of Miami, Fla., 28-ft. sloop Lopez family, is at present in ’olynesian waters and will head California. of California, at in October, is unlikely to come rest. lAYNE of Vancouver with “Nip ile and three companions aboard, «te October 5 for Rarotonga and MINI has been sold by the in Honolulu. They will soon

launch a new boat, POSEIDON, in Cali fornia. They were stationed at Palmvra Is. during the IGY. • ZIA, 75-ft. ketch of Portland. Ore was in Papeete early October, and will not come further west; no other details. • BLUE SEA, 46-ft. ketch of Sausalito, Cal., was to leave Papeete early October for Pitcairn and Lima, Peru. • W’ANDERER with film star Stirling Hayden and family, was expected to leave Papeete early October for San Francisco direct. • ZENATA, 33-ft. ketch of Morocco, with Anore Chartier, Daniel Persem. and Richard Cosmos, cleared Balboa for Poly nesia on September 5. Cosmos formerly owned CELESTE, which changed hands at Papeete. • KUDO, 30-ft. yawl of Durban, cleared Balboa August 26 with Charles Kennedy and Luice Vanwyk aboard bound for Hono lulu and Vancouver. • DRIFTER of Wellington, homeward bound from Rarotonga with J. P. Moore aboard, was reported overdue in mid- October and an air search was made from New Zealand. This was later suspended pending more definite information regard ing intended movements of the craft. • RAIATEA, 41-ft. x 12-ft. x 5-ft. 8-in. ketch, was launched at Whangarei by Alan Orams late September. He was reported preparing for an Island cruise “in the near future”, • Cocos Island (Indian Ocean) is be coming a popular way port for cruising yachtsmen (or should we say cruising families?). Both WHITE SEAL (the Tro bridges) and OUTWARD BOUND (the Caldwells) reported in from there on October 6 and 5 respectively; and CHIMERE (with the Bluche family of Sete, France) is headed that way. The Swedish yacht RONDOE was expected also in October.

Writes John Caldw’ell: “We arrived from

Christmas Island on September 30 and found here the 36-ft. South African ketch WHITE SEAL with Gerry and Marie Tro bridge aboard with their 11-months-old daughter Tracey born in Brisbane. With them is American crewman Dave Benedict,

Ex Dokrigo Ex Meridian,

“We leave here tomorrow for Dirgo Garcia in the Chagos Group, then on to the Seychelles and Aden where we prepare for our December voyage in the Red Sea.

WHITE SEAL departs same date for Mauritius and Durban, completing her world voyage.’’ (For what Gerry Trobridge has to say, see under picture of WHITE SEAL, page 101.) • CHIMERE, the French yawl (reports our Port Moresby yachting correspondent), with Jean, Suzanne and Jean, Jr., Bluche aboard has just completed her roundabout crossing of the Pacific and is now home ward bound. Her route from Tahiti to Japan via way ports, thence to Port Moresby via Wake Is. and the Solomons was a most unusual one. They reported no heavy weather on this stage of their cruise having departed Japanese waters before the typhoon season commenced.

Arriving Port Moresby on October 6 they left two days later for a short visit to Yule Is. where the missionaries are mostly French. From Yule they intend travers ing Torres Strait thence to Colombo via Christmas and Cocos Is. and finally through the Red Sea, Suez Canal and Mediterranean to their home port of Sete. • STARDUST, the 116-ft. converted sub chaser pleasure craft which left Sydney in July with a crew of amateur sailors (who were paying for their experience) and a vast quantity of publicity, got a little further than the cynics expected, but not much. The planned destination was the West Indies; the vessel is now in Suva, Fiji the cruise abandoned. A note from Fiji from a Mrs. M. Russell who sailed on her says: “STARDUST arrived in Lau toka on September 30 when the remaining

[?]tor yacht “Reposado’s” crew few friends), about to leave [?]r Auckland in October. Mr. [?]eill (capt.), Mrs. Neill, and and Eyvonne are centre, front.

The South Australian yacht “Pavana” at Norfolk Island in mid- September when returning home after taking part in the San Francisco-Honolulu yacht race some months ago.

Photo: G. Bowden.

The “Staghound team” - owner Paul Hurst, Miss Terii Marama, of Tahiti , and Plazi Miller —about to leave Suva for Noumea in October.

ibers of the crew were told the ould terminate and told to leave it. Two girls were told to leave five minutes before the yacht r Fiji. She is now in Suva Har iting to be sold, if possible”.

Suva we have been informed that urrently on board are owner S. Smith, navigator L. Gulson (he )LA trans-Pacific in 1956) Dianne • f NZ and Kate Smith.

RIDIAN and Richard and Abbie where are you? We last reported Brisbane six months ago but ex te Carol Rice of 522 SW T 11th t. Lauderdale, Florida, USA, has again and wants to contact you. mowing anything of MERIDIAN’S ts could perhaps contact Mrs. above address —she leaves for the bortly and would like to see the if their paths cross. and Mrs. Thomas S. Steele, aboard cht ADIOS arrived in Noumea 19. ex-Suva. The 10-ton yacht is i and Mr. and Mrs. Steele had r ear in Tahiti before moving down and New Caledonia. iGHOUND (see photo, page 113) in Noumea, New Caledonia, in ber. Aboard were owner L. C. apt. Paul Hurst, and a Tahitienne, rana. The yacht will remain in tdonia for three months while the lies home to the US. He will re <oumea to take the yacht further . Miller requires.

chernegg, a New Australian, [?] Austria, who purchased the “Moon fleet” in Suva in [?] and headed hack with her [?]s Madang, New Guinea, where he now lives.