[?]ews of Cruising Yachts

ABACUS, Park and Gloria •those’s yacht, arrived in Suva on )ber 28 from Tahiti. Mrs. •those says in a friendly note that was “surprised” to read in the ember issue of PIM that Abacus been hauled up in Tahiti to “re e planks due to worms”, le adds: “The Abacus does not worms and will never have i if we have anything to do with fter noting that PlM’s report e from Mr. C. K. Wing, of the h, John Hanna, who was in the quesas in July, she goes on: “The ment sent from the John Hanna actually about another boat :h was in Tahiti at the same time vere”. fhere was a misunderstanding.

I am sure the John Hanna sailors meant no harm in writing this to you, but it may serve as a reminder that much of what is written is pure hearsay.”

PIM apologises to Mr. and Mrs.

Shorthose for the incorrect report on the Abacus. We point out that in trying to keep track of the cruising yachts in the Pacific it is sometimes necessary for us to rely on second hand information, which we have no means of verifying.

We could ensure 100 per cent, accuracy if every cruising yachtsman dropped us a card each time they arrived in port, telling us where they have been, where they are going next and anything new about their crews.

Many yachtsmen already do this.

PlM’s yachting columns are for the convenience of yachts cruising the South Pacific, and for years they have been a post office whereby cruising yachtsmen keep in touch with each other. • DOUBLOON, a 40 ft sailing catamaran, was due to leave Ontario, Canada, in October for Auckland with Rear-Admiral (retd.) John Littler, his wife and four children, of Grimsby, Ontario. Rear-Admiral Littler, who built the catamaran himself, intends to visit the West Indies, the Marquesas, the Society Islands, Tonga and Fiji. He will settle near Auckland at the end of

trip. Rear-Admiral Littler is known to many people in Suva mse, as Captain Littler, he visited city as commander of the cruiser CS Ontario. He says Doubloon ‘not a bad name” for his boat en you think of how I read tical stories in my youth and dream of Spanish gold and sure trove”. • DRIFTWOOD, an American it, which was briefly aground on reef while trying to enter Avarua hour in August, was still in otonga at the beginning of )ber. i ENTICER, 46 ft ketch, was nd from Apia to Suva in late jber after visiting Tahiti and the ety Group, Rarotonga, Niue and d Pago. On board are owner p r Carl Gillette, Joyce Gillette William Kalinowski, of Hono , and J. A. Castille, of Houston, as. The Enticer, a diesel liary, was built in Kobe, Japan. 959. After a voyage from Hono to Tahiti and back in June and , the ketch headed south again e^c u Tahiti after a 12-day age. She then cruised among the ety Group—everyone on board g struck by the friendly reception Tahaa. On September 19, the h arrived at Rarotonga, where stayed 12 days before going on 4iue. She then went on to Pago

d and Apia before heading for

a. i FAITH 11, 31 ft 6 in. ketch,

i owner-skipper Mick Orchard

crew members Allan McDonald

and C. Orchard (the skipper’s father), returned to her home port of .a uan , Je v /L.ea nd, on October 20 after a 7,000-mile cruise of the Pacific lasting six months. Hundreds of people lined the wharf to welcome the ketch home. Faith II left Whakatane last May for Tahiti. She later visited American and Western Samoa, Tonga and Fiji. She was in Suva in September for the Hibiscus Festival. 9 MARINERO, Floyd Christen son’s 38 ft Californian ketch, was

still in Rarotonga at the beginning ot October. She arrived there on July 1. 9 OKEANOS, Joe Pachernegg’s 39 ft staysail schooner ( ex-Kona and Moonfleet) left San Diego, Cali fornia, on October 7 for Nukuhiva, the Tuamotus and Tahiti. Travelling with Joe are his fiancee. Miss Benita E. Burge, a former New Guinea nurse, and Albert Blanchette. In a note to PIM from San Diego, Joe said he hoped to arrive at Papeete by the beginning of December.

Pachernegg's yacht "Okeanos" which

[?]sxpected to reach Tahiti from San ego, California, early in December.

• ON DINE, 57 ft American aluminium yawl, left Tahiti at the end of October for Sydney on the last leg of a 1,500-mile voyage to take part in the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, which begins on December 26.

Ondine was recently awarded the Northern Ocean Racing Trophy, America’s annual prize for the best blue-water yacht of the season. She will be the first genuine international entry in the Sydney-Hobart race.

Several other overseas yachts have competed in the 18 previous races, but always with Australian crews.

Ondine will have an all-American crew. Ondine’s owner is Mr. S. A.

Long. • SEA WIND, 38 ft ketch, owned and sailed by Malcolm and Muff Graham, arrived in Pago Pago in October after a 13-day voyage from Papeete. The Grahams were en route to Fiji. They had been in Papeete since May. Their home port is San Diego. • TAKOHE, 40 ft yawl, with owner-skipper Lance “Snow” Gate house, his brother Trevor, Ron Mitchell and Bob Daniel, arrived back in Auckland on October 23 after a three-month, 5,500-mile voyage to Tahiti and back. Takohe left New Zealand on July 31. On the trip to Tahiti the craft covered 3,150 statute miles because she was beating to windward most of the way. “Snow” Gatehouse described the trip back as “quiet” and “down hill all the way”. Now he is itching to get back to Tahiti as soon as he can. “Tahiti is just great; we didn’t want to leave”, he told the Press in Auckland. He said Tahiti was a yachtsman’s mecca and that the number of yachts that called there— mostly American—was “fantastic”. • TE MATANGI, a Block Island class ketch, with American Jack Ferguson and his wife, arrived at Whangarei, NZ, on October 30 from Suva, The Fergusons, who have spent 15 years cruising the Pacific, and are well known to PIM readers, built Te Matangi in the interior State of Nevada. Mr. and Mrs. Ferguson have done much of their cruising among the Pacific Islands, and after they leave New Zealand they intend to “do” them all again. Mr. Ferguson, a biologist, says he has been sailing so long he is now incurable. • WHITE LADY, 32 ft ketch, with Joe and Ellen Hart and their seven-year-old son Joey, was bound from Pago Pago to Honolulu in mid- October.

• YASME 111, Danny Weil’s 51 ft yacht, sailed from Rarotonga on October 8 for Suwarrow to take stores to the island’s only inhabitant.

New Zealander Tom Neale. Weil and his wife, who is sailing with him, are on a voyage round the world.

They had been in Rarotonga since July 27.

Yasme 111 reached Suwarrow on October 11 after a voyage of 3i days.

Despite a rough sea they went straight through the passage and anchored in the lagoon. Tom Neale was in the best of health and was very pleased to receive fresh supplies.

Weil, who is an amateur radio enthusiast, set up a station, ZKIBY, on shore and broadcast from the island in the afternoons. Yasme 111 intended to stay at Suwarrow until about October 25 before going on to Pago Pago and Apia. (See “Hermit Tom Neale Gets a Visitor”, elsewhere in this issue).

Yasme 111, has a powerful auxiliary engine, three radio transmitters, five receivers, three depth-finders, three direction-finders, two automatic pilots, one 110-220 volt a.c. generator and other electrical and mechanical gear. • MEDLEY, a 37 ft American staysail schooner, arrived in Raro tonga from Bora Bora on October 7 with owner-skipper Dean Harold, John Rowe, L. Stone and G. Saint Pierre. Her arrival brought the num ber of yachts in Rarotonga’s Avatiu

Harbour to seven—the others be; Marinero, Yasme 111, Driftwo < Takohe, Larapinta and Fortu There were also three local trad; vessels in the harbour at the tir From Rarotonga, Medley was to on to Tonga en route to Austral! • LARAPINTA, 37 ft ket which left London on July 17, 19' with Peter and Lesley Mouns; arrived in Rarotonga from Bora Be early in October en route to Ni Larapinta is on the last stages ol voyage round the world. She sal to England via the Cape of Gc Hope about three years ago voyage which took 14 months. T Mounseys then lived aboard th ketch in London for 18 months. • CRAIG J 11, 20 ft ketch, w D. J. La Londe, of Los Angeles, loi handing it, left Wanganui, Nl Zealand, in October for Los Ange via Papeete. Mr. La Londe lost his possessions in March, 1961, wh his 20 ft yacht Craig J was wreck on Cape Karikari in the extrei north-east of New Zealand. Craig was one of the smallest yachts cross the Pacific in recent years. • FORTUNE, American yac; which left Honolulu for Tahiti in Jir with Dave and Nellie Goeffnti arrived at Rarotonga from Bora Bo on October 6. From Rarotonj: the Goeffneys intended to go on Niue.

IN RABAUL: About 1,200 tourists on a Far East cruise visited Rabaul on October[?] 21 in the liner "Orcades". Among the passengers were more than 500 Romai[?] Catholics on the fifth Australian National Pilgrimage to Catholic shrines in the Fa[?] East. These spent most of the day at Vunapope. Special services were held a[?] St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church in Rabaul. The picture shows a party of th( tourists coming ashore. —Photo: Chin H. Meen.