Cruising YachtS

• EUROPE, 75 ft schooner, arrived in Vila from Futuna and Apia on August 10 with a crew of four—the skipper, Rene Corpel (French), Walter Gerull (German) Jack Risser (American) and Helene Levy (from Tahiti). An American and a South African were to join the vessel in Vila.

Under the patronage of Princes Grace of Monaco, the Europe is on a world cruise to tape record folk music and obtain photographs. She left Monaco in April, 1962. • SUN BOW, 65 ft steel motor yacht, arrived at Apia on August 15 from Suva on a cruise from Singa pore to Honolulu (PIM, September, p. 108). • GAN NET, 21 ft yacht, arrived at Nukualofa on August 9 from London, via the Marquesas, Tahiti, and Rarotonga.

Skipper Ronald Russell sailed on his own to the Marquesas, where he was joined by Dick Pohe.

At the end of August they sailed to Whangarei, NZ. • LUCENT, 67-year-old yacht which began her career as a fishing boat in the south of England, arrived in Tahiti in mid-August with Roger

imeson, who bought the vessel five ears ago to sail to Sydney.

Jameson left England three years »o. He spent a year of those three ;ars in the Galapagos Islands where 2 worked with a team of experts

Om Unesco.

Lucent went on the slips in apeete for an overhaul. • AEGAEAN, 38 ft Canadian ;tch, with Dale Nordlund, his wife stty, and their daughters Jule and lelley, will be in Port Moresby for •me time following a voyage from Maryborough, Queensland. Aegaean ft Vancouver in September, 1962, id has visited several Islands rritories.

In a note from Port Moresby, Mr. ordlund says: “After arriving in ustralia a year ago, we first visited ■isbane, then went on up to Mary >rough, where we waited out the clone season. I worked during this riod for Capricorn Charters, build s of island craft.

“We left there at the end of April, uising north inside the Barrier Reef a leisurely fashion, spending 2\ onths before leaving the Queensland ast and crossing the Coral Sea to irt Moresby.” • ANNETTE, 48 ft auxiliary tch, arrived in Nukualofa in ptember with owner-skipper C. J. k;e, his wife Joyce, his father larles, and Terence Dare, all of istralia.

The ketch had come from the Cook ands, where, for 3T months, she d run a shuttle service between irotonga and the lower islands at j request of the Cook Islands thorities because of a shortage of pping. The service saved fruit •rth hundreds of pounds.

Pike and his crew plan to visit i and the New Hebrides, before urning to Australia. • AUAU-KAI, 37 ft yacht, owned Roger and Elizabeth Bath, of

Long Beach, California, was still in Nukualofa in mid-Septmber. • BARLOVENTO, 70 ft Ameri can staysail schooner, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Hardy Wright, was due to leave Papeete at the end of August after eight months in the waters of French Polynesia.

Barlovento, which was built in 1932, is on a world cruise that may take up to eight years. From Papeete, she planned to visit the Austral Islands, Cooks, Samoas, Fiji, Tonga, New Hebrides, and Sydney.

The Wrights expect to be in Fiji for Christmas this year, and Sydney for Christmas, 1965. • DEFIANT, 60 ft sloop-rigged ocean-going ketch, arrived in her home port of Auckland on August 18, after an 11-day cruise from Suva.

She spent several weeks in Fiji waters.

Two members of the crew who sailed to Fiji, Mr. L. H. Aitken and Mr. D. Rose, were unable to spend much time in Fiji and flew back to New Zealand.

To replace them, owner Roy Lidgard, signed on Ratu Timoci Valusu, who wanted to visit New Zealand, and two Fiji seafarers, Messrs Billy Smith and Stephen Smith (unrelated). • DIABLO, 60 ft schooner, owned by an American, Captain Frank Wade, struck a reef near Tau Island, about 16 miles east of Nukualofa, about 4 a.m. on August 17. She was badly holed and damaged in subsequent heavy seas, finishing in only 4 ft of water at high tide. But she was eventually refloated and was towed to Nukua lofa on August 29.

A whaling boat working in the area rescued Captain Wade and his crew of six—R. Amundson, K. Dean Davidson, Phil and Paul Strong, Joe

The American yacht "Diablo" on the reef at Tau Island, near Nukualofa, in August. RNZAF photo.

;iter and Jim Sawyer—after the ounding.

The whaling boat was skippered r Tevita Fifita, master of the ill ted Tuaikaepau which stranded on oith Minerva Reef two years ago. so on board was author Olaf ihen who wrote a book on the inerva Reef experiences of Tevita d his crew.

Fifita’s boat crew salvaged parts the Diablo, including the masts d other removable items. Later the gine was removed and taken lore.

A salvage team which took over, [uprising brothers Carl, Alan and :k Riechelmann, managed to >arate the keel, which was a solid on lump of lead, from the hull.

Three young Tongan boys, with dines round them, took turns in r ing to cut, under water, braces jporting the keel. As they dived ■Y were pounded by 9 ft high ves, and were badly cut on the irp coral.

Aiter the keel was removed, the :ht, with the aid of many oil ims, was floated off and slowly yed to Nukualofa, where she was iched for repairs.

Meanwhile, Captain Wade and his w had returned by air to the US; ; Captain Wade is expected back Tonga soon. • NEOPHYTE, 45 ft ketch, with ner-skipper Lee Quinn (the all crew man), returned to Nuku fa at the end of August after king a trip to Suva and back. As orted in our last issue (p. 108), yphyte arrived in Nukualofa from ckland at the end of July, n Suva, Lee was looking for two nen to replace two New Zealand s, Gillian Higgins, 21, and

Marlene Newbold, 18, who quit the ketch after the trip from Auckland t° Nukualofa with three Other girls.

Qumn’s wife and her three children, who had joined Neophyte in Tonga, returned to California from Suva as the_r children’s summer vacation was latest rennrtc cox, Plans to saTback and then New Caledonia, Australia and India.

Lee Quinn (left) with the five girls who made up the crew of his yacht "Neophyte" when he was in New Zea land waters recently.—Photo: "Northern

Advocate", Whangarei.

TAURARA, 30 ft yacht, with Rene Groznykh and Jean-Marie Noel, arrived in Papeete from France on August 9. (Over)

• WAKANUI, 28 ft yacht, arrived : Nukualofa on August 29, en route » Samoa. On board were skipper hil Sharp, from Auckland, and Jim avies. who competed in the New saland-Noumea yacht race, and isa Daniells, of New York, who as on holiday, and who joined the ew in Suva. • WAKATORU, trimaran, arrived Rarotonga on August 22, from aoul Island (Kermadecs). On ,or d were a Mr. and Mrs. Gatland id a Mr. Cole. • TRI-ODYSSEY, a trimaran, th a crew of three men and a girl, rived in Papeete from Honolulu September 2 after an eventful yage lasting a month. The crew smbers are Jerry Allen, Jack tomson, Leroy Fry and Carroll )bart. • VALROSA, 35-metre yacht, ived at Suva in the latter part of [gust from Tahiti, via Samoa, ippered by Marc Darnois, she is her way to the Far East.

Darnois bought Valrosa in Monte do and plans eventually to use • for charter work in Papeete.

Hie Valrosa left Suva at the end August for New Caledonia. she has been chartered to two of rnois’ friends, Mr. Gerard Leclery,

a French industrialist, and Mr. Jean- Jacques Manigot, who worked for the Shell Co. in Africa for many years.

The charterers will leave the Valrosa in either Indonesia or Bangkok and will fly back to France.

There was some bungling by an Immigration Department official after Valrosa reached Suva.

It all started when the official was invited on board the yacht for drinks.

He became suspicious when the name Rosita was mentioned and no one answering the name seemed to be around.

When he went ashore he con sulted the list of those stated to be on board and not finding a Rosita, he reported the matter to the police.

The police boarded Valrosa to investigate, but left quickly (with their tails between their legs) for Rosita is a dog, the ship’s mascot. • ELEUTHERA, a John Alden 48 ft steel ketch, from Seattle, has been having a good look around the islands of French Polynesia in recent weeks. The ketch is sailed by Earl Schenck, Jr. and his wife Paula.

They left Seattle for San Diego

Misses Biky Marque (left) and Karine Didier, of the yacht "Valrosa" with Rosita, the yacht's mascot, which caused an Immigra tion Department offi cial and police some trouble in Suva in August. See below. —P hoto: Stan

Whippy.

on April 4, and set off from San Diego for the Marquesas on May 4.

A voyage of 23 days took them the 3,005 miles to Taiohae, Nuku Hiva, where they stayed until June 8, “On the same day that we arrived at Taiohae,” Mr. Schenck tells us in a note from Bora Bora, “two other yachts did, too. We understand it was the first time three yachts had come into Taiohae on the same day.

“The other two were Minerva, a 50 ft ketch from San Francisco with two couples on board—Hugh and Marge Corum, owners, and Viola and Jack Frost, all from California; and Te Rev a, a 38 ft steel ketch from Belgium, owned and skippered by Fred Debels, with crew members Jerry Sauzier, of Mauritius, Monty Malden, of Van Nuys, California, and Don Nightingale, of Auckland, New Zealand.

“Fred Debels is on his second circumnavigation, the first being as crew aboard Omoo. He plans to spend eight months in Papeete before going on.

Third Visit “Later, during our stay at Taiohae, Viator arrived. She is a 32 ft schooner from San Francisco owned and skippered by Harry Close, who is making his third visit to these islands. The first was in 1937 in the same boat.

“From Taiohae, we sailed for Ua Pou, and the next two weeks were spent cruising the islands of Ua Pou, Hiva Oa, Tahuata and Fatu Hiva.

“June 27 found us at Takaroa (Tuamotus), where we spent a total of five days. At Takaroa, Eleuthera, Minerva, Te Rev a and Viator were together again —by accident, and we were told that it was the first time in the island’s history that four yachts were there at one time.

“So we formed the Takaroa Yacht Club and presented the village with a yacht register which all yachtsmen visiting Takaroa are invited to sign and so become members of the club.

“We spent five days at Takaroa and then sailed to Papeete where we arrived on July 4 for a stay of three weeks. Our daughter Marli joined us there. She will be with us until September 15 when she will fly home to enter her senior year at Stanford University.

“Since Papeete, we have visited Moorea, Huahine, Raiatea, Tahaa and Bora Bora. We hope to go to the Australs some time in September- October. Our future plans are wide open, but we hope to continue cruising the South Pacific, although we do not have a definite itinerary yet.”