Cruising Yachts

• TAKEBOIA, 29 ft yacht, arrived in Nukualofa on April 5 from Raro tonga, skippered by Henri Mauren brecher who is lonehanding her from Holland to New Zealand, He left Nukualofa on April 7 for Whangarei. • TIARE MOAN A, 31 ft New Zealand yacht, arrived at Lord Howe Island in mid-March from Sydney.

The yacht, with a crew of three— Lyn and Bain Carmichael and Wayne Dumbleton—left Whangarei, NZ, last April to compete in the NZ-Noumea yacht race.

From Noumea, they sailed their craft to Townsville, Queensland, via the Loyalty Islands and New Heb rides, and then down the Australian coast to Sydney.

At the end of last year, the crew took part in the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, sailing in different yachts.

They were due to sail back to New Zealand from Lord Howe at the end of March. • SI-Tl-SI, 40 ft American ketch, reached Sydney on March 24 from Lord Howe Island with owner-skipper John Lavery, his wife Mary, and a crew of three.

Si-Ti-Si is on a cruise round the world which has already taken six years. She left San Diego, California, in December, 1958, after Mr. Lavery, a building contractor, gave up his job so that he could see the world.

After cruising around Mexico and Central America, Si-Ti-Si crossed the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, where two years were spent visiting every country in the area. From there, the Laverys went on to the Indian Ocean via the Suez Canal and Red Sea, and then to Singapore, Borneo and the Philippines.

Moving into the South Pacific, the Laverys called at Madang, New Guinea, intending to stay four hours for fuel, but they finished up staying two years as government school teachers.

From Madang, they went to Kieta on Bougainville, Honiara, Santo, Noumea and Lord Howe Island.

The trip from Lord Howe to Sydney took four days.

The Laverys expect to return to their home port, via the Pacific, late next year. They have an 18-year-old

Siamese cat on board called Tonga which has been with them throughout their cruise. • AU AU KAI, 37 ft ketch built by photographer Roger Bath, arrived in Honolulu on February 13 with Bath, his wife Beth, and two sons, Roy and Phil after a 63-day passage from Pago Pago. This included a nine-day stay at Palmyra Island which was uninhabited at the time.

Bath had been in Tonga to photo graph local whaling methods for the National Geographic Magazine. But no whales were caught during the six months he was in the area.

The Baths spent a week on Vavau, then sailed to Fiji, Western Samoa and Pago Pago. They will remain in Honolulu until the end of June and then return to Long Beach, Cali fornia, their home port.

Au Au Kai, a Chapelle-designed ketch, encountered head winds during a 54-day beat to windward to reach Honolulu. She encountered six gales during this period. • SOLO, 57 ft ketch, which sailed from Sydney at the end of February for a 12-month cruise round the world, spent a week stuck fast to Cowlishaw Reef, off Cooktown, Queensland, in March.

Solo is owned and skippered by Vic Meyer, of Sydney, who has a crew of two girls, Miss Rhondda Figgis, of Epping, NSW, and Miss Elsa Wanstall, of Caringbah, NSW.

The ketch struck the reef seven miles from the mouth of the Annan River, near Cooktown, at 4 a.m., on March 22. She had sailed all night from Cairns and had made better time than expected and therefore reached the reef earlier.

Two unsuccessful attempts were made to winch her off the reef. She

was finally floated off at high tide on March 29, apparently undamaged.

Meyer used his dinghy to find a path off the reef.

After a day or two in Cooktown, Meyer planned to go on to Thursday Island, Darwin and the Indian Ocean. • BOUNTY, 34 ft ketch, was due to sail from Auckland about the end of April for Tahiti, then Raro tonga and Fiji. She is owned and skippered by Des Elliott, of Mata mata, who makes Tauranga his home port. He will be accompanied by his wife Dorothy and 10-year-old son Alan. Two younger daughters will fly to join the family in Fiji for the winter.

As a professional signwriter and commercial artist, Des hopes to find scope for his trade in the Islands.

He is also a keen skindiver, and was a crew member of A tea in last year’s Whangarei-Noumea yacht race.

Bounty, a staunch flush-deck craft, is no stranger to the South Pacific.

Built in Auckland for Pacific trading some 16 years ago, she still has a hold midships, and is powered with a 60 hp diesel. She was originally owned by Ken Surly, who sailed her around the Islands for some years, survived several notable storms in cluding the Fiji hurricane of 1953, and was twice dismasted. • MINERVA, 50 ft San Francisco ketch, arrived in Sydney from Auck land on April 17 after a 14-day Tasman crossing, battling three storms and being becalmed for 41 days.

On board were Mr. Hugh Corum, 51, owner-skipper, his wife Marge, and a crew of two New Zealanders.

Mr. Corum is a retired jeweller.

The Corums left San Francisco in January, 1964, and crossed the

"Au Au Kai", Roger Bath's 37 ft ketch, is due to return to her home port of Long Beach seen after a long spell in the South Pacific. She is seen here in Nukualofa.

Pacific via the Marquesas, Tuamotus, Society Islands and Rarotonga.

On the Tasman crossing, they ex perienced their worst storm on the night before their arrival in Sydney when the wind reached 70 miles an hour and the ketch heeled over 45 degrees. Water from the bilges splashed the cabin ceilings.

After the Corums have toured inland Australia and have tried their luck as opal prospectors, they will sail Minerva to New Guinea, India, the Mediterranean, and Britain. They expect to return to San Francisco by way of Panama in five or six years. • BALI-HAI, a 75 ft luxury motor yacht, left Sydney for New Zealand, Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, and other Pacific territories on March 29 with a retired Melbourne in dustrialist, Mr. Lindsay D. Mee, on a trading cruise which may last from 12 months to two years.

Mr. Mee, who represents various Australian manufacturers, will try to arrange for manufacturers in the areas he visits to finish and sell metal goods moulded in Australia.

He will try to obtain contracts for the finishing and sale of re frigerator, bath-tub, washing machine, basin, cistern and general bathroom moulded shapes. • OKEANOS, Joe and Benita Pachernegg’s much-travelled 39 ft staysail schooner, reached Papeete from the Galapagos Islands in April via Pitcairn. (See story elsewhere.) • ONE STEP, 63 ft Chinese junk, arrived in Noumea from Lord Howe Island and Sydney early in April with a crew of eight Aus tralians under Noel Stroud, the vessel’s owner. One Step was at Lord Howe Island from March 24 to 26.

The junk, which was built in Hong Kong, is on a cruise that may last up to five years. Its chief object is to film underwater adventure documentaries.

The crew will spend about two months in New Caledonia before going on to Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and Tahiti, © IMARTRA, 72 ft flush deck ketch, built in England more than 50 years ago, but well known in Auck land for many years past, has recently been bought by Jack Barber of Ade laide.

For the past few months, Barber

ias been working to get her back into jood seagoing form. He plans to sail or Tahiti before the end of April vith half a dozen companions.

Imartra is a fine old ship with a ;ood 7 ft head room below decks. >he is panelled in oak with a finish hat proclaims the old English trades nan. Her companionway, for ;xample, is a beautifully-finished oak ined spiral stairway.

The ketch has an open fireplace md sleeping accommodation for as nany as 14. She has a 100 hp diesel. • MARIS, 36 ft yawl with Jack Earl and his son Mick, of Sydney, irrived in Honolulu in mid-March Tom the United States west coast, tack Earl went on to Sydney by air, caving his son to recondition the fawl for a voyage back to Australia.

Recently, Maris has cruised from san Francisco to San Diego and dong the Mexican coast to Mazatlan md Acapulco. She covered the 3,500 niles from Acapulco to Hawaii in 27 lays, encountering one storm of three lays. • FJORD 111, 48 ft Argentine-built :utter, arrived in Honolulu on Feb ruary 27 skippered by Georges De- Tiorgio, with Frank Odom and Bruce Wheeler, of California, as crew. She s being delivered to the Ross Boat Company of Long Beach, California.

The new owners bought the cutter :rom the estate of the late Dr. George Lapin, who was drowned at Korotoga, Fiji, in January, 1964, while on a :ruise in the South Pacific.

Fjord 111 left Suva for California last October and called at Pago Pago, Aitutaki, Tahiti and the Marquesas en route to Honolulu.

In Aitutaki, skipper DeGiorgio, who was born in Chile, was married to Miss Apaikura George by the Resident Agent, Mr. John Webb. Best man was Tapa Monga, a dance leader at the Bastille Day celebra tions in Tahiti for the past three years.

According to DeGiorgio, Fjord 111 is the deepest draft vessel ever to enter the lagoon at Aitutaki, and

he says that during a 45-knot northwest storm—the island’s worst for seven years—she virtually surfed through the pass with two waves breaking over her stern.

After 15 days in Aitutaki, Fjord 111 went on to Tahiti with the new Mrs. DeGiorgio, who joined the Monterey in Papeete and sailed back to Rarotonga.

Meanwhile, Fjord 111 sailed on to the Marquesas, from where De- Giorgio intended to sail directly to Acapulco. But as the sails were in bad repair, he decided to head for Hawaii, which was reached in 17 da V s - Fjord 111 continued her voyage to

California towards the end of March, with four new crew members, Oliver Fleming, of Auckland, and three Americans, Jerry Staab, George Stein and Michael Kayser.

DeGiorgio plans to buy a steel ketch in California for trading which he will sail back to his bride in the Cook Islands. WAKANUI, 28 ft Auckland yac ht which had been lying up in Pago Pago during the hurricane season, arrived in Apia in late March en route to Fiji and Australia, Qn board were Phil Sharp (skipper) an( j jj m Davies.

Wakanui arrived in Pago last Sep tember from Nukualofa.