Cruising Yachts

• BLACK ROSE, which took part in the Auckland-Suva yacht race and which was disqualified for using power, ran aground on Makaluva Reef, off Suva, on the night of May 21.

She was freed next day and towed to Suva by another race competitor, Vega, for repairs.

Other boats to help in the rescue were Tanoa (C. D. Aidney) and Senicela (Bob Lane) from the Royal Suva Yacht Club, and Wolf (Harry Pope) and Areta (Vic Mcllroy), which were in the race.

On board Black Rose were Bruce Goodhue (skipper), Ted Howe, Peter Gerrard and Dave Haley, who made up the crew, and two passengers.

Black Rose had originally intended to sail from Suva for Samoa, Hawaii, Canada and the Caribbean.

However, there was a change of plan, and she sailed instead on June 10 for Brisbane, via Noumea. • RE HU MO AN A, 40 ft cata maran skippered by New Zealander Dr. David arrived in Nuku alofa, Tonga, on May 30, from New Zealand. After a stay of nine days, the catamaran sailed for Fiji, where she arrived on June 16.

Dr. Lewis is accompanied by his wife, two daughters Vicky and Susan, and a friend, Miss Priscilla Cairns.

He is on a voyage round the world from England.

Last year Dr. Lewis sailed Rehu Moana across the Pacific to New Zealand using only the navigation methods of the ancient Polynesians -watching the stars, wind and lurrent direction and the habits of seabirds (PIM, Feb., p. 112). , From Fiji he plans to visit the >olomons, New Guinea, Darwin, Durban, the Congo and the Azores. • MOORE A, 44 ft American skippered by Mr. H. Douglas jambel, arrived in Nukualofa on une 11, with his wife and a crew >f two, after a rough trip from tevau. The Gambels plan to stay while in Nukualofa before continu ing to Samoa. • t DOVE, 24 ft fibreglass sloop, ailed solo by Lee Graham, a 17ear-old American from California, mved in Tonga on May 30. He

left Pago Pago, American Samoa, on May 1 ( PIM, June, p. 111).

Graham, who hopes to become the youngest sailor to sail solo around the world, began his voyage in San Pedro, California, last October.

While in Haapai, Graham’s cat, Joliette gave birth to a litter of kittens but only one was born alive.

His other cat Suzette, left the boat in Samoa.

Graham expects to remain some time in Nukualofa, possibly over the whaling season, before he continues his trip via Fiji, New Hebrides, New Guinea and northern Australia, then on to Madagascar and the Cape of

Good Hope, across to the Caribbean and through the Panama Canal to California. • DARLJ, an American yacht skip pered by Captain Smith, from Long Beach, California, left Port Sandwich (Malekula) on May 31 for Santo, the Solomons and New Guinea.

Captain Smith, who had earlier visited Vila, has a crew of three. • DORA, 15-metre Marconi ketch, owned and sailed by a French couple, Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Merlot, has been in the New Hebrides recently. The Merlots have been travelling round

the world off and on for the past 16 years.

They left France in 1950 in their 9.5-metre coaster Corrigan. They sailed from Nantes across the Medi terranean to South Africa via Suez and the Red Sea. They visited Djibouti and Madagascar, then sold Corrigan at Durban.

"Hie Merlots next undertook a trek by jeep across Africa from the Cape of Good Hope to the Ivory Coast.

In 1961, they bought Dora at Cannes and resumed their sea travels.

After visiting the Ivory Coast again, they crossed the Atlantic from Dakar to Martinique in 14 days.

In Martinique, they were joined by their daughter Brigitte, who sailed with them as far as Wallis Island during her school holidays.

The Martinique-Wallis Island trip took in Venezeula, Colombia, Panama, Ecuador, the Galapagos Islands, Tuamotus, Tahiti, the Society Islands and the Samoas.

While Brigitte went to school in Noumea, her parents found employ ment at Wallis Island. They then sailed via Fiji and the Loyalty Islands to rejoin her in Noumea.

The Merlots arrived in Vila, New Hebrides, early in May, and visited Vlalekula at the end of the month.

From Malekula they planned to go >n to Santo, then return to Vila. • NOMAD, 50 ft steel yawl, vhich left Whangarei, New Zealand, >n April 4 for Rarotonga, Cook slands, was in Aitutaki in late May. >n board were the owner-builder, iryan Williams, his wife Pauline and hree children—Mark, 12, Suzanne, 1. and Jannice, nine.

T]ie Williams are on a world cruise - doing” the South Pacific first, then

changing direction to sail via the Barrier Reef and Suez Canal.

From the Cook Islands, they planned to sail to Tahiti for the July 14 celebrations, then continue cruis ing through the Society Islands to Samoa, Fiji, New Caledonia and Brisbane. • SAN DEFJORD, South African yacht, arrived in Sydney early in June after a 50-day, non-stop voyage from Bora Bora, French Polynesia.

On board were Barry Cullen (skipper), 29, his brother Patrick, 25; Fanie Louw, 23, Hymie Magennis, 29, and Walter Stright, 25. They had expected their trip from Bora Bora to take only 30 days.

Storms in the Pacific ripped Sande fjord’s sails and smashed the mizzen mast. The caulking came away from the seams and let water in.

The crew’s stores ran low when the storms delayed them and for the last five days they had nothing to eat but baked beans and tinned peas.

Sandefjord went on the slip in Sydney for repairs, and was due to sail for home via the Great Barrier Reef and the Indian Ocean early in July.

The yacht left Durban in February, 1965, and reached Tahiti on January 24 from Panama, the Galapagos, and Nukuhiva (Marquesas).

Sandefjord, an ex-Norwegian life boat, was built more than 50 years ago. • VALHALLA, 37 ft sloop, left Newcastle (NSW) on May 22 on a 2,000-mile tour of the Pacific.

On board were owner-skipper Alec Hankin, and three crew—Bill Reid, Jack Simpson and Alf Hancock.

The cruise, expected to last about two months, will take in Noumea and nearby groups, including the Loyalty Islands, and the Isle of Pines. • YOUTH, a yacht from Adelaide, South Australia, arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, on June 11 after a Pacific cruise. On board were five Australians skippered by Alan Quigley.

They plan to leave Auckland again in late July and cruise through the Pacific to New Guinea and then continue to South Africa via Darwin and the Indian Ocean. • EILANDER, 34 ft ketch, with four men and a woman, was to leave Sydney in late June for an 18-month cruise to England via the Pacific, New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and the Red Sea.

The crew are Chris Cole, 25, an Englishman who has worked in Aus-

tralia as a photographer and car penter; Graham Pike, 27, an English aeronautical engineer and physicist; Bill Wilson, a 38-year-old New Zealander; Daryl Gunter, 29, an Australian solicitor; and Maureen Herbert, a 25-year-old English nurse.

Cole, Pike and Wilson are joint owners of the ketch. • JOSHUA , 36 ft French yacht with Bernard Moitessier and his wife Francoise recently completed the rare feat of sailing from the Pacific to the Atlantic round the Horn. The Moitessiers left Tahiti last November and sailed non-stop to Spain. • MATATUA, New Zealand yacht owned and skippered by David Flet cher, which left Auckland on April 30 for French Polynesia, was in Papeete in mid-June. She reached Raivavae in the Australs from Auck land after a very rough 30-day pass age, including many days hove to.

After a month in Tahiti, Malania will visit Raiatea, Huahine. Bora Bora, Pago Pago. Vavau and Suva. The crew comprises Mr. George Fletcher, Mrs. Kathleen Fletcher and Mr. Nigel King, all of Auckland.

"Sandefjord".

There've been a few changes in the feline menage of solo yachtsman Lee Graham since this picture wa staken in Apia last year. One of the cats went AWOL in Pago Pago; and the other has had a family. Graham is now in Nukualofa (see previous page).