A "Dinkumisation"

First A Wedding, Then A "Dinkumisation"

Wandering yachtsman Joe Pachernegg, who has been sailing through PlM’s pages since about 1958, when he bought the staysail schooner Okeanos in Suva and took her to New Guinea, became a “dinkum”

Australian in Sydney on August 23.

Joe, an Austrian, swore the oath of allegiance to Australia in a naturalisation ceremony aboard Okeanos in Sydney Harbour. His Australian wife Benita, and a yachtload of good friends later drank his health in a rum punch. The ceremony (his first on a yacht) was per formed by Mr. C. H. Smith, of the Department of Immigration, Sydney, who was fascinated to know that Joe and Benita had been married aboard Okeanos, off Valparaiso, in May, 1963.

Okeanos is now up for sale, as Joe and Benita plan to buy a larger vessel for Islands chartering.