Cruising Yachts

• CORSARO 11, 66 ft Italian laval yacht, commanded by Lt.- 2mdr. Mario di Giovagni, visited Nukualofa in September. . Corsaro II was built in 1960 ipecially for sail training and oceanic lavigation, and carries 14 officers md ensigns of the Italian Navy. \iter a week’s stay in Nukualofa, forsaro II left on September 7 to continue her training cruise in the *acific. • PRIVATEER, 36 ft trimaran, eft Brisbane on August 16 for Los Angeles via Tahiti, carrying owner kipper Hedley Nicol, and E. Van lommell and Gus Baldwin as crew.

Nicol is vice-commodore of the Queensland Multi-hull Yacht Club, md manager of H. Nicol Trimarans *ty. Ltd.. Brisbane. • TAURANGI, 35 ft Lodestar rimaran. with Frank Melhop, an mgineer. Lester Stock, a jockey, and fony Ledwidge, a London barman, cached Honiara on September 6 rom Vila, New Hebrides.

Taurangi is owned by Melhop md Paul Braithwaite, both New Zealanders. Braithwaite left the yacht ecently to get married in New Zealand. Stock is expected to leave ;oon for national service.

Taurangi is en route to England,

via Manus, the Philippines and Hong Kong—if Melhop can find crewmen for the voyage. Plans were to sail for Manus on September 19. • SEETEUFEL, 32 ft schooner, which Rolf Ohvak is sailing single handed round the world, arrived in Honiara on September 2 and anchored off the Point Cruz Yacht Club.

Rolf, who is German-born, has worked in New Zealand for the past two years.

He built Seeteufel in Canada, then visited the United States, Mexico, Hawaii and Tahiti.

From the Solomons, he intends to visit New Guinea. • PRU, 25 ft yacht, sailed by Albert Rallies, 36, of Hamburg, Germany, arrived in Auckland on September 12.

Rallies, who is sailing round the world, has visited England, Spain, Portugal, the West Indies and Tahiti in the course of an 18-month voyage.

He will work in New Zealand before continuing. • VALIANT, 40 ft ketch from Los Angeles with Trix and Bill Hoving, was in Papeete in July with plans to visit Bora Bora, Raiatea, Huahine and Moorea after the Bastille celebrations.

Valiant is due to return to Hono lulu in the northern autumn. • EILANDER, 34 ft ketch, called at Lord Howe Island in August en route from Sydney.

Eilander has a crew of four men

and two women (all novices) and is sailing to England via Noumea, New Guinea, Malaysia and the Indian Ocean. • TE MATANGI, Jack Ferguson’s 35 ft ketch, was reported to be aground on Matahiva Atoll, Tuamotus, early in July.

Ferguson, sailing solo, was en route from Papeete to Hilo, Hawaii.

No further details have come to hand. • MATATUA, 36 ft cutter from Auckland, arrived in Pago Pago early in August for a fortnight’s stay.

Matatua had just come from Bora Bora in Hi days, having previously visited Raivavae, Tahiti, Huahine and Raiatea. From Pago Pago she was to go on to Vavau and Suva.

The yacht is crewed by David Fletcher (skipper), Kathleen Fletcher, George Fletcher and Nigel King, all of Auckland. She left Auckland on a South Seas cruise on April 30. • CREWCUT, 23 ft yacht, with Whangarei yachtsman Peter Norgate, returned to Whangarei from Fiji in

late August after an absence of three months.

Norgate, who sailed the yacht solo to Fiji, was accompanied on the re turn trip by a Fijian, Karai Roago.

His most disturbing experience on the cruise was when two whales swam around his boat off Kadavu. • AWAHNEE, 52 ft ferro-cement cutter, with Dr. Robert Griffith, his wife Nancy, and son Reid, aged 11, were due to sail from Guayacan, Chile, on August 24 for Callao, Peru; the Marquesas; possibly Tahiti; Pago Pago (to complete a circumnaviga tion) and Honolulu.

Mrs. Griffith gave details of Awahnee’s plans in a note to PIM from Guayacan on August 23.

The Griffiths have been cruising the world since October, 1961, when they left their home in Honolulu in another yacht called Awahnee. This vessel was wrecked in the Tuamotus in January. 1964, and the Griffiths subsequently built their present vessel in New Zealand.

From New Zealand, they sailed to Niue, Samoa. Wallis Island, Futuna, Fiji, New Hebrides, Port Moresby, Darwin, Christmas Island, Cocoes, the Cha g o s Archipelago, the Seychelles, Madagascar, Durban, East London, Capetown, St. Helena and Montevideo (Uruguay).

They left Montevideo on May 12 to enter the Pacific again by sailing round Cape Horn.

In a newsletter to friends written in Ushuaia, in Argentine Tierra del Fuego, on June 3, the Griffiths said; ‘We rounded the Horn in snow squalls in a rising gale. . . . We entered the shelter of the Beagle

Channel on the south coast of Tierra del Fuego and holed up in one snug anchorage after another each night under snow-covered mountains, with pine and cypress forests to the water’s edge, and penguins, ducks and geese all around. A two-man outpost of the Chilean Navy on Picton Island gave us some real southern (55 deg.

S) hospitality: a stoked fire in their cabin, hot coffee, aguardiente, home baked bread and roast meat. A few miles further on we met our southern most civilisation at Puerto Williams, a Chilean Navy base”.

Across the channel from Puerto Williams, the Griffiths visited Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost town, consisting of a few blocks of muddy streets, a collection of corrugated iron buildings, and charm ing people. The last yacht to visit it was Les Quatres Vents, sailed single handed by Marcial Bardieux, a Frenchman.

“It has snowed every day since we rounded the Horn,” the Griffiths’ newsletter continued, “and we’ve had ice on the deck in the morning.

“Our voyage round the Horn com pletes the first east to west passage south of all continents by yachtsmen.”

From Ushuaia, the Griffiths sailed into the Strait of Magellan to the Chilean town of Punta Arenas, then up the coast of Chile to Valparaiso and “the old pirate port of Guayacan”.

The Griffiths expect to be home in Honolulu for Christmas. Their address for the time being is: Poste Restante, Pago Pago. • NOMAD, 50 ft steel yawl arrived in Pago Pago for a two-week visit on August 19. The owner and builder, Bryan Williams, was on board with his family, including his wife Pauline, son Mark, 12, and two daughters, Suzanne, 11, and Jannice, 9. Their home is Auckland, New Zealand. The yawl arrived from Tahiti and Bora Bora and plans to sail for Fiji next. • NAOMI, 45 ft yawl, arrived at Niue from Whangarei, New Zealand, in August after a 13-day voyage, with owner Mr. D. J. Gilberd, and a crew of three—Messrs, Keith Jobbitt, Owen McGregor and M. Fleming.

Mrs. Gilberd, who was to have sailed in the yacht as navigator, but had to withdraw because of illness, hopes to fly to Pago Pago on October 2 with other women to join the yacht for the homeward voyage.

Naomi will return home via Tonga. • TREND AW AY, 35 ft ketch owned and skippered by Mr. Norman

"Awahnee" off Tierra del Fuego.

Baylay, a Canadian, of Oakland, California, is expected to sail to Fiji soon after being refloated from Black Rock Reef at Rarotonga last February.

The ketch has been repaired at Avatiu with local timber.

• .La Belle Sole, 64 Ft

German-built luxury ketch, sailed from Rarotonga on September 6 for Samoa, Fiji and possibly Tonga, with owner Mr. R. Franson, his wife and family. Also on board were Mr. A.

Hare, from the UK, and Teppy Angermeyer, an Ecuadorian from the Galapagos Islands.

The yacht, a beautiful vessel, is kept in immaculate condition and is registered in Los Angeles. She reached Rarotonga from Bora Bora on September 2. • STRIDER, a reverse-sheer sloop built in Maine, USA, arrived in Raro tonga with skipper-owner Bob Hea :ock and his wife on August 23 after visiting Tahiti and Bora Bora.

Mr. Heacock, an aircraft engineer, :laims that the rather unusual ■everse-sheer design gives his vessel he qualities of a dry ship and good ouoyancy in addition to an extra foot of headroom amidships.

The Heacocks found Papeete prices ;xorbitant and Tahiti teeming with French troops, but thoroughly en oyed their stay at Bora Bora. They sailed from Rarotonga on September 5 for Tonga, Fiji, and New Zealand. • AUTU, a New Zealand tri maran with only 2 ft 6 in. draft,

arrived at Rarotonga on August 26 from Tahiti, Bora Bora and Raiatea.

On board were skipper Pat J. Duggan and Mr. D. Morgan, and three other men who joined the vessel in Tahiti.

Messrs. Duggan and Morgan are English emigrants who arrived in New Zealand in 1963 and together built their trimaran in 12 months.

Their Pacific cruise took them to Rarotonga some months ago, and they plan to return to Auckland via Tonga and Fiji.

Like the Heacocks of the Strider they found Tahiti disappointing, and for the same reasons. • GOLDEN CREST, 187 ft 6 in. luxury yacht, arrived off Avarua, Rarotonga, on August 24 from Pago Pago. A converted US Naval vessel, the yacht has a beam of 37 ft. 6 in., a draft of 14 ft and a range of 14,500 miles. The owner, General Johnson, head of Johnson and Johnson Products and about 60 sub sidiary companies, was on board.

The vessel left the same night for Tahiti, the Marquesas, Galapagos Islands, Panama, and Aruba in the Caribbean. • YOUTH, a 35 ft Australian steel-hulled sloop from Adelaide, with skipper-owner Allan Quigley and four crew members, arrived at Rarotonga on September 5. Youth spent some time cruising in northern Queensland waters before crossing the Tasman to Nelson, New Zealand. She reached Rarotonga from Russell in only 12 days.

Mr. Quigley, who built the sloop himself, planned to visit Tahiti, Tonga and Fiji on leaving Rarotonga. • REBEL, 35 ft trimaran of San Francisco, arrived at Rarotonga in early September with skipper-owner Marvin Glenn and his wife on board.

Mr. Glenn built his vessel himself and is on a world cruise.

Rebel sailed from San Diego, California, and visited the Marquesas and the Society Islands. It is under stood that Rebel will sail for Samoa. • TREASURE, 45 ft cutter from Southampton, England, arrived at Rarotonga in early September with skipper-owner John Guzzwell, his wife, and their two small sons on board.

Treasure crossed the Atlantic, passed through the Panama Canal and visited the Society Islands before arriving at Rarotonga.

The Guzzwells intend to visit Tonga, and then New Zealand where thev plan to settle.

Mr. Guzzwell and his Australian

wife built the Treasure themselves in three years.

John Guzzwell is a yachtsman of considerable experience. In 1957-58. he sailed single-handed round the world via cape Horn in the 20 ft yawl Trekka. His experiences provided material for a book, • TA AROA, 50 ft gaff-rigged ketch on a world cruise, reached Rarotonga in early September.

Skipper-owner Jack Sederlund and four others were on board.

Ta Aroa is a beautifully appointed vessel which sleeps seven and is powered with an 85 hp diesel. She carries 300 gallons of fresh water, a deep freeze and a refrigerator, and her home port is Newport Beach, California.

Three months were spent cruising down the Mexican coast before leav ing Acapulco for the Marquesas and the Society Islands. To Aroa called at Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Raiatea and Huahine before arriving at Rarotonga.

Her next island-of-call will be Samoa. • PRINCESS, 36 ft ketch from California with skipper-owner Bill Barnes, his wife, their four and 5-year-old sons, and a Siamese cat, arrived at Rarotonga on September 9.

The Barnes had spent some time in Hawaii before sailing to the Marquesas, the Tuamotus and Society Islands.

After leaving Rarotonga they plan to visit T»'nga, Samoa, Fiji, and New Zealand.

"La Belle Sole" ties up at Avatiu wharf, Rarotonga. Photo: H. Pemberton.