Cruising Yachts

• DAUNTLESS, 28 ft trimaran torn Seattle, reached NZ in late December from Nukualofa with iwner-skipper Errol Christen and rewman Curt Huffman.

Dauntless made a five-week stay in SJtutaki before visiting Rarotonga nd Nukualofa ( PIM, Jan., p. 113). • BACCHUS, 40 ft ketch, with iwner-skipper A 1 Ligget and his wife leth, was in NZ in early January fter Pacific Islands calls at the Gala agos Islands, Tahiti, Moorea and Larotonga {PIM, Dec. p. 111). • SEA WANDERER, 36 ft ketch, 4th lone sailor and author Edward dicard, reached NZ from Nukualofa i late December for a stay of three lonths during which Mr. Allcard will remote the sale of his latest book 'oyage Alone.

He left Plymouth, England, 12 ears ago in the 56-year-old ketch, hich he had bought as a derelict bout 1950 {PIM, Jan., p. 115).

• Pacific Crusader, Aus

alian yacht, with Scot Denis Budge, 7, and his Australian wife, Phyllida, 5, will leave Auckland at the end f March for the Caribbean and lorida, via the South Pacific.

The yacht was built in Port lacquarie, NSW, and planked with \ inches of Australian hardwood, hie reached Auckland just before hristmas from Sydney.

The Budges hope to find another >uple to join them on their trans acific trip. • FAST LADY, 31 ft Japanese itter, with a crew of three Japanese udents from the Merchant Marine cademy in Tokyo, was stranded and imaged at Aitutaki in the fierce jrricane that lashed the Cook Is nds in mid-December {PIM, Jan., 22).

The cutter was moored in itutaki’s tiny harbour when the irricane hit on the night of ecember 17.

Mooring lines and the starboard ichor cable snapped, and the port ichor dragged. Two of the crew, eiichi Saito and Kiyoshi Nakagawa, /am ashore attempting to secure :w lines and almost drowned.

Captain Junzo Noguchi, who re amed on board was rescued at mid ght by Saito who swam out with a le tied round him.

Both men were pulled ashore by the Aitutakians.

The Japanese later travelled to Raro tonga to return to Tokyo. Their yacht was sold to a private person. • OPTY, 29 ft yawl, reached Papeete on January 3 from Nukuhiva with solo yachtsman Leonid Teliga, 51. Opty was built in Poland in 1955.

Mr. Teliga is on a world cruise and has made stops at Panama and the Galapagos Islands. • DISCOVERY, 33 ft ketch, with Bob Hogan, 35, of Redondo, Cali

fornia; his wife Carol; son Robbie, 12; and daughter Sharri, 12; arrived at Papeete on January 8 after a brief call at Pitcairn Island on December 22.

The Hogans have already made stops in the Galapagos Islands and Easter Island and plan visits to all the Society Islands, the Marquesas and Hawaii after leaving Papeete, Their seven-ton ketch is home-built. • NIRVANA, 50 ft ketch, with George Balkanyi and his wife, Eliane, will leave Sydney in May for Italy and the Mediterranean, via Port Moresby and Torres Strait.

Nirvana arrived in Sydney on

ebruary 15 after an eight-day trip 'om Noumea.

The Balkanyis left Honolulu in ebruary last year and made stops t Fanning Island, Apia and Asau, /estern Samoa, Suva, Vila and lalekula, New Hebrides, and foumea.

Mr. Balkanyi told PIM in Sydney lat Fanning Island was an ideal )ot for cruising yachts—the atoll ad a safe anchorage, plenty of water, aundant fish, and the Gilbertese bourers working the copra planta ons were very friendly.

In Sydney, Mr. Balkanyi hopes to gn on two crew members for the ip to Italy. • SERAPHIN, an American tri aran, was badly damaged at itutaki in mid-December by the irricane that swept the Cook Islands °IM, Jan., p. 22).

Skipper-owner Fred Zurbuchen, ith his wife and two small children, ere guests of the Resident Agent the time and were not aboard.

Mr. Zurbuchen estimates the image to the yacht at SUS3,OOO. e will attempt to make repairs him lf. • KIAROO, 50 ft steel-hulled tch from Sydney, arrived in oniara, BSIP, on February 9 from ieta, Bougainville.

Owner-skipper Ron Graham, who d spent the previous 18 months in ew Guinea waters, says in a note to M that he can strongly recommend £ area around the eastern tip of ipua and surrounding islands to chtsmen.

His future plans include further

cruising in Solomon Islands waters and then possibly the New Hebrides. ttt-ttv „ . • HELLY, 38 ft American sloop, with Ken Grant, Winslow Brabson and Ben Kajer, reached Auckland, NZ, in late December from Rarotonga, just missing the severe hurricane which struck the Cook Islands in mid-December {PIM, Jan., p. 22).

Helly left Panama last July and made several stops in the Galapagos Islands and French Polynesia before reaching Rarotonga on November 19. • ESCAPEE, 41 ft cutter, with

owner-skipper Mr. Raith Sykes and his wife Vivienne, both Canadians, and crew Luc de Saint Siene, reached NZ in December from Tonga, • MYONIE, 36 ft American ketch frQI ? F . lorida ., on her second circum navigation with Dr. A 1 Gehrman and hls Wlfe “ Mi ke”, reached Auckland, NZ ’ m earl y January after a 15-day tri P from Suva - Earlier calls were made at Pa S° Pa 8° and A P ia - In a note to PIM > D r. Gehrman was sever ely critical of the high har bour charges and attitude towards yachtsmen at Pago Pago (see also

"Nirvana."

PIM for Nov., p. 107, and Jan., p. 116).

“The harbour officials in Pago Pago were the most uncooperative we have ever met in our years of voyaging around the word,” Dr. Gehrman said.

“There is no question, and in fact they admitted to me, they do not want yachts in Pago Pago. Their only concern seems to be fleecing the airline tourists, which seems strange to me because yachtsmen do spend money.

“They must buy food, often for months in advance. Engines and

mechanical gear may need repairs.

Sails may need to be sewn.

“As an American I feel ashamed of Pago Pago and would suggest that in the future yachts give it a wide berth.

“In every way Apia in Western Samoa was the antithesis of Pago Pago, Fresh vegetables and meat were in abundance and not costly and there were no port charges.”

• Black Rose, 39 Ft New

Zealand ketch, with Bruce Goodhue, 24, and his wife Anne, 21, will leave

Darwin in June to continue their world trip—across the Indian Ocean, Black Rose, which is familiar to yachtsmen in Fiji and New Guinea, arrived in Darwin last September for a short stay. However, the day before she was to leave Darwin Anne Good hue became ill with acute appenicitis and had to go to hospital for an immediate operation.

By the time she was well enough to travel on, the cyclone season had started so Black Rose remained in Darwin.

Since Anne joined her husband on the ketch at Gladstone, Queensland, about a year ago, the pair have cruised through the Barrier Reef to New Guinea and through Torres Strait.

Black Rose last appeared in these columns in 1966 when she spent a night grounded on Makaluva Reef, off Suva. Bruce Goodhue was her skipper then ( PIM, July, 1966, p. 109.) O MAURI KOA, 28 ft sloop, from Paremata, New Zealand, with a young married couple, lan and Robyn Singleton, on board is to leave Noumea for the New Hebrides soon.

The sloop left Paremata in Feb ruary, 1967, cruised up the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island to Whangarei, and left there for the New Hebrides in May. However, 200 miles ESE of the Isle of Pines, the sloop was dismasted, and the Singletons made that island six days later under jury rig. They sub sequently went on to Noumea, where both have been working.

Repairs to their boat have now been completed and they plan to leave about mid-April for the New Hebrides, Banks and Torres Islands and the Solomons. 9 KITTIWAKE, Ed Boden’s yacht, was still in NZ in January after stops at Tahiti, Moorea, Aitutaki, Raro tonga and Tonga {PIM, Dec., p. 115). • KOCHHAB, 39i ft yawl, with Fred and Penny Acey, arrived at Papeete on January 7. The Aceys are on their way round the world from San Diego, California.

• Shu -Bi -Himmany, Laurie

Jenryns’ yacht, left Lord Howe Island for Sydney on February 7, after a week’s stay at the island.

A Lord Howe lad, Philip Whistler, joined the crew of the yacht—Jim White, Ted Flaues and John Fortier —for the trip to Sydney. He intends to go on to Avondale College.