Cruising Yachts

• NEXUS, Chuck Harris’ 33 ft sloop, was in Sydney in February with plans to push on to Queensland’s Barrier Reef before making for NG about June and then continuing to other Pacific Islands. Chuck reached Sydney from NZ’s Bay of Islands via Norfolk Island and Brisbane. • PANDORA 111, Ed Forcier’s 60 ft wooden yacht, was on the slips in Suva during early February under going repairs. The yacht, with James Good and Sandra Wright as well as Ed, was in the Cooks late last year {PIM, Feb., p. 113).

• Dear Dear Louise, Bill

Hard’s 32 ft tri {PIM, Oct., 1968, p. 109), was recently in Auckland while Bill made a flying trip to Europe and back. The tri is named after Bill’s grandmother who was always called “dear dear Louise” by her relatives.

Bill left Los Angeles in Dear Dear Louise on November 27 last year and has since made calls at Hawaii, the Tuamotus, Matahiva, Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Huahine, Rarotonga, Atiu, Niue, Tonga, Aitutaki and Suva. He says he was “disappointed” in Papeete because the town was full of military personnel. The Tahitians, he said, were “anti-French”—students refused to speak French in schools.

The outer French Polynesian Is landers were “living in the shadow of the bomb tests”. Islanders ran for shelter when French jet fighters “screamed overhead” on low level runs, he said. • MAMAMOUCHI, a 33-ft yacht sailed by two young Swiss watch makers, Jean and Yves Robert, was in Papeete in February after an ad venturous voyage from Europe via the Panama Canal.

The Roberts, who are brothers, built their boat themselves over a period of six years. They have a green parakeet, Coco, as a sailing companion. Coco is reported to whistle the Marseillaise—and at girls, too!

The Roberts will probably head westward from Papeete. • TATTOO, Vic Smith’s 50 ft tri maran, was launched recently in NZ.

Built by Tom Partridge, it is NZ’s biggest tri yet. In April Vic intends to put her in the NZ-Suva race and

then put in two years cruising the South Pacific. • LA RON, Ray Paton’s massive all-steel 75 ft trimaran, is nearing completion at Mt. Maunganui, NZ, and late this year Ray, his wife, two children and two Canadians plan to leave on a circumnavigation {PIM, Jan., p. 111).

Ray says his tri will be “unsink

able”. Her living quarters will be air conditioned, her dining room will seat 20 people and her sleeping accommodation will take 30. A civil engineer who has worked in the Pacific Islands, Ray swears by tri’s and says they are the “speediest” and can stand up best against hurricanes.

“Nothing can best the trimaran as a safe and comfortable sailing boat for the family,” he said recently.

O HELLY, 35 ft yacht with Ken Grant and Ben Kajer, left Betio, Tarawa, on February 4 for Hawaii.

In Port Moresby late last year, Helly made calls at Port Moresby, Samarai ( PIM, Feb., p. Ill) and Nauru be fore reaching Tarawa on January 31

with a girl crewmember, Rhonda.

The boys have now been H years away from the US on their Pacific cruise. • VACILIDOR, American tri maran, reached Lord Howe Island in mid-February from New Zealand for a short stay before pressing on with its Pacific Islands cruise. • STORNAWAY, Alf and Mar jorie Petersen’s 33 ft gaff-rigged cutter, was near Hiroshima in Japan’s Inland Sea in early February with plans to sail directly from Kobe to San Francisco. Alf told PIM in a note from Japan: “With two rugged headwind passages behind us— Singapore to Manila and Hong Kong to Nagasaki—we are hoping for a fair wind voyage.”

In the early 1950’s Alf made a singlehanded circumnavigation in Stornaway. His current Japan stop over came at the end of an extended Pacific Islands cruise begun out of California in March, 1966. • LEGH 11, the yacht in which Vito Dumas made his singlehanded circumnavigation during World War 11, is featured on a stamp issued by Argentina this year—the 25th anniversary of Dumas’ journey.

Many yachtsmen today still consider Dumas’ journey the greatest of all.

Most of the voyage was in the Roaring Forties, and Dumas was the first to “beat the Horn” west to east.

He has since been followed by Bill Nance, Sir Francis Chichester and Sir Alec Rose. The stamp bears the inscription, “Vito Dumas the greatest of all single-handed sailors”. • WAKA TORU, the 46 ft tri maran which capsized north of Lord Howe Island last year with the loss of her eight passengers and was found by the Moanaraoi in Novem ber ( PIM, Jan., p. 28). was located once again, on February 10, by the Karlander freighter Sletholm, 210 miles off Cape Sandy Point, Queens

land. She had drifted about 360 miles since being sighted by Captain King of the Moanaraoi who was un able to get the wreck aboard.

Again the Waka Torn was left to drift aimlessly around the South-West Pacific. • ANDROMEDA, Sydney yawl with four Australians, was abandoned in heavy seas off Three Kings Islands, northern NZ, in early February. The Australians—Adrian Alle, Ted Storm, Max Wilkinson and Terry O’Connor —were taken aboard the Liberian

ferighter Brimmes, bound for Aus tralia.

Andromeda left Auckland on February 1 for Sydney. Her engine failed off the Three Kings Islands. • HEENSKERK, Mr. and Mrs.

John Donkin’s 55 ft ketch, was in Madang, NG, recently to carry out repairs before pressing on to Hong Kong. The Donkins, from Mackay, Queensland, made calls at Port Moresby, Samarai and Tufi before reaching Madang. • HIGHLIGHT, David and John Glennie’s 35 ft NZ tri, is to leave Honolulu in May for San Francisco where the Glennies plan to sell High light and build a “bigger and better” yacht for an around-the-world trip.

In a recent note to PIM, David talked of the Highlight's extensive cruising in the Pacific Islands over the past three years. He particularly remembered his stay in Tahiti last July. “Countless troubles with officials, government and crew were experienced during the seven weeks’ sojourn in Tahiti which necessitated a fast one-way trip out,” he said.

He added that “without PlM’s Yachting Columns we would not know where any of our kind are on the seas”. • To the end of January, 31 entries had been received in NZ for the Auckland-Suva yacht race, start ing on April 19. Entries will be accepted by the Royal Akarana Yacht Club up till March 19.

Yachts entered include Arapawa, Aphrodites, T air ere, Stella Neus, Aqualis, Coruba, Kochab 11, Kaleena, Rosina, Red Feather, Pono, Tuirangi, Ceciline, Kahurangi and Castanet.

Rosina made news in 1967 after she went aground at Cascade, Nor folk Island. Damage was consider able but Islanders helped her owner, Peter Luxmore, carry out repairs and the yacht returned to NZ in Novem ber, 1967. Peter hopes to sail her in the April race. • TRADEWIND, Earl Bauch’s American yacht, was at Thio, New Caledonia, in February waiting for a replacement mast before leaving for the US. Liz Hilken, former American crewgirl, told PIM that Tradewind broke her mast last Nov ember in a storm off Mare Island, Loyalties. Tradewind was last re ported in Rarotonga {PIM, Oct., 1968, p. 113). • ISBJORN, with Dr. David Lewis and his son, Barry, 20, left Rabaul, New Britain, in mid-February for Manus and Ninigo Island off the

north of NG. In a note to PIM, Dr.

Lewis said: “We hope to learn some thing of the sailing and navigation of the big canoes, especially at Ninigo”.

He said the yacht called in the Solomons and he met navigators in Guadalcanal, the Russells, Santa Cruz and the Reef Islands. Isbjorn was commanded for a few days by Teuake, an old canoe navigator, who sailed her without compass or charts.

“He did this with complete accuracy and taught us much,” Dr. Lewis said.

Dr, Lewis is studying various early forms of navigation by Pacific Is landers for the Australian National University. His next stop after Ninigo and Manus are the Carolines, Gilberts and Tonga. Isbjorn expects to reach Sydney in July.