Cruising
p. 97 · Read in the full issue
Yachts
• KAWAMEE, 63 ft ketch, arrived at Rarotonga on February 23 from Honolulu and Penrhvn with owner skipper Rockne H. Johnson, three paid crew and six paying crew on board. The six paying crew, Rich Hassman. Howard King, Tom Doyle, James Garsee, Warren Hanly and Fred Simmons, left the yacht at Raro tonga and left on the cruise vessel WEST STAR for Pago Pago and then home to the US and Canada. All are Americans except Mr Simmons, who is Canadian. They had intended to continue on to Tahiti with the Kawamee, but became disenchanted with the voyage and the “no drink ing” rule imposed by the skipper. The Kawamee has left Rarotonga for Tahiti where Mr Johnson, a professor of geophysics at the University of Hawaii, will carry out underwater research before sailing back to Hono lulu. • SIROCCO, 75 ft cutter owned by 30-year-old Californian, Steve Guy, and once by the late film star Errol Flynn, is in Sydney. On board on arrival were Janis Banker, Tom Banker, Bill Trevithick, Carole Grif fith, Tom Gardner and Jack Mutten, all former students of Santa Barbara University in California. Sirocco left California in 1970 for Hawaii and stayed there for seven months. Ports of call after Hawaii were Christmas Island, Apia, three months in Fiji and a year in Wangarei, New Zealand, where she was completely rebuilt.
At Christmas Island they were able to save the life of a native who was
seriously ill. They used their radio to call the US Coast Guard in Honolulu for help.
An aeroplane was sent to fly the sick man to Honolulu.
Sirocco competed in the Sydney/ Hobart race and hopes to take part in the Brisbane race this year. Still on the list to be discovered are the Queensland Coast, Port Moresby, Torres Strait, Bali, Indonesia, Singa pore, Indian Ocean then to Africa for the Cape Town/Rio De Janeiro race in January, 1975, before sailing back to California. They will leave Sydney on April 11.
O BUNDOON, 34 ft sloop, with owner Barry Goldman and wife Lois on board, was scheduled to leave Lord Howe Island early in March for the Great Barrier Reef and Gladstone and then to the Solomon Islands. • PANDEMONIUM, 54 ft ketch, is back in Port Moresby from Samarai, with a planned Far East cruise abandoned. She was carrying Keith and Veronica McCarthy when she left Port Moresby. Veronica had to leave the ketch at Alotau and go to Australia for medical treatment.
• Valuaranne Tri, Yacht,
carrying Val and Ray Goldston, re cently called at Goodenough Island on the way to Lae from Port Moresby. • DELFINI, ferro ketch, carrying owner builder Rob Dehaan and crew, made her maiden trip late in January from Alotau to Rabaul. The voyage was not without its excitement. She was nearly run down by a freighter. • SHI BUI, sloop, called in to Sariba, near Samarai to await parts, while on the way from Port Moresby to Rabaul. She was carrying Lynn and Bryan Cooper. • TAIRE HINANO, ketch, was at Rabaul late in February, after Christ mas and New Year cruising to the Trobriands and Woodlakes, carrying Bob and Robin Darragh,
• BLUE ORPHEUS, 39 ft Ameri can-owned sloop, was towed into Avatiu Harbour, Rarotonga, on March 7 after radioing for assistance miles offshore. On board were skipper Dick Williams and Jack Tolvanen, Americans; Richard Fayerman, Stephen Gregory and Carol Higgins, New Zealanders, and Rick Holden and Lyn Dunn of England.
Californian owner Dick Johnson, who was not on board, had sailed Blue Orpheus from the US to NZ. The yacht spent 13 days of the 16-day voyage battling storms, high winds and rough seas. The double-reefed mainsail was blown out in a squall when the sloop was 500 miles south of Rarotonga and this was followed by an electrical fire in the engine a few hours later. The battery cables had to be cut and the fire put out with an extinguisher and sea water.
Hatches leaked and water poured into the cabin. Next day a scuba tank blew up as the valves had been loosened by the pounding of the sea, and a good deal of water was shipped as the bow kept dipping under. The engine was repaired, but refused to start when in sight of Rarotonga.
Tahiti is the next stop.
The annual Rabaul-Kavieng yacht race will start on June 8.
The Rabaul Yacht Club, which is organising the race, is pro moting it as far away as Hong Kong, Manila, other Pacific Islands and the east coast of Australia. Two early entries from Rabaul are newcomers, Solataire II and Hinano. Landseer HI, which won in 1972, is now in the GEIC and will not enter. Trophies for the race consist of cash and goods worth more than $2,000. Further particulars are available from the Rabaul Yacht Club, PO Box 106, Rabaul, PNG.