Cruising
pp. 65-66 · Read in the full issue
Money will talk loudly over Suva wharf project
Yachts
If Fiji wants a container-age wharf at Suva she will have to be prepared to spend a lot of money.
That message rings through loud and clear in a report prepared by a United Nations expert, Mr Jack N.
Bathurst, about the impact of con tainerisation on the development of port facilities in Suva. Mr Bathurst is international regional adviser in shipping and ports to the United Na tions Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).
His services were requested by the director-general of the Ports Authority of Fiji, Mr Loh Heng Kee, soon after a Suva Harbour Development Committee was set up.
Should the Fiji Government de cide to act on Mr Bathurst’s report, these are some of the factors involv ed: • Maximum additional back-up would extend along Rodwell Road, but would exclude Suva market.
This would make it necessary to de molish a number of buildings and several streets would have to be closed. This would be a major headache for traffic planners as all roads in the area are fully used; • Coastal traffic which uses Princes Wharf would have to move to another site, north of the existing port area; • The oil and petroleum dis charge facility would also have to go to another site, mainly on the grounds of non-compatibility and extreme hazard it presents in a general cargo port; • Even though the market would remain in its present site, it could become the foundation of a high rise building, with the first floor used as a passenger-terminal facili ty. Government departments dis placed from Rodwell Road could be housed on the higher floors; • Berthing arrangements for deeper draught cruise liners would have to be changed, so that only the after part was alongside and the fore end was secured to suitable
dolphins.
The customs building would re main at the north end of the existing Kings Wharf. Traffic would enter at the Princess Street end, and leave near the May Street/Edinburgh Drive end.
If Princes Wharf was dredged to its maximum depth it could provide berthing for smaller cruise ships and general cargo ships.
Mr Loh sought the report because of changing trends in shipping ser vices and increasing use of unitised cargo ships in the South Pacific.
Mr Bathurst reported that such changes, along with the proposal to set up a regional shipping line, might also provide an opportunity for Fiji to attract more traffic by developing its potential as a focal point and trans-shipment port for the region.
Because two major influencing factors were unresolved when Mr Bathurst made his investigation, it was not possible to make, in ab solute terms, anything approaching a detailed and accurate forecast of ship types and cargo volumes likely to use Suva in the next few years.
Those factors were the outcome of the port labour situation and the final scope and orientation of the Spec regional shipping line the Pacific Forum Line and other na tional lines operating in the region.
However, it was possible to give some indication how changing tech nology could affect the services and facilities the port was likely to be called on to provide.
But to do that it would be necess ary to have fairly wide-ranging con tact and discussions with the ship ping lines and certain external or ganisations whose future intentions and activities were likely to have a major impact on shipping serving the region.
Overall, a lot of people will be in volved the government, city council, shipping companies, com merce, tourist industry, and trade unions, to name the major interests.
With so many voices it will be no surprise to see Mr Bathurst’s report emasculated beyond recognition.
• ASTERIAS, 44 ft Polish ketch registered in Szczecin, arrived at Rarotonga in late March from Tahiti and Moorea with five Polish students, A.
Lipinski (captain), A. Gasiorek, J. Sitnik, A. Kurzeja and W. Baranowski. After a week's stay they left on April 4 for Brisbane, Port Moresby, Mauritius, Capetown, the Canary Islands and home to Poland, expecting to arrive there in October or November after completing
their circumnavigation.
• COR CAROLI, 9 1 metre sloop, sailed by Bulgarian professional yachtsman George Georgiev, was a recent arrival in Suva. It was George's halfway point in a solo attempt to sail round the world. He took part in the transatlantic race last year, finishing 37th overall and 25th in the group for his class of yacht, then continued on through the Caribbean to Balboa, the Mar quesas, Tonga and Fiji. After Fiji he planned to sail to Darwin and then to Capetown before sailing on to England, where he started his voyage. • LA DESIRADE arrived unexpectedly at Pitcairn Island on February 28 from Florida, carrying Carl Lipscombe and a companion. • SHEARWATER 11, 10 3 metre dou ble-ended gaff ketch, was a recent visitor to Pitcairn Island, carrying New Zealander Derry Symons and sons Tony and John.
After two weeks at Rapa they spent a week at Pitcairn and then sailed for the Marquesas, en route to Tahiti. Derry plann ed to fly home from Tahiti and leave his sons to take the ketch back to Opua in the NZ Bay of Islands. Derry's original intention was to make the shores of South America, but changed his mind when in French Polynesian waters. • SWEET THING, 16.5 metre Morgan yacht, was at Pitcairn Island late in Febru ary and early in March on the way to Florida from Whangarei, NZ. She left Whangarei on November 16, 1976, and sailed to New Caledonia where the owner, Jim Wilson, left to fly home to Tennessee, US. On board, when the Sweet Thing ar rived at Pitcairn after a few days in Tahiti, were two Americans, Herb Stonebrook, skipper, from Memphis, Tennessee, and Jim Slesar (Wisconsin) and three New Zealanders, Carlton Clark (Whangarei), Mark Allpress (Auckland) and Stuart Lee (Auckland). From Pitcairn they planned to sail to Easter Island and the Galapagos.
Target date for arrival in Florida is June. • BABALATCHI, 45 ft ferro-cement ketch from Vancouver, arrived in Tahiti on January 3 for their second visit, enroute home to Vancouver after a sail that began in 1974 and took the Braith
waite family of Frank, wife Pat, 13-yr-old JoAnne and 11-yr-old Patrick to New Zealand where the children went to school for a year, Babalatchi sailed from Huahine on February 28, bound for Hawaii, but immediately ran into a squall that broke her bowsprit. So she returned to port for repairs and they left again the following day. Sailing with the Braith waites was Lindsay Trott of Australia. • BERENICE, 40 ft ferro-cement ketch from Trenton, Missouri, left Tahiti on April 23 for the Tuamotus, Marquesas and Hawaii. Owned by Boyd and Neva Mineer and her brother Joe Davidson, Berenice left Florida in November, 1975 for the Bahamas, Haiti, Panama, Galapagos, Marquesas, Tuamotus and Tahiti, arriving in Papette last September.
She spent the hurricane season cruising the Societies. On board for the trip to Hawaii were Boyd, Brian Gronnebeck of California and Jean-Loup Gladieux of France. Boyd hopes to sell Berenice in Honolulu or Marina Del Rey. Joe flew back to the States in September and Neva remained in Tahiti, looking for a boat going west. • CONSTELLATION, famous racing 95 ft Alden staysail schooner from San Diego, sailed into Tahiti in February after a 19-day passage from Santa Barbara to Nukuhiva in the Marquesas. Built in 1932 in East Boothbay, Maine, Constellation twice won the Transpac-Hawaii race, in 1957 and 1959. She was bought IV2 years ago by her present owner and cap tain, Roberta Erb. Sailing with Roberta are: Gregg Lott, skipper and navigator from New York; Roberta's 16-year-old son Dexter and his friend Duncan Ross; Scott Lapperque of California and Tom Britt of Connecticut. Roberta said she is making a circumnavigation at a leisurely pace and will be visiting the Cooks, Fiji, Tonga, New Zealand and Tasmania on her way to Australia and the Suez. • DA BOAT, 31 ft Islander sloop from Los Angeles, returned to Tahiti on April 23 on her way home from a visit to the Cooks and American Samoa. She originally sailed from Los Angeles in December, 1974, and called at Mexico, Central America, Cocos Islands, the Mar quesas and Tuamotus and arrived in Tahiti on December 1, 1975. She remain ed in the Societies until September, 1976, when she left for Samoa. They left Samoa in February, heading for the Cooks, but a tropical depression blew them off course and they ended up in Raiatea in the Societies. Co-owners Mike Lascurain, Scott Borek and Dick Wagner own a tropical fish business in Los Angeles and one runs the business while the other two sail and follow the surf. On board in Tahiti with Mike and Scott were Scott's wife Denise and Dugga Warren of Australia. They planned to remain in French Polynesia until June, then sail to Ha « /O DESPERADO, 41 ft Morgan Out- Island yacht from Anchorage, Alaska, left home July, 1 976 and sailed down the in side passage to Canada, then down the
California coast and left in November for the Marquesas, Tuamotus and Tahiti, ar riving in Papeete on February 19. The Monroe family of Thomas and Jan and daughters Dawn, 16 and Lynne 14, may go back to Alaska from Tahiti or sail on to New Zealand. Thomas flew home on business and the rest of the family stayed aboard in Papeete, awaiting the decision as to their future direction. Desperado sailed across the Pacific with RODONIS, another yacht from Anchorage. • DRAGON, 41 ft Morgan sloop from St Thomas, VI, sailed into Tahiti on April 4, carrying owners Louis and Claude Czukelter and their dachsund, Zipper.
They left Florida in August, 1976 for the Bahamas and San Bias Islands, where they encountered a 36-hr. gale with seas 20 ft-25ft. Dragon was then hit by lightning, which caused $2,000 damage, including melting the rigging off the top of the mast and cracking all the fittings and riggings. Their cockpit was engulfed in blue flames and Louis even had his finger split by the lightning. After re pairing the damage, they sailed to Panama and the Galapagos, Marquesas and Tuamotus before arriving in Papeete.
Their plans were to stay a couple of months, then head west to Fiji and New Zealand. Louis is an electrician and refrigeration-diesel mechanic and they are both professional charter people. • DRUMMER, 33 ft modified Islander sloop from Los Angeles, left San Pedro, Calif in September, ran into a hurricane off the coast of Mexico and returned to San Pedro for repairs. She started again in November and had a very bad trip to the Marquesas, with storms around all the time. They missed the Tuamotus because of the storms and arrived in Tahiti on March 10, after spending several months in the Marquesas, which they all loved. The Lemmons family makes up Drummer's crew, consisting of former auto racing champion "PAPPY"
Lemmons, wife Helen, three daughters Jean, 17, Ann, 1 2 and Mary 11. Also on board is their dear chihuahua, Chiquita Banana, who is also 11 years old. Pappy, who is also a cartoonist and writer for automotive magazines, said that all the boaties voted he should receive a medal for crossing the ocean with five females.
Their plans include sailing in a few months to the Cooks, Samoa and to the Solomons, where he has two ships sit ting on the bottom there at Guadalcanal. • GETEL, 32 ft ferro-cement double ender cutter from Los Angeles, built and owned by Bill Kohut, left California in January, 1976 and sailed to the Mar quesas and Tahiti, arriving on July 1 Bill and his wife, Anny, their daughters Mar tine, 15, and Pascale, 13, along with their nephew Eric Rigney, 17, have been cruis ing the Societies since that time. They went to Uturoa in Raiatea for one day and ended up staying five months. The kids were entered in school there to learn French. They planned to leave May 3 for the Tuamotus, Marquesas and on to Hawaii and California.