Yachts

Cruising yachts are on the

move again following the

start of the new season in the South Pacific. • IRISH MAID. This sloop, is owned and sailed solo by Dave Benson, an Irish-born Australian resident. Benson, a professional shipbuilder, fol lowed an Alan Payne design and built the craft 12 years ago and has been sailing her ever since.

Irish Maid left her home port of Sydney in January 1978 and journeyed to New Caledonia, New Hebrides, Tonga, Fiji, Tahiti and Hawaii before stopping on the West Coast of the US. There Benson was able to replenish his depleted finaces by taking on some ship-building jobs.

From San Diego Irish Maid sailed down the coast and

through the Panama Canal to the West Indies, where Benson decided he would like to see his family in Ireland.

After a long voyage, Benson was reunited with a family that he had not seen for many years. Following that enjoy able stop, Benson sailed back to the South Pacific, then across to Madeira, the Canary Islands and once again to the West Indies. After a shipbuild ing spell there, Benson sailed his sloop back to the South Pacific to Tahiti and the Marquesas before docking in Rarotonga.

Benson, who has sailed for many years, believes that people are more interesting than places. He finds the folk in Rarotonga genuinely friendly, apparently a rare characteristic these days.

Upon his reluctant departure from Rarotonga, Benson will voyage to Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand before returning to Sydney where he will think about settling down. A block of land appeals to him, pro vided a boat and water are easily accessible. • PALERMO. This is the

other visitor in Rarotonga, also a Sydney-registered sloop.

She is sailed by Michael and Annette Nossiter of Sydney, who have owned the boat for almost six years. Michael Nossiter, a keen sailor, ap pears to have inherited his love of sailing from his grand father, who was the first Aust ralian to sail around the world.

Palermo, built in 1953, de signed by Ted Beattie and rigged by Alan Payne, was not launched until 1964. The Nossiters have been sailing the 10 m sloop since they bought her, and are now on the last leg of a circumnavi gation.

After leaving Sydney in March 1975, Palermo sailed to the Great Barrier Reef and Darwin, where the Nossiters lived for a year. From Darwin the sloop travelled to Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka be fore arriving in Djibouti, in North-west Africa, in 1977.

The Nossiters remained in Djibouti, a walled city, for two months. There they experi enced a few tense moments as the civil war in Ethiopia was

affecting Djibouti in the form of terrorist raids.

From Djibouti Palermo voy aged in the Red Sea, Sudan, Egypt, Israel, across the Mediterranean to Morocco, then to the Canary Islands and the West Indies where the couple worked for a year operating a charter boat.

Palermo then sailed to Panama, the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, Tahiti and Rarotonga.

Following a two-week stay in Rarotonga, Palermo will sail to Tonga and Fiji before returning to Sydney. • DORADO. This 12 m Temptress sloop from Sydney was in Rarotonga in May. She is owned and sailed solo by George Brown. Brown has been sailing the 13-year-old sloop long distances for the past seven years, and began his present voyage in March 1978 when he left Sydney.

His lengthy itinerary in cluded stops at the Great Barrier Reef, Thursday Island, Keeling Cocos (an atoll in the Indian Ocean), Mauritius, and South Africa, where he spent six months.

Brown sailed from Cape town in February 1979 across the Atlantic to England, with stops at St Helena and the Ascension Islands. After spending the summer in England, Dorado travelled to Spain and Portugal, then across to the Canary Islands, the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal, and across the Pacific to the Marquesas, Tahiti and Moorea before docking at Avatiu harbour in Rarotonga.

After a two-week respite here Brown sailed Dorado to Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia, and finally back to Sydney, which will complete his solo circumnavigation. • AVENTURA. After nearly three years cruising the length and breadth of the South Pacific, *PIM’s yachting cor respondent Jimmy Cornell is leaving the Pacific for the Indian Ocean. As a farewell to Ihe Pacific, Jimmy and Gwenda Cornell, with their children Doina and Ivan made a point of sailing their yacht Aventura to be in Port Moresby f or the Third South Pacific r estival of Arts. After the 'estival they are leaving for heir journey back home to England via Indonesia, Singa pore, Sri Lanka, the Red Sea jnd the Mediterranean. Sev eral other cruising yachts simi arly planned their itinerary to nclude the Festival of Arts. \mong these were Ranger, /Vhistler, and Jolly II Roger, vho were reported for PIM rom Rabaul earlier in the year md all of whom had spend the ast six months cruising in PNG vaters. Dana Crumb of Whis ler had made a particular >oint of revisiting many of the )laces in PNG, where he had erved as a young man during Vorld War II with the USAAF. • CALAO. This 12.2 m vooden yawl from Toulon, : rance was last reported in >IM from Vava’u, Tonga in 979. Since then Erick and /luriel Bouteleux with their hildren Sidonie (9) and abien (6) have cruised to Vallis, Futuna, Fiji, New Caledonia and Australia. Dur ig the six months spent in Australia the 20-year-old :alao was refitted, but in spite •f this, their engine broke

down in Cairns. Not daunted however, Erick decided to keep his appointment with Aventura for the Festival of Arts and sailed the 500 miles to Port Moresby with a dis mantled engine. After repairing their engine, Calao plans to head for Indonesia, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. • KYERI. This 12.2 m Hinckley-Owens Cutter is tak ing Herb and Marie-Louise Stewart on a fast circumnavi gation. Kyeri left Boston USA in September 78 and sailed to Panama via Honduras and Nicaragua. Transiting the Panama Canal for the third time, they first sailed to the West Coast of the USA, cross ing later to Hawaii. On their way to the South Pacific, the Stewarts sailed to Palmyra, Pago Pago, Western Samoa, Tonga, Fiji and New Zealand.

After a six month refitting stopover in New Zealand, Kyeri sailed to Papua New Guinea via New Caledonia and New Hebrides. In their attempt to catch the best season for their next leg to South Africa, Kyeri left Port Moresby before the Festival ended. They hope to be back home in Boston by June next year. This is Kyeri’s second trip to the South Pa cific, having visited the Galapagos, Marquesas, Tua motus, Society Islands and Fiji earlier during a three-year voy age. • AQUARIUS. Molly and Maxine Mallouf left San Francisco in February 1973 on their extended cruise in

Aquarius, a 11.6 m Alberg

fibreglass sloop built in 1962.

The past seven years have been spent in the Pacific, Aquarius sailing to Mexico, Marquesas, Tuamotus, Society Islands, Cooks, Nuie, Ameri can Samoa, Tonga and Fiji.

Returning to Fiji from New Zealand they sailed via the New Hebrides and New Cale donia to Australia where they made a longer stopover.

Aquarius arrived in Port Moresby from the Solomons and plans to leave the Pacific for Indonesia.

• Emma Goldman. This

Herreshoff 28 ketch was built ip 1960 in Japan of mahogany on oak. Dennis White and Julie Robinson left Oakland, Cali

fornia in December 1976 for Mexico and then Hawaii, where they spent one year.

Then they sailed via Tahiti, Rarotonga, Samoa and Tonga to New Zealand, where they spent six months. After half a year in Fiji, they returned to New Zealand for the following cyclone season, from where they sailed via the New Heb rides to Port Moresby. Expect ing a baby in December, Julie and Dennis are thinking of sailing to Darwin to await the increase in crew, and then plan to sail back to the USA via Capetown and the West Indies.

• Northern Light.

Owner Rolf Bjelke finished and fitted out this boat himself after

buying the 12.2 m Joshua-type

hull from the Meta boatyard in Sweden in 1975. Sailing from Sweden, Rolf took Northern Light via England, the Ca naries, Brazil, Uruguay and Argentina to round Cape Horn in December 1978. After spending some time in the Patagonian waterways and Chile, he crossed the Pacific via Easter Island, Pitcairn, Tuamotus and Marquesas to Tahiti. From there he sailed via Tonga, Fiji, New Zealand, Fiji again, and Port Vila to Papua New Guinea. Rolf’s present crew is Rocky Sargent from California and Northern Light plans to visit Indonesia on the way to Capetown. Although planning to return to Sweden, Rolf Bjelke’s future plans are to return to Chile in South America by boat. • TIVIA. Light winds and lack of fuel brought this Bul garian yacht to Port Moresby one day after the Festival had ended, to its crew’s great disappointment. Doncho and Julia Papazov accompanied by their six-year-old daughter lanna are making a film of their voyage for Bulgarian TV and were hoping to include some of the festival in the film. The Polish-built 14 m wooden ketch left from their homeport of Sozopol on the Black Sea in April 1979. After crossing the Atlantic and stopping briefly in the West Indies and Venezuela, Tivia transited the Panama Canal and headed for the Mar quesas. A badly-infected burn suffered by Doncho caused Tivia to alter course for

Ecuador in search of medical attention. From there they sailed non-stop to Papeete, nearly losing the boat on a reef in the Tuamotus, when their engine failed to start. After five months spent in the Society Islands, Tivia sailed to Tonga, Fiji and Papua New Guinea.

They hope to be back in Bul garia via South Africa by May 1981, as the Bulgarian authorities have only granted them permission for a two year cruise. Doncho and Julia are well known in Eastern Europe, where their books based on two earlier voyages are best sellers. In 1974 they sailed a 7.5 m standard ship’s lifeboat from Gibraltar to Cuba. After 64 days they landed near the American base of Guantana mo and were promptly ar rested by the Cuban security service as spies. They had a hard job persuading the Cuban authorities and the Bulgarian Embassy that they had in fact crossed the Atlantic in their small craft. Two years later in a different lifeboat purchased in Norway, Julia and Doncho attempted a crossing of the Pacific. Their boat Dju V was shipped to Callao in Peru and from there they sailed the 4000 miles to the Marquesas in 65 days arriving with a broken mast.

With a jury rig they continued to Tahiti via the Tuamotus, then sailed to Samoa and Fiji, from where the lifeboat was shipped back to Bulgaria, where it is now on display in a museum in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia. • MOTU NUI. This 10.7 m steel yacht was built by its owner Jo Lipous. Accom panied by his wife Chantal, Jo Lipous left France in 1976, sailing via the Canaries to the Caribbean, where they spent over one year in Martinique.

Transiting the Panama Canal in April 1978 they sailed via the Galapagos to the Marquesas, Tuamotus and Tahiti. In the Marquesas and Tahiti they made lengthy stopovers, dur ing which their daughter re turned to France to go to school. They sailed to Port Moresby via Pago pago, and the New Hebrides. They plan a quick return to France via South Africa to rejoin their family.