Yachts

Joan D. Pease Re

ports from Pago Pago y

American Samoa:

• XENICITY. Owners of this 10.7 m sloop became parents of a son at the Lyndon B. Johnson Tropical Medical Center, Pago Pago, on October 31, ’Bl, much to the joy of the Pago yachting community. Jim and Jeni Brandon, who arrived in American Samoa in August to await the birth, have named their first child Christopher.

Tipping the scales at 3.85 kg the day he was born, Chris will un doubtedly be a good hand at raising anchors in a few years.

The Brandons sailed and raced boats in southern California for several years before buying the fibreglass sloop, an Erickson 35, a class which is raced extensively in the United States. The name Xenicity is a chemical term describ ing unusual behaviour. According to Jeni, ‘Some of our friends think what we are doing is unusual behaviour.’ The couple left Cali fornia in September 1980, sailing down the coast of Mexico and calling at ports along the way. They then crossed to the Marquesas Islands and arrived in Papeete, Tahiti, in June 1981. They cruised in the Leeward Islands before arriving at Pago Pago where they will stay for the season. • SEA BLOSSOM, This 8.2 m boat also added a new crew member when owners Peter and Lindy Kring became parents of a 3.72 kg boy whom they’ve named Kiawe, a Hawaiian term for a sturdy tree.

They went to Apia, Western Samoa,

for the delivery of the child who was born on November 5. The family will stay in American Samoa through the hurricane season.

Pete and Lindy purchased the hull and deck of Sea Blossom , a Nor’Sea 27, and built the interior and did the rigging themselves in San Diego, Calif. They worked fulltime for a year completing the construction. They chose a Chinese lug rig rather than the traditional Marconi sloop. In October, 1980, they left California and sailed to Hilo, Hawaii. They cruised through the islands and took jobs for several months before sailing to Pago Pago in July, 1981.

They plan to cruise for at least one more season. There are too many great places to see in the South Pacific Vavau, Fiji, New Caledonia,’ Peter said. • DISTANT STAR. A 9.1 m sloop Distant Star , built in Denmark, will spend the season in Pago Pago while owner Dean Poore works as skiff operator on the purse seiner Cap tain Frank Medina. Lynn Oakley, who has crewed with Dean for the past year, is living aboard the

Sagitta 30 sloop while working as a typesetter for the Samoa News.

Before buying Distant Star two years ago. Dean owned a Sea Witch ketch for eight years and cruised extensively in Southern California and Mexico. He holds an Ocean Operator’s licence and worked as a skipper on fishing boats in San Diego, Calif, and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

In August 1980 Dean singlehanded his vessel from San Diego to Hawaii where Lynn joined as crew. Their first stop was Fan ning Island. ‘We only planned to stay a couple of days but spent a week. It was our best stop,’ Lynn said. They then crossed to Tahiti and spent two and a half months at anchorages in Papeete and Moorea. ‘Dean really didn’t care about going to Tahiti,' Lynn said, adding that he changed his opinion after arriving and they stayed longer than plan ned. In the Leeward Islands they anchored at Huahine, Raiatea and Borabora before crossing to American Samoa. ‘We decided to check out the harbour,’ Lynn said, ‘and when Dean saw all the tuna boats we realised we wouldn’t go on to Fiji this year.’

Lynn joined Distant Star with a strong background in sailing. For many years she was sales manager and crew on Aikane, a catamaran which won the 1957 and 1959 Transpac Race before becoming a charter boat for day sails, picnics and dinner cruises in Maui. She also crewed on Tergram, a 21.3 m schooner, from Los Angeles to Baja California and Maui, Hawaii. She and Dean plan to circumnavigate in Distant Star. • FRUITION. This 9.1 m sloop is spending its third hurricane season in Pago Pago. Owners Richard and Almut Thornbury first came here in 1979 and stayed until January 1981, returning briefly in May.

They arrived in November for the current season. The Easterly 30 sloop was built in New Zealand where the Thornburys bought it in 1977. They began cruising in May, 1978, sailing to Rarotonga, the Societies, Tuamotus, Marquesas and Line Islands. They stopped at Suwarrow before arriving in Pago Pago in July 1979. Dick worked for the American Samoan Marine Rail way Authority for more than a year and was asked to go to Canton, Pheonix Islands, last January to repair desalination equipment to provide drinking water on the atoll where the annual rainfall is about 35 cm. They returned to Pago Pago in May to reprovision and then called at anchorages in Tonga, Fiji, Tuvalu and Western Samoa. They had one nail-biting experience off the island of Ovalau in Fiji. At the Vau Ira channel they accidentally entered a lagoon at nightfall but were able to negotiate their way out

without incident but not without many apprehensive moments.

After more than three years of cruising in the South Pacific, Almut says the Marquesas is her favourite anchorage. The people are friendly and outgoing. The islands are small and fertile and the snorkelling and fishing are good,’ she said. They spent four months at anchorages in the group.

Dick, who circumnavigated from New Zealand with two friends in 1965-70, found it hard to name his favourite anchorage. The Societies are the most beautiful and the best sailing is in the Leeward and Windward Islands in the Caribbean where you are usually on a beam reach. But 1 enjoyed Canton. The climate is dry and warm and the fishing is the best in the Pacific,’ he said.

PAUL RYSAVYreports

from Rarotonga , Cook

Islands:

• OUTRAGE. One of the last callers to Rarotonga was Outrage , an 11 m Carter 1-tonne sloop. She is

Jeni and Jim Brandon of Xenicity and son Christopher, born in October. - Joan Pease picture.

Sea Blossom added a new crew member when Peter and Lindy Kring returned to Pago Pago after the birth of Kiawe in Apia. - Joan Pease picture.

Almut and Richard Thornbury in their yacht Fruition have been spending their third season in

Pago Pago. - Joan Pease pic

ture.

owned and sailed by the Wunsch family: Philip and Anne, and their children Katherine and Stephanie.

Outrage is the sister ship to Opti mist, which won the ’67 and ’6B World 1-Ton Series, and conse quently, Philip says, she is a fast boat and a pleasure to sail. The Wunsches’ trip began in 1979 when they sold their yacht Tinka , and flew to Cyprus to pick up Outrage to sail her home to Wellington. Their travels so far have taken the family to every country in the Mediterranean area, the Canary Islands, Barbados, the Chain of Islands from St Lucia to the American Virgin Islands, Colombia, Galapagos, the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, the Societies and Rarotonga. The fam ily are pleased to be back in the Pacific where hordes of tourists have not yet drastically affected the way of life. ‘Tahiti,’ said Anne, ‘has no tourists at all when you compare it to the coast of Spain!’ Outrage left Rarotonga in mid-November for Nukualofa, and after that was to make direct for Wellington, where Peter was due to consider selling Outrage and building a yacht him self. Anne, however, has had enough of sailing for a while and is looking forward to living in a house and being a mother rather than a

mother, schoolteacher, navigator, and so on. • ENDURANCE. The Los Angeles registered Endurance , a cement schooner, visited Rarotonga in October, ’Bl. She was one of the last batch of yachts to visit Rarotonga before the hurricane season began.

The owner, Marvin Milke, built Endurance himself two years ago, following a Samson design. She has a Sealord hull, and is 16.5 m on deck and 21 m overall. Permanent crew are Chieko, Marvin’s wife, and Bruce Nicholson. Other crew are Mary Miller, Donna Fleming and John Reinke, who boarded in Borabora.

The schooner began her voyage from Long Beach in California in April ’Bl, and has since visited Baja, the Sea of Cortez, Acapulco, Costa Rica, Cocos Island, the Marquesas, the Tuamotus and the Societies before arriving at Rarotonga. Endurance sailed di rectly to the Bay of Islands in New Zealand after a week in Rarotonga, and, after the hurricane season, she will sail to Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, the Carolines, the Santa Cruz Islands, the Marshalls and eventually to Japan before cutting across to Alaska and back down the North American coast home to Los

Angeles.

• FAIR SEAS. Another Los Angeles-registered yacht that visited Rarotonga in October was Fair Seas , a three-year-old Transpac 49 ketch. She is owned and skippered by Charles Panter, and his crew consists of his wife Carol, his son Richard, and his nephew Brian. The Panters enjoyed their stay here because of the friendliness of the people, and because it was ‘nice to speak English again’. Fair Seas began this voyage in June 1980 from Ventura, California, by journeying up the coast as far as Juno, Alaska, and then travelling back down the coast to Mexico and the Sea of Cortez.

She then followed the traditional route by sailing to the Marquesas, the Tuamotus, the Societies and Rarotonga. However, unlike most yachts, she will probably berth in Tonga for the hurricane season, or, if red tape makes this difficult, Fiji.

After the hurricane season, the Panters expect to visit New Caledonia, Vanuatu, New Zealand and Australia, where they will spend the following hurricane season. Plans after that are vague, but it is likely they will continue sailing west around the world.

Apart from almost colliding with a killer whale in Alaska, it has been smooth sailing so far.

• ODDS BODKINS. Brent Weyer, from Seattle, Wahinglon, and Sue Bogaard from Hastings, New Zea land, are on board Odds Bodkins , a six-year-old CT 37 cutter. Odds Bodkins was built as a prototype, and, according to Brent, though she lacks some innovations later CT 37s have, she is a wonderful boat. He has owned her for three years, and began this voyage from Seattle two and a half years ago. He initially sailed down the Oregon coast to California where he blew up the cutter’s engine, and had to postpone his trip for nine months. Mexico was next, and then the Marquesas, Tuamotus, Societies and Rarotonga.

From here Odds Bodkins made directly for the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, where it will weather out the hurricane season. After that, it’s Tonga, Fiji, New Caledonia, Australia and then a big question mark. Brent says they’re definitely going around the world, but the route is still undecided.

When asked if he had any particularly exciting experiences or incidents to relate, Brent said that the highlight of his trip so far was the Easter Sunday Church service in Nukuhiva, which was ‘the most amazing thing 1 ever experienced in my life’. For someone who on his

own admission had not been to church for 15 years, the natural exuberance of Polynesians at a special service must have been quite an experience. • SHANNON MARIE. Berthed next to Odds Bodkins in Avatiu Harbour was Shannon Marie , a Los Angeles-registered Vagabond 47 designed by William Garden. The vessel has a fibreglass hull with teak trim, interior and deck. ‘Fat Lady’ as she is nicknamed, is owned by Rob Messenger, and his crew con sists of Ron Ruzicka and Gordie Beimfohr. Rob left San Diego two years ago on what was originally meant to be a four-month trip. Six months in the Sea of Cortez and a further three months in Zihuatinejo in Mexico made a joke of his initial plans, so he decided to keep on cruising, and has since visited the Marquesas, Tuamotus, Societies and Rarotonga. After spending the hurricane season in New Zealand, Rob will call at Tonga, Fiji, and then ‘onwards!’ ‘Onwards’ to where is pretty vague at this stage.

Jane Deridder Re

ports from Kerikeriy

New Zealand:

• WANDERER V. Well known ocean wanderers, Eric and Susan Hiscock, are now owners of a brand new New Zealand-built yacht which was launched in early November ’Bl. Designed for them by Alan Oram, the double-skin kauri vessel was built by Oram’s

Shipyard in Whangarei. Though the

12 m Wanderer V has many details

reminiscent of the much larger steel yacht Wanderer IV (colour scheme, trail boards, hatch construction and so on), the yacht hearkens back to Wanderer 111 in which the famous cruising couple did so much of their voyaging under sail. Eric says it has been a happy building crew that put the yacht together. Graham Johnson, the foreman in charge of the yacht’s construction came of age during the building of Wan derer V; he completed his five-year apprenticeship and turned 21. • MANU ITI 11. Solo sailor, Celia Reed, sailed her 8 m Giles-designed kauri yacht to Noumea from Opua in the Bay of Islands for a short stopover before carrying on to Queensland. Headwinds and con

trary currents on her approach resulted in an enforced clearance in Mooloolaba. In 1978 Celia, Kiwi physiotherapist, with her younger brother Will, sailed Manu hi to Polynesia. Celia returned to New Zealand for the most part single handed. The only accident suffered on the entire voyage occurred in Rarotonga. Here she fell in love, which incident explains Celia’s change of venue. She is joining Keith Paxton (formerly with Raro Orange) to live in Brisbane. • TRYSTE 11. Canadians Ernest and Val Haigh (PIM Jan p5B) arrived in their 12 m Hedley Nicol trimaran for their third visit to New Zealand since they launched the yacht in ’6B. Their first visit was during a circumnavigation (’69-’74). Their second was part of a Pacific cruise (’77-’7B) after which the Haighs returned to their British Columbia Salt Spring Island home by way of Tuvalu and the Eastern Carolines. (See Cruising World February ’B2 for Val’s account of that trip.) Changes to the tri since their previous voyages are a new dog house which ‘makes all the difference’, and a change of hull colour cream to match the new rowing skiff. Susie, number four of the Haighs’ five daughters, joined the tri in Auckland. Tryste II heads' for Tasmania next. There Ernie and Val plan to rendezvous with old friends on yacht Nanook in whose company they long ago rounded the Cape of Good Hope. • BEYOND. Los Angeles TWA Pilot, John Traylor, designed and built with the help of his air hostess wife Ingrid his 13 m foam-core twin-keel sloop. Beyond , behind their Manhattan Beach house. The design was inspired to some extent by the well-known yacht Bluebird of Thorne. On a two-year leave of absence, Traylor is making a cruise of the Pacific Islands. German-born Ingrid joins Beyond to cruise whenever she can arrange leave from TWA. John conceived Beyond , the second of his ydchls, with meticulous attention to detail. He is currently designing a sailing lifeboat which he plans to have built in New Zealand. And always in the back of his mind (and on bits of paper) are ideas and details for the 18-metre yacht he wants to build next. • MIDPOINT. Midpoint was a San Diego-registered Fuji 32 belonging to Jim and Hatsoku Koike. ‘Maybe the name wasn’t right,’ Hatsuko says. For while heading for Suva, Midpoint was lost on Yangasa Reef in Fiji’s Lau Group just nine months after leaving California. When Midpoint hit the reef at 3.30 am, visibility was bad, the sea calm. A Mayday message transmitted on ham radio was picked up by an Australian amateur radio operator

and relayed to Suva. A Fiji government vessel rescued Jim and Hatsuko within 12 hours of their grounding and took them to Suva.

Jim returned with a salvage firm’s helicopter which landed on a nearby sandy islet. Salvage divers reached Midpoint in an inflatable rubber boat. By this time, four days after the impact, too much damage had been sustained to make salvage of the uninsured yacht feasible. Jim and Hatsuko, who arrived in Whangarei on Pete Bollman’s Yankee 38 Toad Hall , plan on tramping in New Zealand and then back-packing in Southeast Asia.

We’re not ready to go home yet! • TRITON. Another San Diego yacht whose voyage is ended is the Rawson 30 Triton which will be shipped back to California from Northland, New Zealand by owner Bill Taylor. • WABRIMOPE. Next to Triton , also on the hard at Oram’s Marina is Wabrimope , a Scheldechouw, a hard-chine Dutch fishing-type vessel. Walter Lorberg of DUsseldorf has been sailing his 9 m shallow-draft steel yacht for the past 20 years, mainly in the Baltic and the North Sea. For three years now, Walter and Erika Kampasen have been cruising further afield, occasionally joined by one of Walter’s daughters. Because of her

shallow draft not much more than a metre the Scheldechouw is ideal to sail in such areas as the

Bahamas and Chesapeake Bay,

Erika says. While Wabrimope is safely ‘parked’ on land, Walter and Erika toured New Zealand by train, bus and camper van, and also flew

Brent Weyer, a distant figure behind the gear on board the prototype CT 37 cutter Odds Bodkins. - Paul Rysavy picture.

Graham Johnson, construction foreman for Wanderer V. - Jane DeRidder picture.

TWA pilot John Traylor of Los Angeles USA designed and built the 13 m foam-core twin keel sloop Beyond seen here being lifted from the water. One of the twin keels is shown clear

of the water. - John Traylor

picture.

back to Germany for a short visit.

Next Wabrimope will head for Australia, Africa and perhaps South America. • JONA. Eric Light, a tiny crew member for US yacht Jona (from Urica, New York) was safely de livered by Caesarean section in Whangarei Hospital on October 6, 1981. First mate and first-time mother, Nancy Light, who flew to New Zealand to have the baby, kept in touch by ham radio with her husband John during his stormy 18-day passage from Suva. On the 9.7-m Bristol sloop Jona , John and his crew member McKelden Smith, a doctor on a sailing ‘holiday’, battled against 25 to 45-knot southerlies and sou’westerlies to arrive in Whangarei on November 1. The 5-tonne sloop sustained no damage, unlike many of the larger vessels which made the voyage to New Zealand at the same time.

Jona bore storm sail only for a good part of the windward trip a 4-square-metre jib and tiny storm trisail. • KIM. Flying the yellow quaran tine and the Dutch red, white and blue flags, the 13 m steel ketch Kim tacked up the Whangarei River to the Whangarei town quay to clear customs a day later than Jona.

She’d had a rough 16-day passage from Suva. Kim was badly battered: the dinghy was torn off the deck and lost, sails were blown out, and the engine saltwater-damaged. While Fred Van der Hem practises medi cine for several months back in Holland, and while Merel aged six and Joris aged four attend school in Whangarei, first mate Olga (also a general practitioner) is seeing to the repairs, sandblasting, painting and refitting of their steel cruising home. • ALCESTE. Also in the Whangarei Town Basin for a short time was British yacht Alceste , a

Maldon-registered 10-m sloop. The

Buchanan 33 brought Dr Ronnie Andrews, Jill Bannerman and her 15-year-old son Matthew to New Zealand for a tour of the country.

They continued on to Sydney in December. Australian-born Jill said they have not been at all disap pointed with the Pacific where they have found each island surprisingly different from its predecessor. ‘Mind you, sometimes I just want to get home and sit down with a dog on my knee.’ (Jill had five dogs at one time . . .) ‘Other days I feel I could go on forever.’ The Bannermans kept a daily log of seabirds sighted.

The hobby of blue-water birding added tremendous additional inter est to their voyaging. Dr Andrews sailed around the world in his former yacht, Merlin between 1969 and 1972. His cruising articles appear in the British yachting magazine Yachting Monthly. • CERA, Cera is the beautifully built cruising home of Sydney physician Mike Henderson and his sailmaker wife Norma. After a voyage to Noumea and back per suaded them that the cruising life suited them, this enterprising couple completed plans, cut ties, and set forth on an open-ended cruise of the Pacific, beginning with New Zealand. • CALIFA. Rolf Gunter chose to sail his Westsail 32 from Whangarei to Tauranga for haulout. This German-born tool-maker who did his apprenticeship in the Dominican Republic, decided when he was on a camper van ‘land yachting’ tour of South America that he would like to join the cruising fraternity and travel by sea instead. During this Pacific voyage on Califa Rolf has discovered that he prefers solo voyaging to carrying a crew. After completing a two-year Pacific cruise, Rolf says he will probably return to Los Angeles to work in his trade as builder of prototype ma chinery, but with the eventual aim of returning to sailing as a way of life.

Alceste, the British-registered Buchanan sloop which has been cruising the Pacific with stops in Australia and New Zealand. - Jill Bannerman picture.