yachts

Kay Bason

reports from Port

Moresby, Papua

New Guinea:

Fleet 405 again hosted the South Pacific Hobie championships here.

They turned out to be one of the best regattas, with good constant winds. The series was conducted in a very professional manner, much thanks to Andy Thompson (Thom mo), who hopes that Heet 405 will be hosting the world champion ships in 1986. The sailing and social programs were well run, and the famous “Rok Rok” Races were a huge success.

Final Results: Ist lan & Jill Bashford sailing TNT (PNG); 2nd Rick Tate & “DY” Woods “Humes Pipes”; 3rd Phil Keller-Knights “Minolta Copiers”.

The 1983 champion, Bruce Tar drew, won the long distance race, covering almost 100 km on ICL.

Two of the favorites went around north patch instead of south patch mark. Two boats that deserve men tion are S. P. Brewery (White), most persistent in all races, and “Minolta”, who tried hard they may have been late coming home but they made it!

Handicap honors went to: (1) Trevor Kerr & Liz Francis “ETS,” (2) Bruce Lock & Tony Gardner “RLC”, (3) Bruce Tardrew & Greg Mullins “ICL”.

Terry Shaw summed the event up “Too much wind If only and But! ” All in all it was a fair series, no protests and only a few odd colli sions, “On Line” and “Mitsubishi” made love downwind and couldn’t get apart for a few minutes, one race was cancelled due to strong winds, and competitors had to “support the bar, ” but there was no protest made on this matter. Con gratulations to the Bashfords on their success. • GAFIA 11. Bill and Janet Perdon who hail from Melbourne have owned this 11m ketch for the past nine years. They have cruised through New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. Bill became very sick at Sidea (near Samarai) and under went various medical tests here in Port Moresby. His temperature was so high that they booked into a local hotel in the hope that the air conditioning would help cool him down. Janet and Bill departed but after one and a half days out Bill’s condition deteriorated and Janet

Above: Humes, second place-getter In the 1984 South Pacific Hobie championships held in Port Moresby. Below: On Line had a costly “love affair” with Mitsubishi downwind.

had to sail back to Port Moresby.

Bill has flown back to Melbourne and is undergoing tests to deter mine his ailment. Meantime Janet is boatkeeping. She said at least on the boat there’s always some job to do. She’s most of the time down in the bilges painting while she awaits Bill’s return. She’s most grateful to the immigration people who have been more than helpful, and also the doctors who have assisted the couple in their worrying time.

*Tohi Tala Niue 9 re

ports from Alofi ,

Niue:

Someone walked into our office this week wanting to know the where abouts of the Niue Island Blue Water Yacht Club. It just goes to show how extensively the BWYC tag has gone around the yachting circles.

An extremely sleek-lined Sha nachie arrived late Monday afternoon manned by skipper and owner Joe McKeown accompanied by his wife Nancy and crew mem bers Mike and Joceyln from Jack son. Wyoming.

According to Joe, the yacht is New Zealand-designed. He built it in his hometown of Santa Cruz, California, and they are enjoying a two-year holiday.

Some people do have all the luck in the world.

They have just spent some time

in French Polynesia and after a couple of days of sunshine in Niue they will be heading for Tonga and the Fiji Islands.

Bruce Tardrew won the long distance race on ICL in the South Pacific Hobie championships in Port Moresby.

Home-ported in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA, the auxiliary ketch Anore is pictured as the crew takes on fuel at the much quieter port of Tubuai, Austral Islands, French Polynesia. From here Anore , and skipper owner Theo Vatis and crew, were homeward-bound via Tahiti, the Tuamotus, and Panama. - Don Travers photo.