yachts

Lan Menzies Re

ports from Darwin:

TUCANA. Owned by Canadian Fred Lanauze and accompa nied by UK first mate, Ruth Lambe, Tucana arrived in Dar win on the first leg of her circumnavigation.

Originally built by John Gil bert in Brisbane, Tucana was bought in Sydney by Fred who completely re-modelled the yacht before their departure.

A Joe Adams design, she is built of heavy 4.omm steel and has a long, full keel.

No newcomer to the cruising lifestyle, Fred Lanauze pre viously cruised the Pacific for five years in his ferro-cement yacht Mandolin Wind which he sold in Port Moresby in 1979.

Danielle Pater

SON reports from

Port Moresby:

Heart Of Gold. The Vaga

bond 47 Heart of Gold arrived in Port Moresby after an un eventful trip from Townsville.

The classical designed hull was built of fibreglass to a simulated timber finish com plete with clipper bow and great cabin aft.

Designed by William Garden, Heart of Gold is rigged as a ketch and will no doubt be a familiar sight around Port Moresby harbour over the next 12 months.

Skipper-owner Bob Gamer bought the boat in Sydney and sailed her to PNG to see out the end of his current contract before setting out for Mauritius next year.

Bob, who may be remem bered for his articles on the sinking and subsequent copy book crew rescue from the sloop Altair together with the breaking-up at sea of the cata maran Magnum, intends to en ter the 1988 Coral Sea Classic, Townsville-Cairns-Port Mores by-Samarai-Townsville race be fore his departure.

Under her original name of

Sable d’Or, Heart of Gold competed in two Rabaul- Kavieng races during her de livery trip from Taiwan to Syd ney in 1981.

She is powered by an 85hp Lehman-Ford diesel and cruises at an average 5 knots.

Extravagantly fitted out Heart of gold boasts a eutetic re frigerator, Satnav, radar and a complete communications sta tion of CB, SSB and VHF transceivers.

On her maiden voyage (under Bob’s command) out of Australia, Bob was assisted by a crew of Rex Kersley (of Altair fame,) Glen Cartwright, Pia Berg, Mark Fortuneato, Jerome Vanderkreek (also ex Altair and Magnum), Craig de Wit and Lisbet Vierstom.

Although named Sable d’Or (Golden Sands) by her pre vious owner when constructed in Taiwan in 1980 by Blue Water Yachts, Bob decided to change the name to Heart of Gold as he felt this had some significance to his last two ill fated voyages on Altair and Magnum.

The name is derived from the radio and TV series “Hitch

hikers Guide to the Galaxy.”

Bob has been known to write interesting features about the losses of those two boats for Cruising Helmsman and was considering more stories of boat building or sinking as the case may be but had second thoughts over the total cost of the articles.

Now in possession of his own beautiful craft, we trust that Bob’s third and final cruise from Port Moresby next year will be happier than his last two.

MARY-LIN. The Australian-built steel, multi-chine ketch Mary- Lin arrived in Port Moresby with owner-skipper Des Wiar, his wife Marylin, baby Nicole and crew Barry and Rhonda Whitfield.

The orange hulled, John Pugh designed vessel is 11.2 metres over all, has a beam of 3.66 metres and a draft of 1.7 metres.

Mary-Lin maintains contact with the rest of the world by means of a Codan SSB HF transceiver. Her galley is equipped with a gas stove and a Des Wiar-built refrigerator run ning on Rl2,

Tucana rides at anchor. Photo: Ian Menzies.

The Wiars’ last port of call was Thursday Island for a two week stay and Maiy-Lin was due to depart for Honiara via Samarai, Lae, and Kieta.

She averages 5 knots while cruising and calls on a 30hp Yanmar diesel to assist when the wind is not to her liking.

LIBERTAD. Like many steel cruising boats out of Fremantle, the ketch Libertad which ar rived from Thursday Island, is a Herman Boro design.

Rigged as a ketch, the white multi-chined yacht is fitted with bilge keels and sports a laid deck.

She is powered by a 58hp Ford diesel which has given her skipper a few recent prob lems and measures 14 metres over all with a beam of 3.96 m and a draft of 1.2 m.

Owners Kay and Alex

Whiteside have chosen a VHF transceiver together with a Ken wood HF receiver.

Libertad is fitted with a full size galley comprising an Indesit 12 volt refrigerator and a gas stove with oven.

Kay and Alex were waiting in Moresby for parts for the troublesome engine before cruising on to Guam and Hon olulu and north to Japan.

Although Libertad has a potential hull speed of 9 knots, she cruises at an average 5 knots.

Long distance sailor Serge Tes ta has very little In the way of home comforts on his tiny craft that has taken him around the world.