LYTTELTON YACHT AGROUND

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26517, 4 September 1951, Page 6

LYTTELTON YACHT AGROUND

Mishap At Cape Campbell

VESSEL REFLOATED UNDAMAGED

When the Lyttelton-owned yaeht Ocean Maid reaches it* home port, probably this evening, it will have completed a voyage it began from'Wellington in January. The Ocean Maid took part in the centennial yacht race, but was forced to return to Wellington. A second attempt to reach Lyttelton failed, and on Saturday, when a third attempt was being made, the 30foot yacht ran aground at Cape Campbell.

The vessel went aground on a flat papa shell Inside the reef at Cape Campbell at 7 p.m. on Saturday, when the skipper, Mr J. K. Gibson, of Christchurch, was coming in to get a weather report. The senior lighthousekeeper at Cape Campbell (Mr H. McBean) said in a telephone interview last evening that the crew had heard that a wind change was expected and had come to ask for information. Com ing in through the reef in the dark, they had evidently lost their bearings and hit the papa shelf.. Mr Gibson and his crew (Messrs D. Skinner, K. Turner, and J. Griffin, all of Wellington) spent Saturday evening and Sunday with the lighthouse staff, and on Sunday evening made an unsuccessful attempt to refloat the yacht. On Saturtlay night and Sunday, each tide pushed the vessel further up on the ledge. Mr Mcßean said that it was most fortunate that the wind stayed from the south, as the vessel might well have been lost had the wind veered to north-west. The yacht was aground partly on its keel, and partly on its side and yesterday afternoon, although therte. was a particularly high tide, the crew took half an hour to get the boat afloat. Two men climbed the mast and another sat on the boom to increase the heel of the yacht and get the keel off the bottom. The pans shelf is under water at high tide. When the vessel set off, the sea was moderate and there was little wind The Ocean Maid showed no trace of damage, according to Mr Mcßean. During the centennial yacht race, the Ocean Maid was at anchor off Kaikoura in bad weather when she was •truck by a heavy cross sea. Her was badly damaged and a post broken. The crew had to bail vigorously. as the yacht had shipped far more water than was safe. The second attempt o sail the Ocean Maid to Lyttelton failed when the vessel was onlv about five miles off Godley Head ’