Rescue Craft Play Vital Role In Yachting

Press, Volume C, Issue 29638, 7 October 1961, Page 9

Rescue Craft Play Vital Role In Yachting

Unsung eraft among boats registered with yacht elabs in Canterbury are the pickup boats—sturdy little launches which are invariably out on the water standing by during racing ready to assist yachtsmen in dHleiiWiea and ss—stintes tew home or salvage boats which have become too damaged or waterlogged to sail back themselves. The safety of racing depends largely on the men who work the rescue craft and they include Messrs A. Olson and L Ayling (Canterbury club. Lvttelton). A. White and J. Kaye (Charters Bay), W. EL Beanland

0 (Christchurch club, Moncks Bay); N. F. Pipe, R. Poole • and M. Hayes (Waimakas riri club, Kairakl) aad C. - Buxton (Mount Pleasant), r The launch Peikatini which r Mr Buxton uses is equipped i with two-way radio for i work on the Estuary. Mr i Buxton himself has been > on the job helping yachts- » men for the last 21 years, i a The Chatteris Bay launch > TO Wharan (with Mr White I at the helm) is seen in an . unusual roie—towing com- . petitors out in light conditions to enable them to * start a race on time. The 1 yachts nearest the camera

are D. Bryson's Finn Pandora (left) and D. Barrell's catamaran Kitty Hawk. The streamlined launch is Mr N. F. Pipe's Static, originally designed for a jet propulsion unit but now powered with a petrol engine. Its 14ft hull is built to American semi-cata-maran specifications and it is a powerful, stable craft. Last Bunday it salvaged at Kairaki a Frostply yacht which could not be righted after Its hollow metal mast had filled with water. Static and its owner have been operating at Kairaki for the last five years.