Valuable Boats Driven Ashore In Akaroa Gale

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29800, 17 April 1962, Page 14

Valuable Boats Driven Ashore In Akaroa Gale

Two fishing boats, a large cruising yacht and at least eight smaller pleasure craft were driven ashore on Sunday night and yesterday in Akaroa’s worst gale for years. A gale from the south developed full intensity by midnight on Sunday, with gusts reaching an estimated 70 miles an hour. High tide about 1 a.m. coupled with the high seas and tearing wind played havoc in the boat moorings.

Mr W. Moore’s trawler, Taiwhaki. broke adrift and went on to the rock wall protecting Akaroa’s reclamation area. It was not certain yesterday to what extent she was damaged but the waves were grinding her hard on the rocks.

The line-fishing boat Miranda, owned by Mr L. Todd, went high on the rocks at the top end of the bay where she lay stripped of tophamper and deck, battered by the sea. Nearby on a reef was the cruising yacht of Mr A. F. Reay, of Christchurch, on her side and heavily pounded as waves broke almost right over her. These three craft were conservatively valued at £15,000. A keeler yacht owned by Mr E. J. Airs, of Christchurch, went on the rocks a quarter of a mile from her moorings, and a launch owned by Mr J. Hart, of Christchurch, had stranded at the top of the bay. Akaroa’s foreshore was littered with the remains of outboard and inboard runabouts and so far as could be determined from the wreckage at least five of these were lost. Probably a dozen dinghies were destroyed. Mr E. Narbey, who runs a hire boat service and has a commercial fishing licence, lost five of his nine boats.

The slipway at the Akaroa Boating Club’s shed disap-

peered, taking with it four centre-board yachts. The floor of the building lifted with the force of the waves Yachts stored inside the shed were removed to safety. Large sections of the heavystone sea-wall fronting Beach road, in the vicinity of the boat sheds, were undermined and collapsed. At high tide at 1.30 p.m. yesterday. huge seas were breaking over the sea wall around the waterfront. Power failures were widespread over the Banks Peninsula Electric Power Board’s district and parts of Akaroa were still without power yesterday afternoon. No bread could be baked for normal delivery. Many cases were reported of houses being partly unroofed and of collapsed sheds and fences. One farmer had to use a chain saw to clear a fallen tree from the front of his garage. Three of six launches moored at French Farm were driven north up the harbour One was found yesterday half a mile away on the rocky beach between Frencli Farm and Barrys Bay. A Leeston-owned motor yacht was found quarter of a mile further north and a launch, dragging its anchor, was offshore near Barrys Bay, a mile from its moorings.

The high sea washed over the breakwater at Duvauchelle and into gardens.