Harbour Wind Damage

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31047, 30 April 1966, Page 16

Harbour Wind Damage

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 29. A man got into difficulties rowing a dinghy back to his schooner and a drifting 28ft keeler, being chased by the police launch Deodar, was washed up on the rocks of the Okahu boat harbour while high winds played havoc with small boats in the Waitemata harbour today. The Weather Office reported gusts of up to 52 m.p.h. at the N.A.C. Centre between 9 and 10 a.m., and said blustery conditions were likely to continue. The Deodar was diverted from an intended search for a submerged car off Orakei wharf about 10 a.m. to go to the aid of a man reported to be struggling in the water in Okahu bay.

A naval diver, who was to have marked the car with a buoy, jumped into the water and climbed aboard a dinghy to which the swimmer had returned, and helped him row to shore near the Hobson Bay boat lockers. The man, Mr Colin Quincey, said he was rowing back to the schooner Valborg after dropping a crew member at the Okahu boathouse. “I think I hit the tide on the turn or something, but I couldn’t make any headway,” he said.

“I tied the dinghy to a marker and tried swimming for the schooner, but still couldn't get anywhere, so I got back into the dinghy just as the police launch arrived.” After inspecting moorings in the Okahu boat harbour, the Deodar was called to chase a drifting keeler. The 28ft keeler Valeron, owned by Mr T. Brightwell, went aground on rocks in the

boat harbour. The Deodar towed it off and made for the Devonport Naval Base. It also checked a report of a yacht submerged off Kohimarama beach and found only a mast-head visible. The yacht may be salvaged at low water.