VOYAGE BY CATAMARAN

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31339, 8 April 1967, Page 4

VOYAGE BY CATAMARAN

Daughters of the Wind. By David Lewis. A. H. and A. W. Reed. 320 pp. Index. Illustrated.

Dr. Lewis was born and educated in New Zealand. This is his third boric about his senfaring adventures. The idea was conceived aboard the Cardinal Vertue after the first stotfebanded transAtlantic race in 1960, described in Dr. Lewis’s book “Ths Ship Would Not Travel Due West” How the catamaran Rehu Moona (Maori for Ocean Spray) was built and put to trial off Iceland is trid in "Dreams of the Day.” In 1964 Dr. Lewis, in the Rehu Moans, took part in the transAtlantic stngtoinmded race white Hs wife and two small daughters travelled by steamer to join him in Newport, U.SjA, where this story really begins.

For those readers not familiar with a catamaran a diagram of the Rehu Moons appears on page 56 of tiie book; unfortunately there are no dimensions given but ft is ■smutted that ail accommodation was very limited.

From the beginning of the voyage sympathy and admiration must go to Dr. Lewis’s wife Fiona, who was not only dreadfully seaside but also bad to cope with the two girls, Vicky and Susie, both under time years of age, who were atoo seaside. Nappies that would not dry, wet dothes and tridcUng deck leaks in the cabin—ail this—and then the

galley, which Dr. Lewis says was the worst of any chore. There were drips and constant damp, not to mention an overpowering stench from the bilge water, ail of which was present in the galley for many mouths.

The book is mainly a record of experiences. The nautical terms and description of catamaran craftsmanship are lucid but if not understood there is a 24 page appendix at the end where most mysteries and definitions of nautical terms can be solved. There are

several maps, fer the most port these are difficult to f rilow owing to the very small print which often gets loot amongst the rash of dote used to depict land areas.

"Away we went sliding down the face of the waves . . . Would the sails and the rigging hold? . . Jagged rocks were jutting out of a writer of foam to port. . . Through situations like this the family heaved, wallowed and bucked their way to the Cape Verde Islands, Salvador, Rto de Janeiro, Punta Arenas, round the tip of South America up to Valparaiso. Here, having previously realtoed that an extra adult hand was necessary, they were joined by Prisdlla Crirtis to whom they had previously written. If two youngsters were confined to a very small room which rocked about all the time and for fresh air and exercise were taken to an equally small area and tether-

ed to a pole, people would say It was cruel But, in fact, this was the life the children, according to Dr. Lewis, thoroughly enjoyed. In his introduction to tiie book Dr. Lewis states that so as the reader can picture the lives of the children he has adopted the nauseating parental practice of keeping notes of their current sayings. Maybe, but a preponderance of; —“Clever cow to lay tins”; “Look fishy got wings,” "Bomp Wicky bottom,” “Bizz, Wick want bizz,” etc. etc., makes trying reading.

One purpose of the voyage takes place from Rarotonga to Auckland when Dr, Lewis experiments, successfully, in navigating Polynesian style while Priscilla takes charge of all navigational instruments and keeps the readings and records in the more conventional manner.

To repeat, sympathy and admiration goes to Fiona who not only became very ill at one stage but eternally coped with in unending assortment of chores; a record of her thoughts, fears and expletives Would have strengthened the story.

In a London shop specialising in Scottish clothing an American asked an assistant to show him “the tartan that goes with my name,” His name woe Maczynsld.