YACHTSWOMAN HOME

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33588, 17 July 1974, Page 3

YACHTSWOMAN HOME

Clad In a bright orange jump-suit, Annette Wilde poked her head from the cockpit of her 34ft sloop on Lyttelton Harbour yesterday afternoon after shutting off the engine throttle, and grinned as she took a bottle of wine passed to her from one of the welcoming yachts. “How am 1 going to get

this past customs,” she yelled above the racket of the idling engine. “You know I’m a bit of a wowser; I’ll never be able to drink it.”

Nineteen days out from Brisbane after a singlehanded voyage across the Tasman in her sloop Valya, Miss Wilde, aged 28, looked as though she had

just popped around the corner from Port Levy after a day’s sail. She disappeared briefly to stow the wine below and then got the yacht under way again. One is supposed to sai into harbour after a Tas man crossing, but with ; breath of a south-easter!) head wind nudging away a dead calm, an intense de sire to get under a hot fresh-water shower, and a longing to see a few long farewelled relatives, whi can blame a sailor for usin; an engine? Annette Wilde is a sailor. She was sixth across the line in the trans-Tasman single-handed yacht race after a battle against a south-east gale to get to the start line in New Plymouth. When she finished the race she declined the offer of a hand from her boyfriend, and decided to sail the Valya back to Lyttelton herself. She said, sitting in the roomy main cabin of the ferro-cement Valya which she built with her boyfriend, that the weather for the crossing had been kind. Although there had been “sticky” spots, there had been no capsizes, and no sails were blown out. The best day’s run of the voyage was 120 miles. The worst was off the coast near Mount Egmont, where the yacht was tossed around for a day.

Her fitness and alertness were due in large measure to the Valya’s self-steering gear, designed by Bill Belcher, of Auckland. It did not break down once during the three-week voyage — a remarkable record for home-made equipment. A number of yachtsmen will closely examine it. Three local yachts and two launches were on the harbour to welcome Miss Wilde back to Lyttelton, and about 100 people were on the wharf at the Banks Peninsula Cruising Club when she expertly settled the Valya against the wharf.

Customs officials quickly cleared the yacht, and after the port agricultural officer had confiscated a few Australian potatoes and made her promise to eat her Australian eggs on board, she was able to greet her par-

ents, Mr and Mrs E. L. Wilde, of New Brighton, her sister, and her neices and nephews. There were also familiar /oices, but strange faces to ;reet; two of the 100 radio hams in New Zealand who at one time or another had been in contact with Miss Wilde since she left Lyttelton in April for the start of the trans-Tasman race. Mr C. Liddell and Mr E. Kingston looked with interest at the tiny five-watt transmitter in the Valya which had kept them in touch almost every day.

“I want to have a bit of a rest from sailing for a while, and do a bit of work on the Valya. Then I will probably be away with my boyfriend. 1 tfaw some beautiful cruising grounds in Queensland, and there is the rest of the world to see,” Miss Wilde said during a moment by herself. Today, she plans to take the Vtlya to Redcliffs across the Sumner bar for slipping. She wanted to make her home the first port of call, but customs regulations prevented that.

City certificate.—The Papakura Borough Council is waiting for a certificate from the Government Statistician before applying for its declaration as a city. The Department of Statistics has told the borough that localbody population estimates have not yet been completed, but a certificate should fte sent soon.—(P.A.).