Fierce storms hit yachtsmen

Press, 31 May 1977, Page 7

Fierce storms hit yachtsmen

PA Auckland Raging storms north of North Cape have continued to batter Suva yacht, race contestants returning to New Zealand. The owner-skipper of the Wanganui yacht Quicksilver (Mr L. O’Shea) has told of being capsized in mountainous seas, and temporarily losing a crew member overboard, about 300 miles north of North Cape on May 19.

The crew of the 36ft Auckland yacht Countdown arrived home on Sunday evening to tell of a harrowing two days battling a storm in the same area. Countdown was one of about six yachts in the storm, and according to her owner-skipper, Mr John

Richardson, she came through better than most. “We kept in radio contact with the others, and from what we heard some of them took a hell of a battering,” he said. Two of the] yachts — Blue Panther and Paramour — had been completely knocked over with their masts under water, and one of Paramour’S windows was smashed. Winds up to 65 knots and 35ft waves hammered the yachts for almost two whole days, on May 25 and 26, Mr Richardson said. The Countdown’s cockpit was flooded four times, but she suffered only minor damage. “It was a hell of a rough time,” Mr Richardson said, “easily the worst I have been in, but I enjoyed it.”