Stricken yacht safe

Press, 4 January 1978, Page 6

Stricken yacht safe

PA Wellington A paralysed man guided his stricken yacht and its four crew to safety in Wellington Harbour after it was almost overcome by mountainous seas at the New Year holiday week-end. Dr Richard Graham, of Porirua, a victim of polio paralysis from the waist down, was sailing the 38ft Ondine to the Chatham Islands from Wellington on New Year’s Eve when it encountered 25ft to 30ft seas. Dr Graham was strapped to a steel chair at the wheel when the yacht plunged off the top of a huge wave about 10 p.m. A crew member, Mr

T. Vanderquist, of Hataitai, said the impact split the hull next to the bunk where he was lying. But Dr Graham kept calm and turned the yacht stern on to the south-east gale while the crew patched the hole with towels and paper and bailed water as the Ondine ran before the storm. Mr P. Bush, of Island Bay, dozed with a pair of steel wire-cutters in his hand to free the inflatable lifeboat in case the yacht began to sink.

“As each wave crashed into us, we waited in terror for the next one to sink us,” he said. “It was like being in a 44-gallon drum with someone beating on the outside.”

Dr Graham, who normally

wears calipers on his legs, took them off in case the yacht sank. The weight of the calipers would have sent him straight to the bottom. He remained strapped in a seat at the wheel as he kent the yacht before the storm during the 30-hour ordeal. Early on the morning of New Year’s Day the yacht almost capsized as a gigantic wave forced it broadside on. Mr Vanderquist said the mast remained touching the water for about 12 seconds.

“We just lay there wondering if she would right herself,” he said. Later that day they reached the Wairarapa coast and crabbed towards the safety of Wellington Harbour.