Solo the sea cat

Press, 7 April 1978, Page 1

Solo the sea cat

PA New Plymouth An Auckland yachtsman, . John McCartney, will be the only entry in the solo Tasman yacht race from New Plymouth to have company during the crossing. His sailing companion will be a three-month-old kitten that he has named Solo. “It was my girlfriend’s idea. She decided I should take the kitten along,” he said yesterday. Solo’s job for the crossing from Port Taranaki to Mooloolaba, Queensland, will be to help relieve the boredom of solo sailing. The race begins from New Plymouth tomorrow. She is already a season- : ed sailer, having been

born on a yacht in Auckland. McCartney said she had had no trouble getting used to living on a yacht, and his entry, a large cut-ter-rigged catamaran Yentraccam makes an ideal playground. “There is plenty of room for her to move about and ample rope and gadgets to keep her amused,” he said. Solo has suffered two dunkings in the water in her short yachting career. Once was on the trip from Auckland to Port Taranaki, when she was retrieved quickly. She was not hurt, but McCartney said she was wary about running about too fast for a while.

But talk of falling in was too much for Solo and just as the photographer was focusing to get a picture of her playing on the deck, she misjudged a jump and had her second swim. McCartney and his girlfriend, Carol Clayton, soon fished her out. For the trip across the Tasman, Solo will have a specially made harness to wear, and so rescuing her will not be difficult. “She seems to be more cautious at sea anyway, but if she does go over without the harness on there will not be much 1 can do to get her back,” McCartney said.