Weary yachtsmen safe in port

Press, 21 February 1980, Page 3

Weary yachtsmen safe in port

PA Auckland Two weary Auckland yachtsmen, feared missing in last week’s storms, celebrated their safe arrival in port yesterday morning with a breakfast of mince on toast. It was the first hot meal for the skipper, Ted Howe, and Clive North in days as they rode at anchor in Mangonui Harbour. Their yacht Cassandra had been battered by savage seas off . North Cape during the Round the North Island yacht race. The men had to battle with a leak when a wave crashed into their craft and broke a plank in the hull. They were missing ~fqr six days before, .their faint radio messages were picked up.

1 They hove-to as hurricaneforce winds whipped up I mountainous waves. i “We just sat where we ■ were and threw out the i storm wraps. We could not i do anything else,” Mr Howe i said. He said he had been in 1 seas that were slightly , rougher, but never for so ; long. i Each day they hoped the storm would blow itself out, I but it continued to howl, i making normal life on board ; almost impossible. They tried to sleep in shifts, but found they could : not rest except for a fiveminute doze. They slipped quietly into harbour at Mangonui at 4 a.m. yesterday, and after three, hours sleep were awakened by fellow yachts-

men from the race who were still in port. They then spoke to reporters about their experiences in some of the roughest seas seen in those waters. Mr Howe, an Auckland builder, said the broken plank was caused by a huge wave. “The waves were so big we just fell off the top with a mighty crash,” he said. The two men had to pump almost continuously to keep their wooden craft afloat. Throughout the six days they radioed at the scheduled time, but until Sunday night their messages were not picked, up. Their calls were too faint

. They could hear the messages being broadcast and knew, people .were becoming concerned about them.