Yachtswoman now wary

Press, 21 July 1980, Page 4

Yachtswoman now wary

PA Tauranga Being knocked down in heavy seas has made an American yachtswoman, Mrs Freda Noyes, a little wary of ocean cruising. However,. in Tauranga at the week-end she said . the experience had not put her husband, Robert, and her son, Joe, aged 17, off the sea, so it looked as if she was outnumbered. -The Noyes family arrived at Tauranga on Saturday, three days overdue from Napier in their 12m Hartley (South Seas design yacht Tukua. Mrs Noyes was dozing in a quarter berth the previous Saturday when the Tukua was knocked down, with her mast in the water. Mrs Noyes was thrown across the cabin as the boat rolled on to its side, gashing her

chin on a stainless steel shield over the stovepipe. The gash has been treated at Tauranga Hospital. Mr Noyes spent 7| years in Christchurch building the Tukua, which was launched in January. The yacht has a ferro-cement hull and ply decks and cabin. Mr Noyes estimated that the yacht was blown about 155 miles north of East Cape. Once the storm abated it took 21 days to get back to Tauranga. The family were planning to head for Fiji on the first leg of a cruise back to the west coast of the United States where their other two children live. Now they will probably stay at Tauranga about a month while a few modifications are made to tb? yacht in light of the experience gained in the 1 storm.-