Shipwrecked crew ‘tacky'

Press, 12 April 1982, Page 4

Shipwrecked crew ‘tacky '

PA Gisborne Five people are safe after their. yacht, with broken steering gear, was driven ashore on Mahia Peninsula. One crewman, John Manuel, aged 40, of Napier, was feared dead on Saturday morning, but was discovered to be alive about 7.30 a.m. A search was in its early stages for Mr Manuel when he was found. The five are considered extremely lucky to have survived their ordeal. The 17-metre Pelagic Princess was en route from

Napier to Gisborne when it ran into the foul weather and the police were told about 8 p.m. that it had lost its steering gear and its anchors would not hold. The skipper, Russell Elliott, his wife, Josie, and Gail and Ivan Goodin, were aboard the boat with Mr Manuel when it struck the shore on the Gisborne side of Table Cape. The boat was severely damaged and they managed to scramble ashore and reach a house to raise the alarm.

They had lost Mr Manuel in the night and he was feared to have been washed away. • Conditions at sea and around the peninsula were described as shocking. Seas were rough and whipped up by 18-knot winds as the yacht, which was built only recently, turned back to Napier. Then a series of disasters sealed her fate. The wind blew the sails out. The motor seized and the steering broke.

The craft then lost two anchors and without steering, there was nothing the crew could do except ride it out, said Mr Manuel. . The crew managed a brief Mayday distress radio signal but’it was cut short by water flooding the batteries. The call was picked up by local coastguard member’s but Mr Elliott was unsure of his position. Rescue efforts were initially centred on the Mahia Peninsula. The craft was in fact more than 30km further north.