Yacht rescued as storm sweeps S.I.

Press, 25 October 1982, Page 1

Yacht rescued as storm sweeps S.I.

The crew of the crippled Lyttelton catamaran Freedom Machine were taken aboard a Japanese mother ship in high winds and big seas north of Banks Peninsula on Saturday night.

Freedom Machine was towed back to Lyttelton in the teeth of 45-knot southwesterly winds which scudded up the South Island on Friday night and yesterday, bringing snow, sleet, and driving rain. Another casualty of the storm was a yacht which broke from its mooring and sank in Diamond Harbour yesterday, leaving only the tip of the mast visible above the whitecaps. Labour Day week-end is traditionally hailed in Canterbury as the start of summer proper, but yesterday’s rain and midwinter temperatures had thousands of campers huddled in tents and caravans. Campers were “bearing up well," although some, especially those with small children. were starting to wonder if they might be better off at home, said the caretaker of the big Waikuku Beach camping ground. Mr Bill Kovesy. “It is more like the start of winter than summer,” said Mr Kovesy. Hundreds of Christchurch people who had headed to Akaroa for the long weekend had found themselves with nothing to do but drive about in the rain, or stay indoors and look out over the storm-tossed harbour. The wind gusted to about 55 knots on exposed parts of Banks Peninsula yesterday, forcing traffic to slow to a crawl in places. A liberal coating of snow lay on the Peninsula hills yesterday, and a dusting on the Port Hills. Snow fell in the village at Arthur’s Pass and down to 400 metres at Lake Coleridge. There were widespread snowfalls along the foothills. Farm advisory officers said yesterday that the cold snap would be hard on newborn lambs and newly shorn

sheep, especially if the bad weather continued and more snow fell, but there were no reports of big stock losses. High-country farmers did not check stock daily, and it might be two days before the effects of the weather were known, said the farm advisory officer at Darfield, Mr Les Bennetts. On the Canterbury Plains, where lambing was almost finished, the good effects of the rain on drought-parched crops _ would probably outweigh the bad effects on stock, said Mr Bennets. However, Mr A. L. Mulholland, of Darfield, the Canterbury provincial president of Federated Farmers, said a lot more rain was needed for the sub-soil to build a reserve for possible dry spells of three to four weeks. In addition, the cold snaps of the last two week-ends had retarded crop and grass growth, and he had. heard of stock losses during last week-end. Freshly shorn ewes were susceptible to the bad weather, especially if down in condition. Crops growing near his Darfield home had never looked better, but if they did not keep getting regular showers then warm weather, they would suffer, he said. The Lake Tekapo district reported 25cm of snow lying yesterday and with farmers being in the middle of lambing there was a grave risk of widespread sleepy sickness, resulting from a lack of green feed, if there was not an early thaw. The lambs would also suffer from cold. The president of South

Canterbury Federated Farmers, Mr A. R. Leslie, said that warm rain once a week for the next two months would be needed to end the drought. In Dunedin, circus staff last evening prepared for an all-night vigil as wind gusts 1 up to 55 knots belted into their main tent. Whirling Brothers' circus manager. Mr Tony Ratcliffe, described the weather as the worst he bad known. Rain lashed the Dunedin hill suburbs and the Balmacewen golf course, where next week's Freyberg Rosebowl will be played, was awash in parts. The town of Middlemarch in Otago’s Strath Taieri area was without communications last night after a power failure caused by snowdrifts. Flooding was reported last evening on the main highway between Roxburgh and Raes Junction in Central Otago and the Lindis Pass road was closed on Saturday because of snowy, dangerous conditions. Snow fell on the main highway through the Maniototo Plains around Ranfurly and Omakau on Saturday and motorists were advised to use extreme caution. Snow fell to low levels in Fiordland and closed the highway between Te Anau and Milford all day. The Te Anau — Mossburn highway at Gorge Hill was also affected by snow. The Weather Office said a depression east of Otago caused all the damage. It was almost stationary and sent the cold southerlies, ram and snow over most of Southland, Otago, and Canterbury. The West Coast, which normally gets more than its fair share of South Island rain, escaped most of the cold blasts. Most of the North Island, too, escaped the worst of the weather although there was

snow down to low levels in the centre of the island and winds whipped Wellington. The strongest wind gust recorded at the weather office at Christchurch Airport was 45 knots at 6.35 p.m. on Saturday. Freedom Machine, a well known and successful racing catamaran, was about 30 kilometres off the Lyttelton Heads on a delivery voyage to Auckland when the southerly struck with gusts of up to 60 knots. The mainsheet blew out and she suffered damage to her rigging and boom. Her crew told Lyttelton Harbour radio of their situa-

tion. and later in the evening fired distress flares. They were taken off about 10 p.m. by a Japanese mother ship and the crippled vessel was taken in tow in heavy seas. Mr Harold Mason, of the Canterbury Volunteer Coast Guard, said that the master of the Japanese vessel had anchored for the night just inside Godley Head because he was reluctant to enter the harbour in the conditions. Sea and wind were still bad when the Lyttelton Harbour Board's pilot launch Wairangi went out to tow Freedom Machine in yester-

day morning, and the line parted once. Nearer the inner harbour the tow was taken over by two Coast Guard vessels, the Atarau. skippered by Ron Spinks, and the Ma'rgaret, skippered by Bob Lindsay. The crew of Freedom Machine have flown back to Auckland. Both road links between Canterbury and the West Coast remained open yesterday. but motorists were encouraged by the Automobile Association to use the Lewis Pass, because of the continuing slip problem on the Arthur’s Pass highway.

A speedboat race on Lyttelton Harbour yesterday was called off after five laps, when conditions became too dangerous. One of the eight Coast Guard craft on standby for the race rescued a brokendown speedboat which was almost on rocks. Most of the 21 runners who finished in Saturday’s annual Symon and Lowther 100 km race over the Port Hills were lucky to have reached the finish before the main

force of the storm broke late on Saturday evening. But later, one of the slowest and oldest in the event. John Drew, of the Veterans' Athletic Club, who had already covered about 70km by road, was still on the winding climb from Evans Pass to Mount Pleasant when the main fury of the storm struck about 7.30 p.m. About that time a car had turned back because of the force of the wind gusts and the bad visibility on the Summit Road. Drew said the blasts of hail and sleet bit into his legs

and the wind gusts threatened to blow him off the road. "I was fairly well clad in a parka and a thermal jacket and was feeling quite strong and able to go on for several more hours if necessary. But it was dawning on me that with the temperature falling so fast and the rain and sleet driving through my clothing things were getting grim. "After battling round a few more turns in the road the wind chill became so bad it was obvious no-one could last out there for much longer so we called it off," Drew said.