Voyage ends at last

Press, 20 December 1985, Page 1

Voyage ends at last

By

CINDY BAXTER

In 1968, John Morrison, aged 24, left Lyttelton in his yacht, intending to be the youngest man to circumnavigate the world singlehanded. Yesterday, 17 years later, he sailed into Lyttelton, convinced he has set a record for the slowest circumnavigation, and it certainly wasn’t single-handed. “Not only did it take me 17 years, but I came back with a family too,” he said. Mr Morrison has seen the

world and has now come back to New Zealand with his South African-born wife. Jackie, and their two sons, Weston, aged seven, and Fletcher, aged five. The crew plan to settle in the Marlborough Sounds, where Mr Morrison bought about 8 hectares some years ago. The yacht the Maristela (“Star of the sea”) which Mr Morrison built at Lyttelton, still has the same mainsail, gib and staysail, but has had a few coats of paint and some improvements.

After leaving, Mr Morrison sailed the Maristela to the Great Barrier Reef, on to Madagascar, then to Durban, where he met Jackie, who joined him on the yacht. The couple sailed to Cornwall, then in the Mediterranean, arid across the Atlantic Ocean. They were based in San Pedro, California for a few years. In 1974, they sailed to Hawaii and Alaska, where they were married. They returned there 10 years later for their wedding anni-

versary with their two sons. Mr Morrison, a carpenter, said yesterday that it was time the family settled in one place. He intends building a house on their land.

The two boys will attend Waikawa Bay School, where they spent three days last week on their way to Lyttelton.

The family arrrived in the Bay of Islands on November 11 and have spent the last month making their way to Lyttelton.