Drum England skipper denies hitting rock

Press, 18 January 1986, Page 8

Drum England skipper denies hitting rock

PA Auckland Drum England did not go on the rocks on Thursday, according to the Whitbread maxi racer’s skipper, Skip Novak. Reports that the round-the-world yacht had hit Hermione Rock, between Waitangi and Russell in the Bay

of Islands, were “absolute rubbish,” he said. “We ran aground on our anchorage. It was low water and we slipped into the mud,” Novak said.

Drum, owned by a British rock musician, Simon le Bon, is in the Bay of Islands as a set for a jeans commercial. As it motored back to its mooring off the Waitangi Hotel about 8.30 p.m. on Thursday evening, its keel struck the muddy bottom and it became wedged. A Russell resident, Mr Bram Cone, who was watching from the shore through a binocular, said the boat went from about eight knots to zero knots in a second.

A ferry skipper who offered a tow was “graciously” declined.

“We didn’t need anyone to help,” said Novak. “Nobody towed us off. We just waited for 40 minutes for the tide to come in and we motored off.

“To get anywhere near the Waitangi Hotel you have to go into shallow water. We ran aground the night before too when the tide went out.”

Le Bon, who arrived in Auckland on Wednesday to sail the two final legs of the Whitbread, was aboard at the time as were five other people working on making the commercial.

Drum will return to Auckland on Monday where it will be hauled out for a standard maintenence check before resuming the round-the-world race on February 15.