Crew want their money back

Press, 1 September 1986, Page 8

Crew want their money back

PA Wellington Sixteen crew from a New Zealand yacht now in Melbourne are threatening to take out an injunction against the yacht’s owner to recover voyage fees after what they claim was a disastrous trip, a Sunday newspaper reports. The crew, 12 men and four women, mostly in their 20s, want the $l2OO they say each paid the owner/skipper, Mr Mel Bolton, of Auckland, for the Auckland-Melbourne-Perth trip on the 22.5 metre Classique. They walked off the Classique at Queenscliffe, near Melbourne, oh Wednesday after a 10-day voyage from Auckland.

The crew saw a Melbourne solicitor who drafted a letter to Mr Bolton. The letter demanded the money back or an injunction might be sought to prevent the Classique leaving Queenscliffe, the newspaper re-

ported. The crew claim that Mr Bolton got lost in the Tasman sea, that the yacht was over-crowded, the water undrinkable and vital equipment broke down.

Gary Adshead was one of the crew now stranded in Melbourne with little money, but intend continuing their overland journey to Perth. They left Auckland’s Royal Akarana Yacht Club on August 18 for the 10-day voyage and said from Melbourne that refrigerators, freezers, alternators and navigational equipment had broken down during the crossing. Vegetables stored aboard sloshed in several feet of salt water, and drinking water in one of the tanks was described as “putrid, yellow and undrinkable.”

A crewman, Mr Gary Sinclair, said they walked off because they felt it was unsafe -to go on.

Mr Sinclair said they had no faith in Mr Bolton’s navigation and that the Classique had been off course for much of the trip.

He said the yacht arrived at Gabo Island when Mr Bolton thought he was near Tasmania and that he put into Westernport Bay instead of Port Phillip Bay. Mr Bolton said from Queenscliffe that the yacht’s satellite navigation system had broken down and he corrected his course.

“I think I did a pretty good job,” he said. “We arrived spot on.”

Mr Bolton said most of the problems were caused by misunderstandings and were normal aboard ship.

He said he held an advanced seamanship and celestial navigation certificate, and had been accepted by the Royal Institute of Navigation.

Mr Bolton said he had placed newspaper ad-

vertisements to seek a new crew to continue the voyage to Perth for $5OO each.

A former commodore of the Akarana Yacht Club, Mr Bruce Tantrum, said there was no question about Mr Bolton’s seamanship. He had taught many people to sail and had a certificate of competency, the newspaper reported. A barmaid at the Esplanade Hotel in Melbourne, Ms Loretta Ryan, who befriended the crew, said they hired a mini-bus and left for an undisclosed destination in Melbourne on Wednesday. Ms Ryan confirmed that the crew was dissatisfied and saw a solicitor during the brief stay in Queenscliffe.

The manager of a Melbourne youth hostel said 10 of the crew stayed there before returning to Queenscliffe to see Mr Bolton, and then travel to Perth overland.