Yachtsmen fight for survival

Press, 9 March 1988, Page 8

Yachtsmen fight for survival

Special correspondent! Tasman yachtsmen, lan Treleaven and Brian Hay- . den, clung to each other in a fight for survival early yesterday as huge waves washed over their yacht Starlight Express off Northland’s east coast. : With no sleep or food since Saturday, their motor disabled and all but one sail blown out,( the pair were finally towed into the sanctuary of Mahgonui Harbour at 1 p.m. yesterday. "As one wave hit us I had hold of the wheel, lan had hold of me in a headlock and there | was no way either of us was letting go,” Hayden said. Treleaven, formerly of Christchurch, described the scene as the two( men battled for their life- in a cockpit full of water. ! "I thought we (were going. We, had already been knocked down! with only the stormsail up. The waves just ripped the cockpit dodger away.” Both men, who are experienced bluewater sailors, said the conditions were the worst they had seen. '(-j . [ Treleaven’s father, Mr lan Treleaven sen;, and his brother, Bryan, ' of Christchurch, waited anxiously for news of the yacht yesterday. '< " ( Mr Bryan; Treleaven said the family kept in touch || with j :the radio operators , commun caring with his brother and v. ere very worried about the cortditions. “He is an extreipely competent sailor but when the weather is so atrocious you can’t help I but be concerned,” he (said. Mr Treleaven, a sdilor himself,, said his brother was smart enough to stand offshore rather than attempt to reach por:. “The yacht is Resigned for offshore conditions . and was well prepared,” he said; lan i Treleaven spoke to

his father after reaching Auckland yesterday evening and had assured the family he was all right. Hayden had been in bigger swells in the southern oceans while crewing in a round-the-world race. But he had not experienced such confused seas. “I sailed through a hurricane in a Bermuda race but this one was worse,” Treleaven said. Their troubles began about half way across the Tasman Sea when a diesel tank began leaking into the yacht’s bilge. “Everything down below had diesel in it. It was in our clothes, in our stores, it went everywhere.” But the diesel was only the start of their problems. | With just two small cans of fuel for emergencies, they could only briefly charge their batteries and on Monday they ran completely out of diesel. Meanwhile, other problems had developed. First a checkstay in the rigging broke, forcing one of the men to go up the mast and make temporary repairs. i Then on Saturday as they approached North Cape in mounting seas their gas stove flew out of its I mountings, landing shattered on the chart table. From then on all they had Ito eat were chocolate bars. With their clothes and bedding soaked in diesel and the interior of the boat reeking of fumes, they rounded North Cape on Sunday to be hit by the full brunt of Cyclone Bo'la. One by one the yacht’s sails blew out. Completely out of fuel and with their batteries running down, they got a last electronic navigation fix) on Monday afternoon, putting them about 10 miles off ■ the Bay of Islands.

“We decided tb give the bay a shot because the

weather forecast was bad for at least another (24 hours,” Mr Hayden said. 1 “But the wind really piped up,- the visibility failed and we decided to go back out to sea. “All we had left to beat our way off the coast with was the stormsail. Even the storm trisail for the main was blown. “At this point we decided to declare a mayday. If we had got into trouble on the beat back out nobody i would have known where we were!”

Knowing their chances of survival were greater at' sea than attempting to reach port in the treacherous conditions, the Starlight Express crew battled their way back off the coast. They (estimate the wind reached more than 80 knots. At midday yesterday, about half a mile off Coopers Beach, (they began firing flares and were sbon| taken jin tow by the trawler Rockfish 11.