TAHITI BOUND

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 306, 25 September 1945, Page 6

TAHITI BOUND

Two Returned Men In 39ft. Yacht

MAY LEAVE PORT TODAY

An experienced yachtsman and a companion who has never set foot on a small boat before, will leave Port Nicholson this week for Tahiti in a 39-foot yacht. The skipper, Fred Hayward, and his oneman crew, L. F. (“Fritz”) Zimmerman, recently returned to New Zealand after four years' service overseas, with tlie Army Service Corps. Their home tor tlie next few months, the 13-ton yacht Siren, was bought with their deferred pay, and having tasted the joys -if travel, they are now possessed with wanderlust. “We don’t care if we never come hack,” said Hayward, when asked how long they would be away. “Hints one thing we have got plenty of—time. During the past lour months the two have busied themselves with refitting and provisioning their boar. IV ith willi.it, helpers they removed the. old deck and rebuilt it with sturdier timber, making the cabin roomier and more habitable. Practically all the usual home comlorts have been installed, two stoves, both gas and firing range, conveniences, sink, fresh water tanks, and all the cookin o uteusils and cutlery that are so necessary in the landlubber’s kitchen. A cylinder of rock gas has been installed, besides a large supply of fare and mo .or fuel. The engine wag originally a car motor producing about 18 horse-power. Un a trial run across to Days Bay yesterday afternoon, it turned oyer like elockwork and seut the Siren through a choppy sea at about eight Knots. A tew minor* repairs remain to be effected, and water has to be taken aboard, but otherwise tlie boat is ready to sail. Anendeavour is to be made to clear the Wellington Heads this morning, providing the weather is favourable According to Hayward, the crew originally comprised three returned servicemen, but the third member has remained in Wellington, the possibility ol matrimony proving too formidable a restraint. . i The first port of cal: en route to lahiti will be Auckland where Bayward intends to obtain new headsails, the sets with which the boat is at present equipped setting too poorly to produce suf■licient drive. Further provisions and gear will also be taken aboard at Auckland, and the Siren will then turn her bowsprit for Tahiti ana a prolonged cruise of the Pacific. - Both men were rather vague about their itinerary after Tahiti; they were just going to cruise where their noses took them. Hayward confessed he had never relished life on terra Anna, but felt more at home with the salt spray in his hair. All he desired was to be miles awav from Wellington. The Siren is a 39-foot yawl-rigged vacht drawing 7ft. 6111., with an ott. Seam.’ She was built in 1898 with a triple skin and has since proved herself equal to the roughest of seas. She has crossed the Cook Straits many times, and it is the contention ot the old salts that anything that can survive a heavy Cook Strait sea is safe anywhere.