VISITING YACHT

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 148, 25 June 1938, Page 11

VISITING YACHT

A WORLD CRUISE

DOMINION PROGRAMME

The ketch-rigged yacht Land's End, which reached Auckland today from Rarotonga in course of a world's cruise, flies the burgee and emblem of. the Royal Natal Yacht Club. Her master and owner is a Cornishman, Captain H. Jeffery, but the vessel was built in. South Africa, and it was from Durban, thaf her voyage began last September. '•'•' ' For Captain Jeffery it is the fulfil-ment-of a long-cherished hope. Changes in the personnel were made at Papeete and the crew of four now consists of two Englishmen and two South African nationals. The mate is Mr. G. Cadenhead and the other members Messrs. C. Wilson and J. Worden. Setting out from Durban the Land's End was forced to seek . shelter, in Struy's Bay, but a change of. wind threatened her with a lee shore and she put to sea. -From Cape Town to St. Helena she had to struggle against adverse conditions but from there she had an easy passage to Ascension Island and so on to Trinidad, which was- reached on New Year's Day. The yacht sailed leisurely through the West Indies and then passed through the Panama Canal. She took on stores and water at Balboa and headed for the Galapagos. ' . A BRUSH WITH AUTHORITY.

The fact that no clearance papers were possessed presented a problem when the master decided to put in at San Salvadore, arriving o# the very day of a chance visit by an Ecuadorian gunboat. "By the fuss that was made.l think it must have been the gunboat's catch of the year, but finally we escaped by paying; 17J times the normal fees," Captain Jeffery said. Trade winds carried the Land's End to Tahiti and the passage to. Rarotonga was marked only by one or two moderate blows. Several days out: from Rarotonga fierce squalls presaged a storm and eventually one morning in the "graveyard watch". the barometer dropped to a phenomenally low level. Sail was shortened until the yacht was carrying nothing more than a foresail and storm trysails, and, close-hauled in a heavy sea breaking just abaft her beam, her course was, according to the captain, like that of a racing craft undertaking fancy sailing around a i series of buoys.

, -. Days of calm followed, and, with the listless canvas flapping on the masts and yards, the storm damage was temporarily repaired. It was found that the peak of the heavy mainsail and the main hoist halyard had been carried away and cloth was also blown out °f the jib. . ■-■. Although the plans of the master are uncertain, it is probable that the Land's End will remain in New Zealand waters until late spring. After spending a month in Auckland she will visit the Bay of Islands and then proceed to southern ports, including Milford Sound and Stewart Island. Late in the year a course will be set for Sydney, New Guinea, and the Dutch East Indies. -

The comfort below far surpasses the accommodation that would be expect-, ed on a vessel of the yacht's size. There is surprising head room in the spacious saloon cabin and kitchen, and the space aft is taken up by a snug charthouse immediately forward of the wheel and engine-room, which houses a 40-borse-power Diesel motor. Electric lighting, a radio receiving set, refrigerating equipment, and a bathroom are a few of the facilities provided.