WITHOUT WARNING

Evening Star, Issue 25928, 21 October 1946, Page 8

WITHOUT WARNING

70 M.P.H. GALE SWEEPS HARBOUR TWELVE YACHTS CAPSIZE TRAGEDIES NARROWLY AVERTED (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Oct.. 20. ; Caught under' full sail on Wellington Harbour by a southerly storm, which swept down on them with unprecedented suddenness, many Wellington yachtsmen were lucky to escape with their lives this afternoon. Twelve boats capsized in a few minutes. Fatalities were at first feared, but speedy rescue operations saved all the crews, some of whom bad to swim for the shore. , Three young people at Paremata, where another five boats turned over, had the worst experience of all. They were brought back safely after their chances of survival looked very slim. ' Black clouds which began to roll overhead in an incredibly short space of time were the only wanting the yachtsmen bad' that they were going to have a busy and disastrous- day. The first fierce gust whipped down Wellington Harbour at a velocity., of about 70 miles an hour. This was their undoing. They were soon battling to save their craft, some of which were in the water for the first time this season. POLICE AND PILOT LAUNCHES BUSY. Meteorological observers saw what was coming, and, sensing danger to yachtsmen,,-whom' they knew to have been attracted out by the sunshine of only an hour before, telephoned, the Harbour Board look-out, but there was little he could do in the way of signalling the yachtsmen.-Both the police launch and the Wellington Harbour Board’s pilot launch put out to rescue the yachtsmen, who were clinging to their upturned craft while the wind lashed cutting spray into tlmir laces. Afier landing three dripping figures on the end of the Clyde quay wharf, the police launch set out again and spent some time cruising round the harbour in search of others who might be in the water Even small boats equipped only with outboard motors went out to assist. Launches were busy salvaging the capsized yachts and towing them in after picking up their crews. COURAGEOUS RESCUE, Three young people narrowly escaped with their lives when the Z-class yacht Kendale capsized on the bar at the entrance to the Paremata Harbour. Onlookers from the shore, seeing their plight, were despairing of their safety, when Mr T. Dodson, of Plimmerton, with his son, aged about 15, put out in a dinghy at great nerso"ei ricV ,*n pick them up. They managed to rescue the trio—Miss .iemhardt, Don Green, and Owen Gosling, all of Plimmerton —after they had been in the water for over an hour. . Loaded down with five people, the dinghy made a perilous trip back, as there was no room to use the oars, but it was manoevured to a landing on the beach at Maori Bay. Those who witness the rescue effort sai' it was a fine piece of work. Miss Reinhardt collapsed from exposure after reaching the shore. .‘.‘l have, never, seen , a storm come up. so suddenly,” said -a Wellington man who was at Plimmerton. “It gave them no chance. I thought they were done for, as the southerly was

driving the yacht out between Mana Island and the shore, and they were clinging to the bottom of the boat. The storm seemed to swoop over Mana Island right on top of them, and, with hail and mounting seas, I thought their position was quite hopeless.” Three other yachts. besides the Keiidale capsized down the Paremata Harbour. The opening ceremony for the season had just been completed when the storm struck. Within a few mimites there was hail 6iu deep on the landing.

FISHERMEN BLOWN TO SEA

(P.A.) BLENHEIM, Oct. 20. Two men who wore fishing in a 12ft flat-bottomed dinghy off Cape Campbell to-day were blown several miles out to sea by a southerly storm which sprang up suddenly in the early afternoon. When the boat Was out of sight of the shore watchers, the police were advised, and they enlisted the help of the Marlborough Aei'o Club. A search was made by two planes, and tile boat eventually located. The storm had by then abated considerably, and the men, who were rowing for shore, signalled that they were all right. They landed near Blind River after being six hours in a rough sea.

SAVED BY COASTGUARD LAUNCH

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, Oct. 20. Three youths whose 14ft. yacht capsized in Auckland Harbour this morning were saved from drowning by a launch of the Coastguard Service. Caught in a squall, the boat overturned in rough water near Port Chevalier reef, and the occupants were, thrown into the water. Clinging to the bottom of their upturned craft and suffering from cold and the effects of the immersion, they were rescued an hour and a-half later, after a resident of Herne Bay had telephoned the coastguards for assistance.