LONE VOYAGER

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 1 February 1943, Page 4

LONE VOYAGER

NEXT STAGE OF JOURNEY Wellington. Jan. 30. “1 shall sail direct from here to Valparaiso, Chile,” said Senor Vito Dumas, the Argentinian rancher, polo player, author and yachting enthusiast who arrived at Wellington a little more than a month ago after an adventurous lone voyage in a 31-foot yacht, Legh 11, from Buenos Aires, via Cape Town. “That is,” lie added, "unless I strike a rock.” Senor Dumas is to sail from Wellington this morning. He is in much better health than when he arrived. Then he was feeling the effect of the strain of his light with heavy seas he had met on the voyage from Cape Town, to say nothing of having been without fresh water for the last five days before he reached Wellington The rest he has had has restored him to normal, and he is in good shape to face the next stage of his round-the-world voyage south of the Line. He hopes to reach Valparaiso within 210 days of leaving Buenos Aires.

All repairs to his little vessel have been completed, the final touches, some sokiering, being effected through the courtesy of some Allied service personnel. He is confident of his ability to complete his self-imposed task. So far as supplies go, he has been able to fill every need except rubber boots.

“All good luck to New Zealand,” he said. “It is a fine country. I am sorry that because of the war I have been unable to see more of it. When the war is over I shall come back and see it properly.”

Senor Dumas says he is not interested in politics. When he visits a country he likes to meet the people. “Just as a doctor seeing a patient ascertains whether he has a fever, examines his tongue and souryls his lungs, so do I,” he said, “find the real worth of a country by meeting its people.”—P.A.