LONG CRUISE IN YACHT

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21316, 18 October 1932, Page 11

LONG CRUISE IN YACHT

ENGLAND TO TAHITI ONLY TWO MEN ON BOARD |>Y TELEGRAPH—OWN CORRESPONDENT] WELLINGTON, Monday A young Englishman, Mr. Sidney Howard, who is a through passenger for Sydney on the Makura, which he joined at Tahiti, recently sailed a 37ft. yacht from Southampton to the South Seas, accompanied by only one companion. He said that he and another' Englishman, Mr. J. W. Johnstone, left England in July, 1931, in the yacht Pacific Morn, and reached Tahiti a year later. "We struck bad weather in tho Channel and the Bay of Biscay, but, from then on our trouble * was, not too much wind, but not enough," remarked Mr. Howard. "Once wo were becamled for days." Describing the trip, he said that he and Mr. Johnstone first had a good look at Spain. Then they journeyed on to Morocco, thence to Canary Island and the Cape Verde Islands. The Atlantic crossing took 20 days, the yacht being bowled along by the north-east trade wind to Barbados. After passing through the Panama Canal Messrs. Howard and Johnstone set sail on the 4000-mile "leg" to the Marquesas Islands, which they reached after 45 days. They arrived at Tahiti in time for tho French national festival. They then parted company, Mr. Johnstone returning to England. Mr. Howard sold tho yacht to an Argentinian, who, with a Frenchman and an American, was to sail it to Java. "I last heard of them at Pago Pago," observed Mr. Howard.