LONE VOYAGER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25277, 14 July 1943, Page 2

LONE VOYAGER

ARGENTINIAN YACHTSMAN’S ADVENTURES

Senor Vito Dumas, the Argentinian, who left Buenos Aires on June 27, 1942 to circumnavigate the globe, reached home last week after a long solitary voyage. Senor Dumas arrived in Wellington on December 27 last. He was then 180 days out from Montevideo ■and 104 days out from Capetown. He was in an exhausted physical condition when he reached Wellington after battling with storms and adverse weather, and being without water for the last five days before making port. He spent a month recuperating, and left Wellington in his 311 ft ketch Legh II on January 30 for Valparaiso, Chile. He was towed to the harbour entrance by a launch and cast off in a fresh north-west wind. He had sailed 11,900 miles when he reached Wellington; 4500 from South America to South Africa and 7400 from South Africa to New Zealand. He reached Valparaiso several weeks ago, and completed the voyage by rounding Cape Horn, being the first yachtsman to do so from west to east. For navigation he uses a se'xtaThe Legh II is,a strongly-built little ship of nine tons, constructed of viraro, a very durable South American timber. Its beam is .lift lOin, its draught a little over sft,-and its freeboard only 14 inches. Entrance to the decked-in cabin is by way of a hatch. Forty-one years of age, Senor Dumas is a wealthy ranch owner who likes solitude and adventure. He is a member of the Yacht Club of the Argentine, a qualified air pilot, and holds an international civil pilot’s licence. In 1923 he swam 55 kilometres in the River Plate in a 25 hours’ endurance He sailed from Arcachon, France, across the Atlantic to Buenos Aires in a small yacht in 1931..