TRAGEDY AVERTED

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18594, 3 January 1935, Page 7

TRAGEDY AVERTED

SMALL BOAT CAPSIZES

POUR MEN IN DEEP WATER

THREE-MILE STRUGGLE TO SHORE

New Year’s Day in Gisborno was almost marked by a serious boating tragedy, when four young men in a home-built sailing-boat were precipitated into deep water three miles from Young Nick’s Head, and managed to reach land only after a gruelling stmgglo. The incident was one which, demonstrated clearly the possibilities of trouble courted-by those who venture on the deep waters of tho bay even ViT'a most promising day. ~ r*i *- •: The youpgi njep - concerned in the incident iw.cro .>M r * • Geo. . Hitehings, owner of the boat, Messrs. Stanley Holmes and VV. Holmes, sons of Mr. Geo. Holmes, McLean street, and Mr. C. Powell, also a Gisborne resident. Early on New Year’s .Day they put out,from-Kaiti Beach, where they are the occupants'of a summer' camp, and sailed well out into the roadstead in a 10-i'oot sailer, a small boat, which recently attracted some attention when sho was" moored at the' town wharf receiving the. final . touches in ■ her equipment. The sea was calm in the leo of the land, but about half-way across therbay the boat encountered a heavy chop, and in a brisk north-westerly-wind it became a mattCT of difficulty as well as some danger to turn about. In the circumstances, the quartet of trippers decided to make for the shelter.of Young Nick’s Head before turning for home again.

RUDDER COMES ADRIFT Despite the constant wetting from the choppy seas, the trippers were enjoying a bracing run across the bay when trouble developed. The boat was making a good deal of leeway, and the rudder was put hard over to hold her on her course towards the cliffs at Muriwai. All four occupants of the craft bore their -weight on the windward gunwale, to offset the effect of the wind, and were leaning well out over the water when the rudder came adrift, the eye-bolts securing the rudder to the hull having pulled out under the strain of the choppy seas. Immediately the craft fell away in the ’ wind, and righting herself ■ suddenly, threw all four young men into the water.

What would have been a laughable mishap under other conditions instantly assumed a serious aspect for the late occupants of the boat, for they were then some three miles from Young Nick’s Head, and one of the men was not a strong swimmer by any means. The craft had capsized, and but for watertight compartments at bow and stern would have become an unwieldy derelict; The three .strong swimmers in the quartet managed to right the vessel after a good deal of trouble, and then began the process of baling her out, a prolonged and difficult one in the circumstances. To add to their misfortunes, it was discovered that one of the two oars with which the small boat was equipped had drifted away, while the rudder was useless. EFFORT TO REACH CLIFFS Moisting a shortened sail at last, the men continued their effort to reach the cliffs, and this stage of the journey was most trying, for the boat was unable to sail into the wind, and was constantly falling away to leeward. It soon became obvious that the party would be fortunate if it was not carried past the end of the cliffs, and the strain of the succeeding hour can best be imagined by those who have faced the .possibility of drifting to seu in a small boat.

Well aware that they could not be seen from the shore on the Gisborne side of the bay, and that they could not hope for assistance, the young men made a desperate effort to keep their craft on its- course, and steering with the sole remaining oar, eventually brought her close enough to the point of the cliffs to enable them to drag her through the surf to the beach. CRAFT DRAGGED THROUGH SURF

Already tired from long immersion in the water, and the nervous strain of their experience, the party rested awhile and took stock of the situation. Deciding that there was no likelihood of the breeze dropping and making a homeward passage across the bay safe, they embarked on a long grinding effort to drag their craft through the surf to Muriwai. There they took luncheon at the hotel, before continuing their journey round tho margin of the bay. Throughout tho afternoon they struggled with the craft, at times carrying it bodily, and at favorable opportunities launching it for a tow through tho surf.

The crossing of the Waipaoa River at its mouth was an arduous feature of an unenviable experience, the party sinking thigh-deep in the mud,, and incidentally having some anxiety lest quick-sands should 1 be encountered. Exhausted by their efforts, they finally beached the craft high and dry on the sands a mile and a-half on the Gisborne side of the river-mouth, and returned to their camp at Kaiti Beach, tho long tramp being completed early in the evening.

Yesterday morning the boat was returned to the camp without difficulty, but , the party is not likely to court a repetition of its deep-water experience.