OCEAN YACHT RACE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 18594, 3 January 1935, Page 8

OCEAN YACHT RACE

GERMAN KETCH’S TRIP GALLANT TASMAN ' CROSSING

Melbourne, Dec. 28. Triumphing over the dangers of the Tasman Sea, the sturdy little German ketch Te Rapunga, one of the two competitors in the Centenary Tasman Cup race from Auckland to Melbourne, arrived hero safely yesterday afternoon, after a passage of 19 days, which in its initial stages had been fraught with some hardships and anxiety. The other entrant, the yacht Ngataki, has not, yet been sighted at file, Heads, ami unless she crosses Hie line,he fore 9 sum. to-day Hie £7O prize and the £SO cup will go to To Rapunga. Manned by G. J. Dibbern, ownercaptain,* G. Schramm, mate, F. J’. Norris, J. N. Tatterslield and A. E. Vaile, the ketch left Auckland at 2.45 p.m. on December 8. On clearing port she ran into a fierce north-easterly gale, and on the following day, leaking badly, was forced into Russell for repairs. Her crew had fought unceasingly to keep the water down as it came through for’ard. The miz/.en rigging was damaged. Repairs at Russell cost Te Rapunga '44 hours, and with the 17 hours sho had to concede Ngataki, she was 61 hours behind on finally leaving for Melbourne.

11EART-BRE A KING- CALAIS Long days of heart-breaking cairns and violent tossing in heavy seas without sight of ship or land followed, and ilie members of (lie crew, some, of whom sull'ered severely from sunburn and seasickness. felt that the race could not lie theirs. In bad weather, Schramm, navigator and cook, crouched jn the little, cubby hole that served as a galley, and with his feet braced against the side of the boa I, he prepared hot meals for his weary shipmates. At. long hist To Rapunga made good her loss of time, and her first landfall was an island in the Flinders group, reached on Christmas Day. Coming up the Bay the To Rapunga was to have passed a finishing line between the Colli bra ml Light and St. Hilda pier, hut she passed to the westward of the light instead at 2.44 p.m. Receiving signals from yachtsmen, she went about and recrossed the line to the eastward at 3.11 p.m. On coming to an anchorage at St. Kilda, the-secretary of the Victorian Yacht Racing Association, Air. L. 8. Rigby, and other yachtsmen extended a hearty welcome lo Captain Dihhern

and his crew. The association will decide which time is correct. 'Die Te Rapunga, will slay here a fortnight, amt will llien go either to Hobart or to New Zealand. Klin .was specially built foe cruising in 1926, her dimensions being 32ft. by lift, by sft. She left Kiel four years ago, and has wandered over the oceans to New Zealand with Captain Dibbern and Schramm as master and 'navigator. Her performance is one of the most meritorious in recent yachting history, and her crew, although affected by the cramped nature of life on board, looked fit and well. The Te Rapunga is flying the burgee of Akarana Yacht Club. Auckland.