IN HEAVY WEATHER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXII, Issue 66, 13 March 1912, Page 5

IN HEAVY WEATHER.

A YACHT’S EXCITING RUN

(Per Press Association )

Christchurch, March 12,

Professor Scott’s thirteen-ton (Thames measurement) yacht Yvonne arrived at Lyttelton on Sunday from Port Chalmers, which port she left on

■•larch 3. Heavy weather was experienced after leaving Oamarn on the sth. By 4 a.m. next clay the patent log and plotting showed the vessel must ho close to Jack’s Point light (near Timaru), and during a momentary break in the fog the light wa> seen a quarter of a. mile distant. 1 lie yacht anchored, with her topsails std' up, in a calm sea in the vicinity of the roofs, and remained enshrouded in the fog till 9 a.m., when a light breeze took her into Timaru, where she arrived at 11 o’clock. Tt took the yacht 25 hours to complete the run from Oamam to Timaru, which on previous occasions she did in eight. The vessel loft Timaru at 11.30 on the 9th. and experienced a very violent southeasterly gale, which sprung up at 2 a.m. on Sunday last, and which wa* accompanied by thunder, lightning and hail. She was headed off shore, but the wind suddenly veered to the southward, before which the yacht ran well. On several occasions during the mu up the coast she logged nine knots per hour. Although the decks w-we constantly awash during the trip, no heavy water came on board, and heavy seas found their way into the cockpit only on three occasions, whilst everything below was perfectly dry. When passing through the worst of th-' sea, shortly before reaching Banks Peninsula, oil was used with great effect, the crew stating that what bad been angry and dangerous-looking seas acre quickly reduced to a character that gave them no anxiety. This heavy weather run concluded a cruise which was remarkable in that a topsail was carried for nearly the whole of the voyage from Sumner to Dunedin and hack as far as Timaru, and illustrates that a small yacht, well found and well handled, is practically safe, and is even comfortable under all orllnayv weather conditions.