WELLINGTON ENTRANT’S BAD JOURNEY

Wanganui Chronicle, 26 January 1948, Page 5

WELLINGTON ENTRANT’S BAD JOURNEY

MISFORTUNE OFF GISBORNE AND EAST CAPE (P.A.) Auckland, Jan. 25. A southerly buster off Gisborne, a flooded engine, the jib and staysail blown away and a snapped mainsail halvard. These were among the trials which made the Wellington-Auckland trip of the yacht Te Hongi a ten-day one and which will keep the 43ft. schooner out of the trans-Tasman race until Monday. The yacht's skipper, Mr, T. Markwalder, described ihe trip as one of the roughest he had experienced. They had good weather and light winds after leaving Wellington on January 14, he said, and were going slowly with the engine in use as , much as possible, and hoping for a ’ southerly. "We got a southerly off Gisborne, in the form of a buster," Mr. Markwalder said. "It sent us flying along to the East Cape and we had to reef her down to a hankie. "I never saw bigger waves from a small boat, but she behaved surprisingly well. During the blow water came over the stern and flooded the engine which is still useless. I don’t know exactly when the engine was flooded—we were too busy to- take much notice of what was happening to it,” he said. “We had enough fuel to make the whole trip under power and when the engine was flooded we were held up still further.” The yacht later struck alternate calms in which she could make little progress, and head winds, in one of which the jib and staysail were blown away. Then a brand new' mainsail halyard snapped while she was tacking between Cape Colville and Tiritiri Island, and she spent the night on the foresail making very little headway. It is expected the Te Hongi will start on the trans-Tasman crossing at 10 a.m. on Monday. In the meantime one or two crew members will have to be found. Mr. Markwalder and his partner, Mr. F. le Sueur, a former Naval wireless operator are the only ones of the crew who intend to carry on. Mr. R. Warner, the only one apart from the skipper who has had much experience in yachts, has to return to his work in Wellington and a honeymoon couple who were aboard, Mr. and Mrs. R. Jackson, have decided to leave the boat here. If the yacht starts on Monday an extra two days will probably he included in her sailing time. No decision will be made by the race committee, however, until it meets on Wednesday night.