ALL FOR LOVE

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 32, 30 January 1933, Page 3

ALL FOR LOVE

SYDNEY MAN’S DARING TRIP ! IN TINY CRAFT LOG ANGELES, January 10. yvhen a girl rejected his suit. Fred RebeHe, 42. el' Sydney, decided to sho’v her what he could do. He studied navigation for three wt-ehs in the Sydney Public Library, procured ar. 18ft sloop, named it, Flahv- (after the lady), and on December 21. 1021. sailed away on the blue Pacific. That, he explains. is how he came to be tying up in Los Angeles harbour last Sunday. Rebel I e said that he had never sailed before. He made a sextant from a Boy Scout telescope and pieces of brass, and used a cheap watch for a chronometer. His boat had a beam of only 4ft.. and 80 inches of freeboard seemed little protection against the ocean waves. Rebelie called at Apia. Danger Island. Christmas Island and Honolulu. Then, on New Year’s Eve, as he neared the Californian coast, he was struck by a northerly gale which neatly ended his cruise. His sails were Tipped to shreds and the tiller was smashed. San Nicholas Island came into sight, but before the little boat could reach it a calm fell, and for three dajs Rebelle waited for sufficient breeze to take him into port. Scores of .fishing vessels offered to tow him in, but he declined. Rebelle lived on cereals, augmented with fish he caught and dried in the sun. His cooking apparatus was an oil can and an alcohol burner.