Boats Claim Five Lives

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30955, 11 January 1966, Page 1

Boats Claim Five Lives

Boating accidents at sea and on Lake Taupo claimed five lives at the week-end, the Press Association reports. Rough weather off the North Island coast on Sunday night sent small boats scurrying for shelter and gave five people off North Taranaki 12 anxious hours after their 40ft yacht sprang a leak. Auckland police now believe that a distress call received on Sunday was a hoax as no boats are missing. Several launches and a yacht were towed to safety during the day. Washed Ashore

Three Levin police officers patrolling the beach at Hakio last evening found the body of a man who had been missing since he left in his trimaran, Robyn Dean, on Saturday. He was

Alan Musker Hiskins, aged 58, of Flock House farm, in the Bulls district. The trimaran was washed ashore yesterday morning just south of the disintegrating wreck of the Hyderabad, which was blown ashore in a storm in 1878. Mr Hiskins was the only person on the boat. He was an experienced seaman. Sprang Leak Five people spent 12 desperate hours in heavy seas off the north Taranaki coast when their 40ft sloop-rigged pleasure yacht sprang a leak on Sunday night. The yacht, Aloha, was on its way from Russell to Waitara. With its fatigued crew it berthed at Waitara at 8.15 a.m. today. The five on board, Mr and Mrs Peter Risch, the owners, Messrs G. Ninness, B. Carruthers and H. Arms, all of Waitara, spent 12 hours bailing their craft with buckets to stay afloat. On Friday night the yacht

was 20 to 30 miles from New Plymouth when a halyard broke. They turned towards shore but a strong wind blew them 50 miles north. “We found ourselves off Marakopa Bay and we decided to head for Albatross Point, a few miles south of Kawhia Harbour, to do the repairs,” said Mr Arms at Waitara today. “We fixed the halyard and then headed for Waitara yesterday morning. “But off Marakopa, between Kawhia and Mokau, we sprang a leak and had to bale flat out,” he said. Mr Arms said visibility was down to zero. Mr Risch sent off distress signals in the hope they would attract ‘ trawlers who fished the area, he said. “The waves were vicious and we couldn’t see much at the time. That is why no-one apparently saw our signals,” he said. After hours of work the five brought the leak under control. Bodies Found Three youths are dead and another is still missing after a yachting trip on Lake Taupo on Sunday night. The youths whose bodies were recovered yesterday were Stephen John Kennedy, aged 18, son of Dr. and Mrs R. Kennedy, of Turangi; John Bradley, aged 17, son of a Wellington importer and exporter, Mr H. L. Bradley, and Robert David Hamilton Russell, aged 18. of Parawanui road, Bulls. Missing is Gavin Sedcole. aged 15, of Waihora, near Dannevirke. The boys, who were students at Wanganui Collegiate School, were staying at Turangi during the holidays. The three bodies were found at Whakaipo Bay at the northern end of the lake after the two Cherub class yachts in which the boys were sailing had been sighted on the rocky shore. Sergeant T. A. Marson, of the Taupo police, called in a helicopter belonging to Mr M. Alexander on Sunday. Yesterday morning Mr Alexander saw two overturned boats with sails and rigging trailing in the water in Whakaipo Bay, about 11 miles north-east of the Karangahape cliffs. Search launches picked up the bodies of Stephen Kennedy and John Bradley floating near the boats. During the afternoon the helicopter, two light planes and five launches scoured the western bays for signs of the other two boys and the body of Robert Russell was found shortly after 2 p.m. Lake Taupo was choppy

today and the search for the fourth body was called off at dusk. Sought Shelter Seventeen small boats were forced to shelter at Motuihe Island on Sunday night from rough weather after a wind change yesterday afternoon. One runabout beached yesterday was pounded by waves during an exceptionally high tide and part of the hull was stove in. Another runabout opened a seam making for shelter but was patched up.