Spent Night On Buoy After Swim

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31002, 7 March 1966, Page 16

Spent Night On Buoy After Swim

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, March 6. A 32-year-old Orakei seaman yesterday told his story of a night struggle to survive after falling from a yacht in the Tiri Channel. The man, Donald Ronald Manning: Swam for an hour a mile and a half through a heavy swell. Clambered on to a buoy at the south-eastern entrance to the channel. Did physical jerks to keep warm as the buoy heaved in the swell. And saw the best sunrise of his life. “When the sun came up I knew I was okay.” His ordeal began at 10.30 p.m. He was aboard the keeler Kerema heading out on a Ponsonby Cruising Club race to Canoe Rock and back. In a split second he was in 1 the sea after slipping on the • keeler’s deck. : Other members of the crew. ' Rex Wright, the owner, Steve • Green, Kevin Quill and Nori man Ruohonen, saw him go i overboard. They fought with the sails ■ in the high wind in an effort I to turn the keeler and search i for him. Desperate, they cut the hali yards and started the Kere- • ma's engine. i But they could see no sign . of him. > In the sea, Mr Manning was ■ shouting to attract attention. ! He could see the yacht but , the wind carried his cries away. He quickly realised that he was on his own. ! Sighting the flashing light : of the beacon on the buoy, . he struck out for it. He , knew it was a long swim—- [ but did not realise just how long. He was clad only in the pair of shorts, a T-shirt and a waterproof jacket. The tide was in his favour. “When I reached the buoy II felt I had swum 10 miles >and not one one mile and a half," he said later. After clambering aboard the buoy. Manning did some physical exercises before settling down for a short sleep. Each time he awakened more exercises were done. He said that he had no fears for his safety. Meanwhile, other members of the crew continued their search for about an hour before going for help. Mr Green rowed ashore at Matakatia Bay and alerted the police. It was 1 a.m. The police launch Deodar was sent from Auckland and searched until dawn. At 7.30 a.m.. Mr S. Von 'Sturmer, a passenger in the coastal vessel Maunganui, sighted Mr Manning waving from the buoy. The Maunganui, which was about a mile and a half away, had also sighted the Deodar and Auckland Radio relayed <

news of the sighting to the police launch. “I was delighted to see them,” said Mr Manning. Three weeks before Christmas Mr Manning spent four hours clinging to the side of the mullet boat Winifred when it capsized off Browns Island. This was his first trip aboard the Kerema. He is a member of the crew of the research ship Tui. His big memory of the night: That sunrise. ■ “I’ve seen many sunrises—but that sun coming up this morning was the finest sight I’ve ever seen.”