Canadian yachtsman to make repairs

Press, 1 March 1982, Page 6

Canadian yachtsman to make repairs

The Canadian solo yachtsman, Yves Gelinas, has about two weeks work to do on his yacht at the Chatham Islands • before he can sail again. The yacht overturned in about force 10 winds on the night of February 15. The boat was dismasted and the radio transmitter soaked, Mr Gelinas said in a telephone interview last evening. He was unable to transmit for about nine days. When the weather had moderated, Mr Gelinas made a jury rig, using the boom as a mast. When the boat was able to travel fast enough, the batteries were recharged. During this time Mr Gelinas cleaned and dried the radio transmitter and was

able to tell people his location. , The 9.1 metre yacht was about 300 miles east of the Chatham Islands when he lost the mast. “I was towed into harbour by a fishing boat when I reached south of Pitt Island,” Mr Gelinas said. While on the island he is staying with the fisherman. He hopes to make temporary repairs on the island before sailing for New Zealand. Mr Gelinas set out from the French Channel port of St Malo oh a voyage to Quebec “the wrong way round the world.” His efforts to make the non-stop trip were hampered when the yacht capsized in

the Tasman Sea. He spent about a week at Dunedin repairing damage caused when the mast pushed down the top of the cabin. ' Mr Gelinas said he would probably keep going on the original route but will wait' until next season before continuing. “I would get to Cape. Horn in the late fall or winter when the conditions could be dangerous,” said Mr Gelinas. “I will probably leave the boat in New Zealand and come back,” he said. Mr Gelinas, who has been sailing for 20 years, has been living aboard the yacht for the last seven years during which time he has. sailed about 30,000 miles.