Yachts disabled in 'diabolical’ seas

Press, 27 January 1986, Page 8

Yachts disabled in 'diabolical’ seas

PA Gisborne A disabled Wellington yacht and its crew of four were towed to safety by a trawler in one of two dramatic sea rescues near Gisborne during the weekend.

Three men were saved after a two-hour ordeal In bad sea conditions. Their small boat had overturned. Rescuers battled atrocious conditions to help the men, and another four in a Wellington yacht which damaged its steering when it hit a rock nearby. The three men whose 3.5 m dinghy swamped off Kaiaua Beach north of Tolaga Bay on the East Coast were picked up by two fishermen, Mr Brian Glover and his brother, Daniel, of Wellington, who launched a jet boat into wild seas to reach them. A helicopter . rescue team guided the Glovers to the stricken boat with searchlights. Messrs Dennis Morley, Robert Clark, and Allan Hill, believed to be from Gisborne were in wetsuits but had no other buoyancy aids. They spent two hours clinging to their swamped boat. Mr Brian Glover said the men were lucky to be alive.

He had been about to turn back in the poor conditions when he spot-

ted their drifting fuel tank and saw the helicopter arrive and show them in a searchlight sweep of the sea.

“We were 100 m from them, but would not have seen them in those conditions. I was about to abandon the search when the chopper arrived.” Mr George Craig the exhausted skipper of the Wellington yacht West Wind II was full of praise for the seamanship of the men who came to his aid. The sea was “diabolical” by the time help arrived, he said. The Watties trawler Kaiti and another Gisborne fishing boat, the Toni Anne, put out from Tokomaru Bay. Flares had been sighted from shore and a mayday message heard in Auckland.

The Kaiti picked up the yacht on radar and took it in tow at 3 a.m. yesterday. Haiti’s skipper, Mr Tom Sinel, said he first considered taking the crew off and leaving the yacht, but such a manoeuvre would have been too dangerous in winds reaching 60 knots.