Yacht’s skipper denies any tie with France

Press, 6 February 1986, Page 6

Yacht’s skipper denies any tie with France

PA Napier The skipper of a yacht detained by customs officials at Napier while he is investigated by Interpol denies any ties with France. The so far unnamed lone sailor was commenting on suggestions linking him with the two French agents jailed for their part in the Rainbow Warrior bombing. The man sailed his ketch Oneden into Napier’s inner harbour last Saturday but was not spoken to by customs until Tuesday when they sent a fisheries patrol vessel to stop him leaving. The manager of the Napier Sailing Club, Mr Murray Chote, alerted customs to the Oneden’s presence because it was, unusually for a foreign yacht, not flying flags. “One of the first things yachtsmen do is show respect for flag etiquette,” he said. No charges have been laid against the sailor, who said he had been sailing for 3y 2 years out of the last seven. He bought the Oneden in Sydney last year after selling another yacht. It is believed he made

landfall on the south west coast of the South Island, then visited Paremata and Wellington before sailing up the east coast. Customs have no record of such visits and are investigating reports that more than one person was aboard the Oneden when it left Australia. Searches of the boat and its hull revealed nothing. Customs officers were collecting more information. On his yacht in Napier’s breakwater harbour yesterday, the young Swiss man appeared unconcerned about the prospect of prosecution. “There is no problem, no problem here,” he said. He did not hold a visa to visit New Zealand, but he said he was waiting to be granted one. He was upset by suggestions of smuggling. “I have no drugs, no goods,” he said. The Prime Minister’s office said yesterday that because of speculative newspaper articles which had queried the police on any links to the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, Mr Lange had asked for the police to report to him on the patter.