YACHTSMEN WHO TOOK FOOLISH RISKS

Chronicle (Levin), 17 July 1947, Page 5

YACHTSMEN WHO TOOK FOOLISH RISKS

I _ AUCKLAND, July 16. 7If there was no dinghy with vthe yacht I think the party exposed them selves to very unnecessary rinsks and the result is that two were t'ortunate and two useful young lives have been lost to the community, " said the Coroner, Mr. A. Addison, when eonclud ing inquestslnto the deaths of Winton Dennet Boucher, motor dealei*, aged 24, and Desmond Melvern Grove, clerk, aged 22. The bodies of the two men have been missing slnce. an 18ft yacht in which they' were sailing,. capsized in Rangitoto channel on October 26, 194.6 Two other me'mbers of the yaehting party swam to safety after the capsiz.c. When Mr. Johnston, who appeared for the father of deceased Grove, put forward a list of recommendations oi equipment for yaehts, the coroner statea he understood the Marine Department was already bringing down regulations about life saving equipment for yachts. It was a pity the regulations were neeessary, in his ^pinion, as all yachtsmen needed was sorae enterprise and prudence, in( their yaehting. "The whole trip seems to have been misconceiv-ed from the start," the Coroner continued. "The judgment of the ijxen in setting out so late and under .squally weather, conditions, was bad and the capsize was inevi table. " He t'eturned a verdict of accidexxtal drowning. .