Yachts Have Gruelling Time In Cyclone

Chronicle (Levin), 4 February 1948, Page 7

Yachts Have Gruelling Time In Cyclone

Eeceived TuesdaV, 7 p.m. SYJDNEY, b'eb". 3. , The Victorian kctch Ivurrewa ili arrived at -Sydney at 7.24 a.iu. 'today, after breaking the race I'Bcord. ller time for the Tasman crossing was !J days 23 liours 24 minutes whith will be regarded as a race record. After battling tlirough a cvclone and terrilic seas, the cutter Peer Uynt foilowed the Kurrewa across the hmshing line at 12.44 p.m. The Peer Qynt's time was 10 days 4 hours 44 minutes but though she was 5 hours 20 miiiutes behind the Kurrewa, she has a probable ■ead on haudieap. The radio operator on the Kurrewa heard the Wayi'arer last night. but was nnable to contact her. The Kurrewa was rovaliy welcomed by, ferries and overseas sliips which ■•ounded sirens as she was towed up the harbo'ur. Describing the cyclone in whicli two of the crew, John UoAvnton and Tei'ry Connors, were injured, the sljipper, Prank Livingstone, said: "I have never seen such seas in all my cruising experience. A'lan Bath. who was on deek when the biggest wave hit us, sprang into the rigging and clung to the crosstrees. The sea was so huge that he was still iu water 35 feet from the deck. " . . Re added that during the gale ihe yaeht ran under bare poles -with two men lashed to the wheel. Caught in the saihe cyclone, the Peer Gynt lost all deck gear including life rafts and buoys. ,fWe followed the Kurrewa over aird were never more than 60 miles behind her," sai'd the skipper, Trygve Halvorseri. "We were eaught in the same wave but having a • deckhouse, the helnisman was protected and nobody was injured. The- yaeht lay over on its beam ends and all the glassware was smashed. " The secretary of the Eoyal Prince Alfred Yaclit Club, Mr. J. A. Kyd, said this afternoon that until neariy all the competitors flnish, it will be impossible to tell the winner. The favourite is now the Peer G-yht. A flvingboat bound for Lord Howe Island sighted an' unideiftified competitor at 11.39 a.m. about 170 miles from Sy-3*. oy.