HOW DANGEROUS?

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 72, 22 September 1930, Page 11

HOW DANGEROUS?

TASMAN YACHT RACE

LIGHT ON CONTROVERSY

SMATJD SHIPS' STRENGTH

The death of Captain Foster, the hero of the Trevassa epic, is of peculiar interest, as it coincides with the controversy in tho Victorian yachting world regarding the forthcoming TasSea race, writes Noel S. Monks ts ows "Sun-News Pictorial."

Some leading Melbourne yachting officials say it is both foolhardy nnd hazardous to attempt to cross the Tasman Sea in a cruising yaohr, and for this reason they will not be identified •with the attempt.

The experience of competent mariners, however, does not support this view. Captain. Toss, who was one of .tho world's most adventurous small boat sailors, after one of his earlier trips down the Pacific Coast of the United States to South America, said: "A small vessel is just as safe in a heavy gale as a large one, and a good deal safer than many large vessels." The truth of this statetaent is exemplified in the experiences of the crew of the Trevassa. Between Fremantle and Mauritius tho steamer was battered so badly by heavy gales that she foundered, and her crew took to two lifeboats, 'which' survived the terrific storm that had sunk the big ship. The' lifeboats reached safety after being 23 and 26 days respectively at.sea. "Although the crew suffered severe privations from exposure^ thirst, and hunger, there was no doubt regarding the ability of these small boats to survive the test of an .ocean voyage. SAILED THE COURSE. Captain Voss, whose round-the-world trip in a dug-out, canoe, 38ft long, sft Oin in beam, and with a 2ft draft, astounded the seafaring world early in this century, followed, at one period, the proposed course of the Tasnian Sea race. His voyage began at Vancouver, and he crossed the Pacific, calling at many, islands on his way to Sydney. ■He reached Melbourne-early in March, 1902, and his tiny craft was shown at the Exhibition Building. After sailing to Adelaide, Captain Voss went to Hobart, and thence across the Tasman Sea to the Bluff and the east coast of New Zealand. During this passage, he records casually that he was "hove-to~ for two days in hard S.W. gale," evidently regarding the experience as an incident only worthy cf passing comment. Subsequently he travelled north to " New Hebrides, through the Torres Straits, and across the Indian Oceanto South Africa/then across tho South Atlantic to South America, back across the Equator and the North Atlantic, and up the English Channel to London, three years three months and 12 days out from his starting point. ' _ . , .. .. Voss's voyage was inspired by the achievement of Captain Slocum, an American master mariner, who, in the late 'nineties, circumnavigated v the world in the Spray, a sloop 36ft 6in 3ong. lift in beam, and with a 4ft draft. . Slocum's views on tho seaworthiness of small craft fully support Voss. His route took' him across to Gibraltar, then across the Atlantic to South America> through Magellan Straits, and across the Pacific to Australia. Ho arrived at Melbourne on 22nd December, 1896, and the following comments on storms h8 encountered in the Pacific demonstrate his perfect faith in the ability of his little,ship:— - ; OUT OF COURSE. "X'One. particularly severe gale encountered near New Caledonia foundered the American clipper ship, Patrician, farther south. Nearer the coast of Australia, when I was not aware that the gale was extraordinary, a French mail steamer from New Caledonia to Sydney, •was -blown considerably out of her course» and reported on arrival that it •was an awful storm. Inquiring friends were told: 'Oh, my!- We don't know what has become of the little sloop, Spray.' We saw her in- the thick of the storm.'" The Spray was all right, lying like a duck, and had a dry deck, while the passengers on the steamer were np to their knees in water in the saloon. When their' ship arrived at Sydney, the passengers gave the captain a purse of gold for his skill and seamanship in bringing them safe into port. Continuing the voyage, he went north round Australia, westerly to South Africa, across the South Atlantic to South America again,and then north to his home port at Boston, U.S.A., having travelled 46,000 miles in three years, two months, nine days. These adventurers have a modern counterpart in Conor O'Brien, who set out from Dublin in the Saoirse, in response to an invitation, to a mountainclimbing party in New Zealand. The Saoirse was a bluff little packet, 42ft long, 12ft in beam, and with a 6ft 9in draft. O'Brien^left Ireland on 20th Juno, 1923, and returned on 16th June, 1925. He travelled. 31,000 miles in 280 actual sailing days/ He intended sailing to New Zealand direct from the Cape, but he "was short of bacon, baking powder, and potatoes, and in any case, it would have been unenterprising to be only a mile away from Australia and not drop in and spend a week-end there." Accordingly, he put into Melbourne on 30th January, 1924. ROMANTIC VOYAGE. Perhaps a more romantic figure among deep-sea single-handed cruisers is the French tennis player, Alain Gerbault, whoso boat took him from New York to Panama, and then across the Pacific, •wandering from island to island as fancy called", heedless of time. Eventually he passed through the Torres Straits, across the Indian Ocean, to South Africa, and then honie to Havre. This prolonged voyage lasted from 2nd November, 1924, to 6th September, 1929, almost five years, in which a distance of more thaii 40,000 miles was covered in 700 days at sea. Fireerest was a different class of vessel from those already described, being narrower and deeper, and rather subject to the characteristic "wetness" of this type of boat. This, however, did not interfere with her performance in bad weather, although Gerbault had provided himself with some protection agninst the tmerpecte'd intrusion of stray water. He shared the one common fear of these sea-going hermits—the fear of Ijoredom, particularly in bad weather. Before starting out, he added 200 more books to his we,ll-filled shelves. After all, need Australians go so far afield to seek these adventurers? All yachting men can tell of trips made round our rugged coasts. From time to time, unassuming men, competent to tho last degree, ply from port to port, from one capital to another, pitting their little ships against the elements for the sheer love of it, and doing it successfully. The long tale of their achievements, in Australian waters or overseas, Is singularly free from disaster. The Bass Strait races, classics of the sport, were successfully accomplished in spito of t%« most preolling tests.