AROUND THE PORTS

John Maddox, Port Officer Sydney, Australia

Just a note about our sail/barbeque held on 17th May in Sydney.

Members and friends met at Blackwattle Bay on the southern side of Sydney Harbour, to the west of Sydney Harbour Bridge. Blackwattle Bay itself has the swinging Glebe Island Bridge which opens for yachts between 1200 noon and 1600 on Sundays only (no prior arrangement needed between those hours!).

The weather was good for winter, and members attending included Sid Yaffe, Rear Commodore Australia, and his wife Elizabeth, David and Carole Hocking, Pat Wall, Peter Cosgrove and Howard Gee among others. The food was excellent, and the only trouble was that by the time four yachts had rafted, the crews rowed ashore, climbed over the seawall and started cooking and drinking it was almost time to go. Otherwise all the yachts would have been `Blackwattle Bay bound' until the following Sunday.

On quite another subject, OCC member David Saunders is planning to take Byzance, a Swan 40, to Hong Kong next year. The two alternative routes are either east of New Guinea and the Phillipines, or the more interesting route through the Torres Strait, Arafura, Flores and Java Seas to Singapore, and then up through the South China Sea to Hong Kong. David is concerned about the question of piracy in these waters - in the national press we read stories of 20,000 ton freighters being boarded just out of Singaporean waters by armed bandits in fast canoes, who go to the bridge and demand at gunpoint that the Captain open the ship's safe. There must be many members who have sailed these waters, and David would be interested to hear their views.

Gulshan Rai, Port Officer Bombay, India

OCC members Bernard Holland and Mrs Betty Lindsay-Thomson arrived here safely in Planesong, a four-masted 38ft steel motor-sailing schooner with Chinese lugsail rig. She was built by Croft Marine at Atherston-on-Stour, and fitted out on the River Dart in Devon, England. Well equipped with GPS, autopilot, HF radio, weatherfax etc, she is insured for worldwide cruising excluding the Red Sea.

Bernard sailed his qualifying passage in 1981 in the 33ft Kishorn II from Horta to the Scillies, while Mrs Lindsay-Thomson qualified with a passage from Tenerife to Antigua in the 45ft Trespasser. The third person to sail the whole way from Dartmouth to Bombay was Ms May Johnston, a physiotherapist from London. Other crew joined Planesong for various parts of the cruise.

The late Phil Weld's famous trimaran Rough Wave of Sark* sailed into Goa at the height of the monsoon. The 65ft x 32ft vessel has been owned since 1985 by Raymond Woodhead, who brought her across the Atlantic and via Suez to the United Arab Emirates where he is based. He sailed her to Indonesia with the intention of pressing on to Australia, but found the going very rough in the Java Sea where he was struck by lightning twice.

Earlier in the year I met Roger Wooller, a naturalized Australian, together with his wife Jan and their two children Ben and Rene, aboard their 40ft steel cutter Hagar (formerly Hagar the Horrible) in the tranquil anchorage of Bolghatty Palace, Cochin.

Roger's is an amazing story of grit, valour and perseverance. He is originally from England, but grew up in Kenya where his father was a skipper on the coasters in Lake Tanganyika, the longest freshwater lake in the world. Stricken by polio at the age of two, Roger was incapacitated in both legs and uses crutches. However this did not deter him from learning to sail dinghies while at school back in England, or from taking his 16ft dinghy across the Channel to France. In 1972 he emigrated to Australia, where he married Jan Buhmann, and in 1974 bought first a ferro-cement hull and then a 38ft steel yacht in which he and Jan sailed from Sydney to Hobart. In 1978 they sailed to Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands before returning to Brisbane.

Roger's dream was to sail around the world, and in 1991 the Wooller family left Australia for Cochin via the Indian Ocean. As experienced by most other yachtsmen, the roughest part of the passage was through the Gulf of Mannar, between Sri Lanka and the southern tip of India. Despite his handicap Roger handles sail in all weathers, making use of the strength in his arms. Members who would like to know more about his achievements can write to him at his forwarding address, valid until June 1994: 33 Olive Grove, Balmoral, Brisbane 4171, Australia. His radio call sign is VK4 BRW.

Visiting yachtsmen may be interested to know that the Naval Sailing Clubs at Bombay and Cochin have modern sail lofts well able to carry out repairs. In Bombay the address is: Naval Sailing Club, Pilot Bunder Road, Colaba, Bombay 5, and at Cochin: Naval Sailing Club, Katari Bagh Naval Base, Cochin 4. Mr C L Paul at Cochin also sells Indian-made Dacron (terylene) especially made by a leading Indian textile mill, Madura Coats, at the mill rate of Rs 240/- per metre (Rs 55/- to œ1 sterling as of September 1992).

Rita Hayman, Port Officer Auckland, New Zealand

My apologies to any OCC members who may have tried to contact the Auckland Port Officer during the last six months - I deserted my post and have been cruising in Northern waters. I say `cruising' rather than `sailing' as for 2 1/2 months we cruised the French inland waterways, which was an entirely new and delightful experience for three New Zealanders! (See Coast to Coast in Cavalier, page 00).

I am now home again in Auckland, looking forward to another summer! I hope to hear from visiting OCC members - it will be good to meet you, and I will be pleased to help in any way I can.

Tim Thompson, Port Officer Christchurch, New Zealand

I feel I should advise members that Lyttelton currently (September) has to boil its drinking water for twenty minutes as the reservoirs have become polluted. We carry our Christchurch water to our boats. This problem has been going on since we returned in August, and though work is being talked about in the papers no one knows when the water will again be clean. I will keep you posted.

Marjorie Bancroft, Port Officer Maine, USA

Fourteen boats sailed into Smith's Cover on Cape Rosier in Penobscot Bay on 18th July: Emily and Forbes Morse - Blithe Spirit, George and Sage Hall - Osprey, Bobby and Roberta Schmidt - Hobnob, Ron Trossbach - Mooneshine, Sidney Clemens - Good News, Tom Plummer - Amethyst, Harvy and Pam Geiger, Alan and Cathy Rae - Evening Star, Bobby and Cy Sweet - Sayonara, Ed and Otsie Kendrick - Penobscot, Brian Smullen, Michael O'Flaherty and Clive Brown - Cuilaun, out of Ireland, Ernie and Alice Burton - Gitana, Guy and Karen Cosby - Whaleback, Ross and Kathleen Sherbroke - Dulcinea, and Marji and Den Bancroft - Windril. Ten guests accompanied the fleet. Rear Commodore USA East Charles Dennis and his wife Boo drove up from New York City, and Bob Ayre, Philip Brooks, Steve Parson and their wives came by car from local areas.

Unlimited steamed mussels, `Gorp' and `Great Grip' (rum punch served in watering pots) were enjoyed on the point overlooking the fleet. The fifty sailors then adjoured to the Bancroft's newest and biggest addition to their family compound, where a lobster dinner followed by fresh strawberries was served. After eating sea chanties were sung, messages read and plans for a repeat next year were discussed. The 1993 OCC Maine Rally will take place on 17th July - same place, same time, same feast! Come one, come all!

* I did wonder whether this should have been Rogue Wave? Ed