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ePaper created 2014-06-11, 13:05:34 | version 1.30.01
103 around Ireland and across the North Sea to Norway and Sweden, but it was not until September of 1975, when Logan was 62, that Puarangi really got going. Serious cruising started with an 11,000 nautical mile trip across the Atlantic Ocean via Ireland, Spain, Madeira (Portugal), the Canary Islands and then on to the Caribbean for the winter. The return trip the following spring and early summer was via Bermuda and the Azores Islands of Portugal. A very satisfactory wind vane self-steering system, nick-named Georgina, was developed on this voyage. Patullo spent three months at home tying up loose ends and in September of 1976 Puarangi sailed southwards again from Scotland,running into a nasty gale in the Bay of Biscay where she laid ahull for four days in force 9 winds. At that stage his crew member gave up sailing for good and left the yacht upon reaching Corunna in northern Spain. Logan carried on, sailing single handed to Gibraltar. A replacement crew was found, an Australian who stayed with Puarangi as far as Tahiti. Good time was made on Puarangi’s second westwardAtlantic crossing. It took just 18 days to sail from the Canaries toAntigua, averaging six knots of speed while using the self-steering all the way. The Caribbean was relaxing for a few months and after surviving Carnival time inTrinidad,Logan and crew headed through the Panama Canal to the Galapagos Islands. From there he carried on across the South Pacific Ocean through the Marquesas and Tuamotus groups,Tahiti and the Society Islands,onwards to the Cook Islands,Niue and Fiji. Puarangi arrived in New Zealand in October of 1977 after spending two years and covering more than 40,000 miles seeing the world. Patullo’s crew varied in numbers but Puarangi never sailed a long passage with more than three on board. Between November 1977 and March of 1981, Patullo and his second wife Paulette cruised extensively between Whangamata and the Bay of Islands. On Saturday the 4th of July in 1981 Logan, at the age of 68, set off for his last offshore adventure. He was bound for Lautoka, Fiji with wife Paulette, aged 64 years and step-son Ian Woodhouse, aged 38 years, as crew. On the second night of the passage we encountered a severe electrical storm with much sheet and fork lightning accompanied by lumpy seas. The whole scene was very surreal. It was all quite terrifying for Paulette. They laid ahull for ten hours till the seas moderated. The passages took 11 days, 1-1/2 hours, and of these 8 days were on the wind, 1-1/2 days were in light and variable winds and 1-1/2 days were in glorious southeast trade winds. During Patullo’s extensive sailing career he was always fiercely independent, refusing to have an SSB (single sideband) radio on board. He reasoned that if others didn’t know where he was,they wouldn’t be unduly worried about him. The last thing that he would have wanted was an unnecessary search and rescue operation on his behalf. Likewise he believed in having a very spartan boat with simple yet workable systems in place. This philosophy served him well over many years. Logan Patullo wrote his account of the loss of Puarangi on 27 January, 1987: “Having picked up Katy and her two children at the Whangamata Wharf soon after 7 a.m. we motored out of the harbour entrance and then sailed northwards up the Coromandel Coast with a light offshore breeze and a slight ocean swell. We saw quite a number of little penguins and other sea birds and sailed past our destination to look for some sea elephants which had been reported near Opoutere Beach. Then up near Slipper Island before turning back and heading slowly towards Pokohino, the small bay where they intended to lunch and meet up with Katy’s friends, who were coming by land. The wind fell light so we furled all sail and motored slowly in towards the entrance. It was nearly low tide and when the echo sounder read 4.5 metres I went forward to drop the anchor, which caught at once. At this moment a big“rogue” wave broke over the stern of the boat, filling the cock-pit and even going over the bridge deck into the cabin. The anchor chain (more than 120 feet) ran out so quickly that it was quite impossible to check it. This was followed by the rope tail, which finally snagged in the hawse pipe and broke. The boat was actually surfing at high speed down the face of a big breaking wave, which carried her shorewards into shallow water. The engine was still working, but the keel only lifted from the bottom momentarily as each breaking wave passed under her, so it proved impossible to make any progress seawards. From this time on we were driven relentlessly on to jagged rocks in the northern corner of the bay, which pounded her with each successive wave. She was soon holed below the water line.