Voyagers' holiday salvaged

By PAUL YANDALL

The New Zealand family stranded on a remote reef in the Coral Sea are continuing their holiday after a daring rescue by crew of a Royal Australian Navy minesweeper.

Christchurch engineer David Cairns managed to steer his yacht, Aimlis, into deeper waters around the reef after being towed off it by the minesweeper HMAS Huon yesterday afternoon.

The yacht ran aground on Chesterfield Reef, 800km off the Queensland coast, on Tuesday night.

Early yesterday, Mr Cairns' wife, Diane, and their 24-year-old daughter, Teresa, were rescued from the yacht by Australian sailors and taken to the Huon to rest.

"They are pretty exhausted and wet but all right," said the commanding officer of the Huon, Commander John Griffith.

"They're very pleased to see us. It's been a bit miserable out here for them."

He said sailors in two inflatable Zodiac dinghies from the ship managed to reach the yacht about 5.30 am local time after an attempt on Thursday night was abandoned because of rough weather.

Four-metre high waves, high winds and heavy rains made negotiating the uncharted reef particularly treacherous, but conditions had settled by yesterday morning.

Sailors took the women to the ship for rest while others helped Mr Cairns rig a towing line from his yacht, which had run aground on the western side of the reef near a small island called Long Island, to the Huon.

"If he'd been any further ashore he could have planted a garden," said Commander Griffith.

"We were all scratching our heads wondering how the hell he got that far up the reef."

He described the salvage mission as pretty spectacular.

"Mr Cairns and our petty officer on board had a ride that was better than any Easter show ride. They went up and down into a hole and came up pretty vertical before settling down."

He said the yacht was finally hauled off the reef by the Huon about 2.30 pm local time.

"The yacht's in good nick. It will need a new paint job but it's a strong, well-built thing."

Mr Cairns built the 11.3m, steel-hulled yacht himself about 10 years ago. He and his Christchurch family are experienced boaties, often sailing around the South Pacific together.

One of his daughters, 18-year-old Alicia, said from the family's home last night that she had been waiting for news all day with another daughter, Gina.

She said they were both relieved to hear they were all right. "Thank God for that. I'm so happy."