Norfolk enchants

THE year is 1962, with fine sunny weather favouring the yacht marina at Rushcutters Bay in Sydney. My crewmate Ricky and I were working on our new home, the thirty-two feet yacht Isis, tied up in her usual berth.

I say ‘new home’, because we both jumped ship from the around-the-world yacht Diana, some weeks previously and accepted crew positions on Isis.

DIANA V ISIS

Crewing on the yacht Diana turned out to be somewhat of an ordeal under the captaincy of Old Etonian, Norman Young. Faulty gear and atrocious weather combined to give Diana the dubious honour of the longest ever Tasman crossing: thirty-one days, including a brief stopover at Lord Howe Island for emergency repairs.

But that is another story.

Our new skipper was the grandly-named Walter Layfeyette Martindale, the 33 years old son of indulgent parents from California. Their twenty-first birthday present to Walter was a light aircraft.

At six foot two Walter had quite an imposing presence and, to itinerant yachties like Ricky and me, he seemed a fairly sound proposition for ocean cruising. Walter’s motive for hiring us was to crew Isis to Tahiti and, to this end, we were provisioning the yacht at night, gradually, over a period of weeks. The reason for night-time operations will become clear fairly soon.

Walter’s objective in heading up to Tahiti was explained as follows: he and his wife Jane, also American, had been married in Tahiti under French Law. Because they were now separated and awaiting divorce, he reasoned that by returning to French Polynesia and filing for divorce there, the French Court would consider his case favourably.

He also thought they would grant him custody of their 22 months old daughter, Liane. It is worth noting here that the Australian Court had already granted Jane Martindale custody of Liane.

MAKING A RUN FOR TAHITI

Walter finally decided on our departure day. He picked a Saturday because that was the day when his wife, Jane, was at her usual hairdressing appointment.

Saturday arrived and, at noon, Walter appeared at the head of the marina with baby Liane under one arm, her high chair in the other, plus a large bundle of nappies. I was half expecting something like this, but when it actually happens the gravity of the situation really hits home.

Ricky and I looked at each other with