From Matangi Tonga Magazine Vol. 15, no. 2, June 2000.

It was a happy occasion for Patricia Landemere at the Billfish Bar and Restaurant on the evening of May 16, when she was presented with a trophy and gift by Dr Masaso Paunga, the Minister responsible for Tourism.

The award recognised that Patricia was the only female skipper among the 41 yachts that took part in the 2000 Island Cruising Rally between the Bay of Islands, New Zealand and ‘Atata island, in Tonga.

It was Patricia’s second visit to Tonga. She first visited the kingdom on May 23 last year after being rescued from her sinking yacht, Lucifero, 100 miles away from Niue, en route to Tonga from the Cooks. Patricia said that Lucifero, ‘the Devil’, struck what could have been either a floating container or a tree trunk. “The boat was filling up with water and we could not stop it from sinking,” she said. Patricia with one crew-member was on a round the world Blue Water Rally which started in Gibraltar. They abandoned the yacht and from their life raft she sent out a message through her special Rescue Beacon, which was picked up in England. Then New Zealand sent an Orion aircraft to conduct a rescue operation by directing other yachts to pick them up.

Patricia went to New Zealand and bought the Tanamera, the Lion of Singapore, and now she is back in the Pacific to complete her round the world rally. She was hoping to be back in the Mediterranean next June.