One year on
A cargo ship was early today expected to rescue a solo yachtsman who set off a beacon for help more than 2000km off the New Zealand coastline. An Air Force Orion located the Polish sailor 2660km east of Christchurch yesterday. A ship which diverted to help the 64- year- old skipper was expected to collect the man overnight. Round- the- world sailor Gregor Wegrzyn left Auckland on March 18 and planned to return to Poland around Cape Horn in Chile. Air Force air commodore Darryn Webb said it was a pleasing way to end the search so far from the coastline. “Our crew established [ contact] with the skipper. He reported a problem with the vessel’s helm and appeared to be in good spirits,” Webb said. Hundreds of shooters took to the hills in Central Otago yesterday for the annual Great Easter Bunny Hunt. The event is organised by the Alexandra Lions Club and raises about $ 10,000 for community causes every year. Last year about 10,000 rabbits were shot in the 24- hour event. Organiser Dave Ramsay said team numbers were down slightly this year as fewer blocks of land had been available due to landowner uncertainty about when a new rabbit virus was being released. A Nelson man is three- quarters of the way through a 19- day trip to solo circumnavigate the South Island in a 3.8- metre rigid hull inflatable boat to raise money for a mate with a rare disease. If successful, David Puklowski will be the first person to make the journey in such a small motor boat. Puklowski set out from Nelson on April 1 and a live- tracker showed him near Oamaru on Thursday. He dreamed up the challenge as a way to do something for his mate, Russell Blowers, who has a condition which affects bone growth. Police are appealing for sightings of a man who approached two young girls in Wellington. On Sunday April 2 the two 13- year- old girls were walking on Parkvale Rd in Karori when the male exposed himself and spoke to them in a sexually suggestive manner. They ran away without being followed and told their parents, who called police. The man, a European, is in his 30s, with short, dark- brown hair. He was wearing a brown T- shirt with white wings on the front, black jandals, black shorts and black sunglasses. Toby Manhire’s column on Thursday, headlined “Must be time to get on the buses”, said the cost of the planned East- West Link was $ 18 billion. This was incorrect. The cost of the project is estimated to be $ 1.8 billion. Toby Manhire and the Herald apologise for the error.