It Was 4 for Tea--for 4 Months

What began as a pleasure cruise of Pacific islands turned into a long ordeal for an American and three New Zealanders as they spent nearly four months adrift aboard their overturned boat, police in New Zealand said. The three New Zealanders--skipper John Glennie, 48, Phillip Hoffman, 41, and Rick Hellriegel, 31--told their story to reporters in Auckland. The American crew member, Jim Nalepka, 38, did not speak at the news conference. The four men drifted ashore on New Zealand’s Great Barrier Island late Sunday. Their trimaran, a craft with three parallel hulls, capsized June 4 in high seas about 140 miles off New Zealand, they said. Coast Guard officials said that apart from loss of weight, all four were in good physical condition. “We had a lot of food in the boat and we rigged up a plastic sheet to catch rainwater. We were able to have cups of tea in the mornings,” Glennie told reporters. The men built a platform above the water level to form a cave-like shelter under the cockpit--but living in such close quarters took a toll. “I don’t really care if I don’t see the other three again, ever, but I suppose that feeling will pass,” Glennie said.

--Jim Robinson has also made a journey of sorts--from homelessness to a new home and a new job. Three weeks ago, Robinson, 42, was an unwelcome intruder in a Miss America contestants’ photo session. The discovery of Robinson and another homeless man beneath an overturned lifeguard boat interrupted the Sept. 9 beach photo session at Atlantic City, N.J., and an Associated Press photographer captured the scene as police hustled them away. A day after that incident, Robinson’s colleague, Jeff Hall, was found dead on the beach (the cause has not been determined). Robinson said Hall’s death inspired him to try to turn around his own life. He has moved in with a cousin in Bogota, N.J., and is working in the mail room at Penguin USA, a publishing company in Bergenfield, N.J.

--Cowboy singer and actor Rex Allen, 68, is going to have a place to hang his hat--and the rest of his wardrobe, movie posters, silver saddle, record jackets, comic books and other mementos--in his hometown of Willcox, Ariz. The Rex Allen Arizona Cowboy Museum will open during the 38th annual Rex Allen Days, Saturday and Sunday. Exhibits will touch on local history in addition to Allen’s life--from his youth in the southeastern Arizona town through his singing and movie days and his numerous narrations for Disney “World of Color” TV specials.