AQUATICS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXII, Issue 46, 23 February 1901, Page 4 (Supplement)

AQUATICS.

Entry night in connection with the Auckland Anniversary Regatta is fixed for Wednesday, March 6. The canvass for subscriptions has been very liberally met, and the Regatta should' prove a very successful affair in spite of the forced x)ostponement from Anniversary Day.

Our correspondent at Wellington sends the following account of the race between the ex-Auckland yachts Rainbow and Waitangi, won by the" latter:-—"To the surprise of everybody the contest for the Levin dip resulted in the defeat of the crack yacht Rainbow by the Waitangi by 4min. 46sec. from the scratch line. The contest was held under very favourable conditions with a light breeze from the north-east. The race was n sealed handicap for first and secondulass yachts, and eight entries were received. When the starter's gim was fired at 2.30 the Atalanta was the first to cross the starting line at 2.30, 20secs, followed by the Rona at 2.30, SOsecs; Rainbow 2.30, 45secs; ■ Waitangi, . 2.32, COsecs: Maritana, 2.3G, Osees; Kotiri, 2.36, SOsecs. The Muritai und Jennie Reid did not start. Mr W. D. Howard sailed the Waitangi, .and the win was very creditable to him, as it was his first at^ tempt with her. Mr.E. C. E.- Mills was at the tiller of the Rainbow, for the first time also, and no . doubt when he gets the hang of his » fine little craft he will do much belter. The boats finished as follows: —Waitangi (handicap lOmins), 4hr 59min 30sec; Rainbow (scratch), snr 2min 11 sec; Maritana (handicap 20min), shr 17min 53sec; Atalanta (handicap 25min), shr 24min lOsec; On working out the handicaps the following is the result: —Waitangi 1, Maritana 2, Atalanta 3. Rona and Kotiri being some distance behind, their times were not taken."

In the Prince Alfred Yacht Club race for 30-footer yachts at Sydney the other day, Auckland-built yachts figured conspicuously. The competitors were:—Magic (J. 0. Fairfax), 29.96 rating; Meteor (Dr. J. F. Hliott), 30.7 rating-; Fleetwing (S. Hoiklern), 29.6' rating; Heather (Dr. Gordon-Craig), 30.6 rating; Aoma (Arch. Dixson), 30.4 rating; Petrel (S. M. Dempster), 30.4 rating; Cooya (A. W. Crane), 30.3 rating. The Magic won, with the Meteor second, and IPJeetwing-* third. "Despite the disparity of years (says the Sydney 'Beferee') Meteor has sailed very consistently of late, filling, as she did, third place in a fairly fresh breeze on the last occasion upon which the 30-footers met. Under the circumstances, Dr. Elliott's champion should have a good chance of proving- the ultimate. winner of this series of races. She defeated Eleetwing for second place by 2min 12sec— a very good performance. The Fifedesigned Fleetwing gave a" better account of herself than she has hitherto done, but in such an up-and-down-the-course breeze as Saturday's was, her performance was really no criterion to go by. She secured third place from Petrel by a margin of 3inin ssec. As may be imagined, with so much leading^ in the wind, Petrel, Heather, Aoma, and Cooya' were not. seen nt their best. It requires something more than a mere nicker of a wind to .bring out the good qualities of these fast racers. Finishing times were:—Magic, sh. 52m 525; Meteor. 5h 59m 50s; Fleetwing, 6h 2m 2s; Petrel, 6h 15m 8s; Aoma, 6h 7m 17s; Heather, 6h 7m 355. Mr Thomas W. Lawson, the Boston millionaire, who has generously undertaken to build a second yacht with which, to defend the America Cup, has entrusted' Mr B. B. Crowninshield, of Boston, with the. designing of the new 90-footer. Thereby, says an American weekly, another designer than Herreshoff will have an opportunity to show his skill. Boston being represented as well as New York, a more general interest in the contest wilFbe created, and the prospect of keeping the cup-will be immeasurably increased, or made more certain. Mr Lawson's venture, it is estimated, will cost him between 150.H300 and 250,000 dollars. According to the account to hand, a pleasing feature of the Crowinshield design is that it closely resembles the model of ,the designer's 21ft "raceabouts," or, to quote the better-known term, "knockabouts." This, it is said, is essentially a Boston creation, it being quite . a radical departure from the model of the last defender, in that the new design shows a flatter floor, more beam, less draft, and less outside ballast. „