THE ANNIVERSARY REGATTA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 15, 18 January 1905, Page 3

THE ANNIVERSARY REGATTA.

(To the Editor.) '•'.■ Si r> —We are on the eve of our annual regatta—the yearly carnival for most yachtsmen. Before the entries for the different yacht races are received 1 would most respectfully bring a matter before the Regatta Committee. Will! tuck-stern centre-board boats be allowed to compete against keel boats? The small yachts have one race allotted to them, viz., 25ft water-line and under. If boats of the mullet boat type are allowed in this race the keel yachts will labour under a very considerable handicap, as the centre-board craft has the better of the deal on every point. A keel boat fighting a tide feels its influence far more than the shallow cen-tre-board craft running before the wind. The centre-board boat can lift her plate and simply run away from the keel yacht, so that' it is manifestly unfair to expect the latter boat to make anything of a fight with her shallowadversary. The Regatta Committee has most generously allotted two races for mullet boats, so that this one race i should be left to the keel yaehta alone. If the committee will make it known that this race will be for keel boats only I feel sure a much larger field will cross the line on Regatta Day, as after the exhibition the Waitangi (since disqualified) made of her field last Saturday in the North Shore Club races most owners of keel boats see how useless it is to compete with the mullet boat type. Trusting that the Regatta Committee will consider the Joint, I