AQUATICS

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 213, 8 September 1923, Page 21

AQUATICS

(By SPEEDWELL.) Paint and putty, brushes, varnish, Klhnw grease removes the turnUh; Spars and sails and engine gear. Fix them up for -SI'IUXO IS HERE! Yes, the fine weather of the past two week-ends has awakened all boating; men to the fact that the yachting I season is rapidly approaching, and j around all our beaches and boatl sheds you can find crews hard at work •on their boats. More than ordinary 1 enthusiasm seems to prevail this season, J and it. is :i very good sisni of the times J and our only excuse for perpetrating j the introductory couplet. The spirit which starts us all scraping and puttying and painting in good earnest will continue till the last job is done to the good ship, be she handy 14-footer or stately 50-footer, runabout or cruising launch, or just a "bit of a boat." The keener a man is about getting his boat ready for the season, the keener he will be to get a good position well up to windward of his rivals at the start of his club's races. All good skippers know that a good start frequently means the race half won. Sometimes you may feel inclined to skimp a particularly hard bit on the bottom and think Hhe'll be all right when the paint is on, but it is just these little things which tell in a keen race. Little use you getting the very best sails and gear, skipper and crew, if your lioat has a roug-h bottom. So get into your old clothes and make a job of it. To some, fitting out may appear hard work, hut to the majority of us it is one of the pleasures of the sport and the man who has all this work done for him misses half the fun.

After the work of rubbing off the old paint is finished by the use of ipumice brick, pumice stone, sand paper or scraper or a combination of them all, have a look at the seams for soft spots in the caulking or puttying. If there are any pick it out and renew it. Re« that the load keel or centreboard is smooth and has no jflfrpred edrrcs to catch the water. See that the rudder is working frcoly on its pintlo? and tlio stock is not warped or the rudder heart loose. If the rudder head is not rijrirl it may cause you to lose many valuable seconds when roundinff a mark or be the cause of you striking it or a competitor and so put you out of the race. The writer lost a bowsprit and a. race for just this fault.

season. The club will be sorry to lose ■ Mr. Kelly, who.held the office of comino- , dore for several years, previous to which i he was hon. secretary for eight or ten i years. The office of commodore is an j all important one, and it is to be hoped a worthy successor to Mr. Kelly will come forward. Mr. C. E. Mackie has been asked to accept nomination for the office, and, as he ia an old officer of the club, his worth should be well-known to the members. Nominations fur all offices close one week prior to the annual . mooting. I W. M. JOHNSTON. j W. M. John- i 'P*%ffff? I ston, the most ('' Sx&fy, remarkable tennis player of his weight to- ✓v'L day (he weighs L^-oO**^/^ about 8 stone), fvl vy I dsepite his size, \ V I has tho hardest /s&fizth forehand drive <&£Cr\ in the world. v l/ After beating /m$S/** fl \ England's IJ/ I at the recent ifraßJl KHLWimbledon tour- IfSffl JHP ; iiuincnt he re- ■^Httpffls^-fflTt' turned to 1 America, an d, Z--' with Tilden and Williamsr represented America in the Davis Cup matches. Although he lost his five-set game against Anderson, he beat Hawkes by three straight sets.

Mr. Yernon H. Reed, of the Bay of Islands, has purchased the 40-foot launch Rothesay, and she left for her new home last week. Rotliesay is one of our finest huinches, very elaborately fitted below deck. The late Mr. Heather, who purchased her a few months before his death, only had one trip in Rer. She fs fitted with a .°>o h.p- heavy duty Sterling engine, which <rives her a speed of i> knots. Rothesay left Auckland at noon on Friday week, piittinß into Little Omaha for the night. Jx?aving early next morning she arrived off (ape Hrett at 4.:!0 p.m., 15 hours' steaming time from Auckland. Off the Capo she had trouble with her benzine feed pipe and stopped. She was eventually picked up and towed to l»ahia, where she arrived at 1 a-m. on Sunday. The pipe line was tlien cleared. She lias been running - satisfactorily since her arrival. The record for the run from "Ru«=ell to Auckland is held by Scripps 111. which «lid this journey from Russell to Queen Street wharf iii 8 'hours iiS minutes on June S, 1914, un average of 13.4 knots.