AQUATICS

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1926, Page 25

AQUATICS

(By SPEEDWELL.)

The Anniversary Regatta, about which the old hands can recount stories of many a hard-fought race between the big schooners, which sailed around Tiritiri and back, or the numerous fleet of trading cutters, which also rounded Tiritiri, and later on the old-time yachts Arawa, Rita, Muritai, Matangi. Maratea, Spray, and Volunteer, has come and gone. All these boats were raced keenly, and were prepared by their numerous crews for weeks ahead. More recently we had the first of the present-day type of keel yacht, with their moderate overhangs, which developed finally into the rounded bows of the Rainbow and Speedwell types. About each and every one of these craft there are good yarns of how they beat the older favourites, only to have the tables turned on themselves in a year or two as each succeeding regatta day saw the latest creation from Bailey's or Logan's yard compete for the first time with the older cracks. The daye referred to are generally termed the "good old days of yachting" by the old hands, who quite overlook the fact that the sport has grown many times larger with its numerous small boat classes. While a duel between Arawa and Rita or Viking