IN WINTER QUARTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 134, 8 June 1932, Page 9

IN WINTER QUARTERS.

SMALL CRAFT MADE SNUG. BACK TO THE CRADLE. NO "CLASS DISTINCTION."

For the Auck lander who does not ''know his Ponsonby," a ramble along the harbour boundary of the western suburb is a revelation. The tour is no easy one, for the ways that lead down to where a muddy tide breaks on the most modest of beaches, or laps the base of private waterfront properties are devious and steep. Along this shore, hidden from the eyes of those who would see without descending the long llights of steps or slippery tracks that go down to the sea, many of Auckland's pleasure fleet are in snug winter quarters. Here are to be seen boats of all descriptions. There is no class distinction, and the unpretentious runabout "aits" cheekily side by side with the stately cruiser, whose square ports, neat with their tiny curtains, are too high up to permit of even a curious peep. Some of the craft have been hauled far beyond the high tide level, and look strangely out of place in a setting of grass. In a few instances, nideed, it almost seems as if the owners have attempted to haul their boats up the slopes to the high land above. Sitting here in their strongly-made cradles, the boats are as cosy as the most exacting owner could wish. The high land behind gives them shelter from the fiercest of westerly "■ales, and the rock breakwaters that form St. Mary's Bay boat harbour make them snug "to all unfriendly weather that blows up from the opposite direction.

Community Spirit. Wandering around this western waterfront, where the gulls and kingfishers hunt undisturbed, one is inclined to overlook the fact that the hauling up of boats entails really hard work. A launch or yacht cannot be put away when no longer wanted with the ease with which a motor car is run into a garage. The boat has to bo carefully coaxed into her cradle, from the water the cradle

has to be hauled to where the boat is to "sit out" the winter. But the community spirit among boat-owners is strong and many hands make comparatively light work of getting the pleasure craft out of the water. "You'll help me and I'll help you," is the creed that is known on the waterfront.

Along tho western waterfront there i 3 an appearance that is essentially "boaty." The locality is not new like the fine stretch of broad roadway that .leads along the eastern foreshore to Orakei, and the places where the small craft have been hauled up are stra7igely quiet. Apart from tho actual yachts and launches in their cradles, there is other evidence that the residents of the locality love the sea. In more than one back garden of a house perched high above the harbour, a small boat can be seen sleeping out the winter beside the vegetable plot. In another backyard the liuTl of some strange-looking watereraft is nearing completion. Out in the bay pleasure boats, big and small, ride to their moorings.

Old Auckland Keeler. It is only natural that a launch or yacht looks best afloat, but it is when a craft is out of water that her true lines can best be seen. Here, in the shadow of the cliffs, one can admire a beautifully modelled old type of Auckland keeler, slim and deep, with long and tapering stern. Her bowsprit is within six inches of the cliffs that are scaled in that locality by nearly a hundred steps, popularly known as Jacob's Ladder. Yachts of this design were favoured before the smaller specialised classes appeared on the scene and the motor engine became popular. With launches it is the same. Out of the water they appear as they really are. Ugly lines cannot be hidden. In their winter homes the boats will rest, admired or criticised by those who pass that way. With the coming of another spring there will bo busy days, when paint-pot and brush will be much in evidence. And then, when the tide is suitable, the hibernated ilect will be! cradled back to the sea, j