YACHTSMEN RACE IN STIFF SEA WIND

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 29, 4 February 1939, Page 12

YACHTSMEN RACE IN STIFF SEA WIND

89TH REGATTA'S THRILLS

This was the day of all days for hundreds of Auckland's yachtsmen. The disappointment that thdy suffered on Monday, when the eighty-ninth Anniversary Regatta was postponed as the unavoidable result of 'adverse weather, was made up for to-day by skies that were dull but fine, and by a stiff north-easterly breeze which tested their skill and endurance to the fullest. It was a day for the serious side of yachting. There was no room for the picnic spirit on seas thrashed to spray by the wind. Instead of a lazy picture of unflurried sails gliding through summer sunshine, of brown, bare-backed bodies sprawling, on dry decks, the scene was one of drenched figures in oilskins struggling with ropes and stays which grew as taut as steel wires, of sleek craft keeling over as they cut a path through' crested waves. But the endless "swoosh!" of spray, the scream of the wind in rigging, and the sharp, staccato sound of flapping sails were sweet music in the ears of the yachtsmen. All these things, they felt, were to the advantage of their sport, and there were few of them who withdrew their entries. Over 300 craft took an active part in the regatta. Among the smaller classes capsizes were not infrequent, but mishaps such as these were all in the game. Some of the overturned crews werfe miraculously able to right their boats and carry on with the briefest of delay. Others who were less fortunate were protected by the vigilance of naval and other launches which cruised continuously about the harbour, ready to give help where help was needed.