SPINNAKERS CARRIED THROUGHOUT COURSE WITH FLUKY WIND

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 88, 14 April 1945, Page 8 (Supplement)

SPINNAKERS CARRIED THROUGHOUT COURSE WITH FLUKY WIND

YACHTING

Slow and rather uninteresting were the races at the Richmond Yac«t Club's trophy day last Saturday. A light and fiuky southerly made good racing impossible and very often boats which were running well up with the leaders for most of the course became broken off towards the finish and crossed the line well back. In addition, the direction of the wind in the early part of the afternoon gave a lay round, and spinnakers were carried on every leg. A shift to the south-west later gave a windward leg for the 14-footers from Shoal Bay to the Watchman, and it was here the scratch boats made up a little. This was not enough, however, to give them a lead which would compensate them for the handicaps they were conceding.

In the early part of the V class race, Irina sailed exceptionally well in the light, and was leading the fleet from the Herne Bay mark to Shoal Bay. Irina was recently purchased by J. Watkins, former owner of Arline. Takina is another 18-footer that is seen at her best in light weather, and she ran the crack Matara a close second at the finish. Takina was carrying a tremendous sail area, which included an extra large headsail and masthead spinnaker. Jeanette finished third. The performance of the 16-footer Sonoma was another surprise, although anything was likely to happen under Saturday's conditions. However, Sonoma sailed well and finished fourth, 7m 20s after Jeanette and lm 26s ahead of Irina.

Scintilla Shows Speed In the X class race, Scintilla surprised the Jellicoe enthusiasts by running second to Sonata when the fleet reached the Shoal Bay buoy. Shortly after rounding, she passed Sonata, but Sam Mason in Davina made a wise move when he stood further over to windward before setting his spinnaker for the tight lead to the Watchman and the upper harbour mark. This move gained him the lead and Scintilla took second place. Positions remained fairly static as the fleet went up to the top mark, but Content had begun to sail better, and was showing her paces in the light. Valma was also doing well. By the time the Shoal Bay buoy was reached for the second time the wind had shifted to the south-west and had increased in force.

It was on the wind for the leg to the Watchman, and here Content went into the lead, with Valma second and Davina third, with Foam fourth and Scintilla fifth, all of them within lm 225.

The fact that Neville Thom, former owner of Tassie, and his crew, Roy ("Nip") Allen and Tom Blackie, were handling Scintilla was accepted by most as the reason for her improved performance. Thom recently sold Tassie as he is shortly to start the construction of a new X class boat, built on the lines of Scnata. Tassie, which is now owned by the former skipper of the Zeddie Korero, finished well back on Saturday, but can reasonably be expected to do better when her new skipper becomes accustomed to her. The new boat Makura has proved herself good in light weather, and her performance in the M class race on Saturday was no exception. As soon as the wind began to lighten, Makura made up time, and she finished first, 3m Is ahead of Mawhiti. Mawhiti sailed a typically consistent race in weather which suited her, and she finished 15s ahead of the crack boat Marahi. Prefect and Prelude > Prefect has shown that she has lost none of that speed which so surprised Y class enthusiasts two or three seasons ago. On Saturday she appeared, in the earlier stages of the race, to have little chance of being a winner, as she crossed the starting line at the tail-end of the fleet in a very fluky breeze. On the second time round the course, however, she had begun to pick up, and her performance further improved when the breeze freshened and gave a beat from Shoal Bay to the Watchman. Up to that time, M. Bushill s Opah had been sailing exceptionally well, but it was noticed that as soon ias the wind came up, she dropped back, and Prefect went into the lead. |R. Croad's unorthodox skimmer, Prelude, showed that in spite of her outlandish appearance, her lack of wetted surface and surfboard shape gives her an advantage in light airs. She ran Prefect a close second, finishing 23s after her. Opah was close enough to the leaders to gain the decision on time and she needed little of her eight-minute concession. In the T class, Shirlene led Treasure home by 5m 18s, with Shalimar third. The Zeddies'' race was held over the Takapuna Boating Club's course. In the Pupuke Division, C. McCarthy's Javelin came home first with Les Willetts' Te Utu only 16s behind. Zippa was third home, lm 39s after Te Utu. The Takapuna Club olaced Javelin (lm 30s) first ton time, with Te Utu (lm 455) second, while the Richmond placings were: Te Utu (3Jm) 1, Javelin (2Jm) 2, Zippa (sm) 3. Te Lua came home first in the Takapuna Division of- the Z class, with Marion second, and lolanthe and Topaz dead-heating for third.