AQUATICS.

Press, Volume XXI, Issue 2370, 10 March 1873, Page 2

AQUATICS.

[FBOM A Sr-ECIAL tiOBBESPOHDBHT-J

Although your readers arc, &ontel&s> thoroughly well posted in the °* the various events at the recent welliPS* 0 ? regatta, still, on the principle that on see the most of the game, pcihaps aiw notes from an old Canterbury boatiag-B 32 ** may not be uninteresting to Eome of 3° a boating readers. s ., The report of the regatta, as quoted J; you from the "Wellington IndcpenoffM was an admirable one taken as a whol*"~ fact more than sufficient to give your readers a very good idea °*-- tha ' T » Jjy events—but in the following P a P^',.J, c _ pose to touch upon a few subjects not up by the " Independent." h* $0 It was my misfortune not to B° Phccbe. I made one of the -.**T eionißts who took passage by tne . 6.8. Bangitira. We left ***?*:■& gloomy forebodings as to wW*

<TCwide the Heads. SomephiloeoOf -he reality; we found ****** v*Tio be untrue. We foreboded to ** *Sart, but our forebodings fell very f*ofthe reality. I wish to pass over this * - of the trip as speedily as possible, refrain from complimenting Ut L»_7e gentleman on board, of rotund very original and speedy ** ti_h he proposed to make of his «"*,"■ aeo-ies- To use his own words, "fflrf deliriously as he staggered in a ?tCn*werfrom the companion to the The said, " Who'll cut mc open." Our leS for the'majority of us, was anything ** * fie the day weary or ever so long, it length it ringeth to evensong." kU I at-an that we got to the Eppire ftt this any description of 10 be more than superfluous, t be subject of the Empire City, * nt *2 re-* 0 from bearin S testimony to I and hospitality received boating men and visitors the Wellington public. This •**S ■**»«!»■ personal statement, but is II S giving expression to the opinion of man and they were not a I came in contact. fte postponement of the regatta was un_«i»edir* Boredisappointment to &11, bQt Jk«_n-w_od that Wows nobody good— d the Telegraph office got solid satisfaction i«* it if nobody else did. The decision of tha committee was unquestionably a very wise ong. Having learned that several of the crews intended going out in the afternoon forpracti j betook myself to the neighbourhood of hoataheds erected at the Kotokoro for the accommodation of the boats of visiting crews.

The Kaiapoi crew were the first to take the water. This crew was much fancied by T both in Wellington and Christchurch, this was owing niore, I imagine, to the prestige gained by their really good performance of"Jsstjyear in an inferior boat. tbsn to their present form. It is of co_reeVery eaiy to be prophetic after a race, bat I may _ay, ; that defects which I lad noticed before they left Canterbury were ji-1 v&y observable—their coxswain was each too light for the boat—and although well aware of this before they left Christchnrch,,they bad not, as far as I could judge, taken sufficient pains to'■; rectify this fault— st any rate, both in practice and in the race, t_e*-*--i was trimmed* very much by the held. They may have been right in discardiog their sliding seats, but though on thia subject I speak with, some diffidence, I Karcely think that it was very fair to the builder. They pulled a long steady strokes _!# hung ivery* much at the end.—all with j the exception of stroke going much too far back. £ ■■.■■-. The Sabrina was the next out—their rowing on thia occasion was chiefly confined to practising -tarts, and they seemed to get away weir together. . The Star Club's boat SteUa next put in an appearance. Before she left the sheds I waa allowed .to take the dimensions in a cursory nan-en Without, going to details I would ttK&ioo that she has slightly less beam than the Sabrina, and is about twertty-two incbeß shorter f* f»d certainly does Salter every credit, nut li'must say that I was disap*pointed with the action of the steering gean both in this aaadih her sister boat the Dolly Vaiden. The wire yoke lines were quite slack, which tfeei confident .wias not the intention of the inventor; tent lines being, it & needless to say, a first principle bf ateericg. ! |B the team I recognised two of our friends'of last year, viz., Lennox and Waldon. The styles of this crew I liked very much, tndfrotn subsequent observation of the other j crews dtenng-the race, I consider them the best Wellington" crew, though the Dolly Vardea's inn. them very close. The only faults _ would notice here were a very objectdonable bang at the finish of the stroke, and s&w^eachiqrwaid ; also, that the arms were getting more than their share of the work. The iJolly.Vardeth and the Porirua oe_ Ldid not have ah opportunity of seei_g htfore the *j»ce; the learner I hayealtradyrefened to,-and with, regard to the latthe racespeaks for iteH. The only other boats Out for. practice werefteWateriiiyand Fernleaf. This was the GS-j occasion on which I had seen these crews >t piiii-ce this season ; their performance dida*4prep6_sess mc in their favor. While IwMto give them every credit for their strength, it was evidently quite misapplied. Their stroke was short and je-key\ their swing was sadly deficient, and the biceps waa the only, popular, muscle in the boat. The same faults applied in a greater degree to the Fernleaf. The two crews indulged in a public trial in th<s rup home to the sheds, winch, however mferesting to the general public, seemed scarcely conducive to success on the foliow-

aigday. V As to tjie regatta itself I can cordially endonewhat was said by his Honor the Superintendent of Wellington at the dinner, that t-Sooar_i is one of the best in the Southern

h-ynisphCTe, bht as ti per contra I may per»a|« be allowed to say that the starting, at *$ rite in the big race, was of the vaguest *h*d. That a man on shore could, with a S-ttTar flag to those marking the starting Pohit, get away six boats upon even terms, *o_sto mc almost impossible, and without *''&•% fo draw invidious distinctions, sufby comparison with bx_rs of when Sir Andrews diawssed a^ *fe|i|_er of competitors (from a boatarid fy report of p_-tol) to -one"'of tiie best starts ?»«r_rS_ie__ed. Again; on 1 arriving at the ,rnn -hsgpast there was no jruri fired to let t^w&iEl^jijQjßt■ liow? that the-race was j^, f ,Bo muc_ so that the Sabrina pulled on some considerable distance beyond the goal. This made the time-taking *. doubtful matter to say the least of it. •Mother point I should like to mention is the ti&bSS of distinguishing colors. The jerseys ts *d by the various crews were so very S-B^-^lncolorthat.no outsider could have tol£ Ijoiher from which. This is a point on we ourselv® are lamentably wanting, *^dii|isaquestion which should be taken by the committee of the nextlnterprovih«al Regatta wherever it may be held.

I have alluded above to the fact that the prestige hanging to Kaiapoi from ther last year's performance had made them more or less public favorities for the Intrecoloniai *Wch fcag -jost been, rowed. I imagine that ft » iv antithesis to this that the Christchurch Representative crew were supposed to be dead out of it, and since the race not 8 few of tbe knowing oaes have expressed

their opinion that the race was a complete fluke. lean only account lor this from the fact that " those wbo are convinced against their will, are of the same opinion still.'* The unfortunate blunder made by two of the Wellington boats, has been made use of by those who had made up their minds that the Sabrina must lose, and even the Wellington reports make a free use of that expressive word " if."

Had the Stella and Dolly Varden kept the proper course, there ia no doubt that the race would have been one of the closest ever rowed here ; at the same time, comparing the needless spurting of the two Wellington boats at the commencement of the race, with the cool and even rowing of the Sabrina, and add to this the ease with which they rowed the last mile, I have personally no doubt as to what the result would have been in any case. I say this without any disparagement to the Wellington crews. They are men whom we may feel proud to have beaten, and who are more than likely to wrest our laurels from us the next time of asking.

The Inrigged Race was the merest gift to the Queen Mab, whose rowing was much admired, and in my opinion very justly so. The Lyttelton boat, the Fernleaf, was pluckily rowed, but the difference in form displayed by tbe two boats was painfully in favor of the winner. The Electric Spark was well rowed, and her performance, till disabled, was most creditable. The Lurline from the start was completely out-paced* Apropos of this race, we might do well to take a wrinkle from Wellington, and reintroduce a race of this description in our regattas here.

I must say I was greatly surprised that in a place where aquatics are so popular as in Wellington, pair-oared rowing is ignored. At present certainly they hay no boats, we have, and to our disgrace be it said we make but little use of them. As to the race itself, the Wrights had it all their own way. Had Lennox and Waldon taken a pilot with them they would not only have acted more wisely, but would have taken a prominent position in the race. In the Christchurch boat, a crab caught by bow at an early stage put them out of the race. In the Sculler's Race I must confess to being rather disappointed with Verdon's performance. He had the advantage of a new English boat, and of starting perfectly freah ; but after the first half-mile was obviously never in it. Wood, as the "Wellington Independent" remarks, is a novice at this work, but in my opinion, with a little practise and coaching, will make a magnificent sculler. As it was,' his performance was jan unexceptionably good one. Hia boat was built by Salter, and is a model in her class. Dawson tor ed with hia usual skill and jndgmettt-r-which, to Canterbury boating men, is saying enough.

' In conclusion, I may perhaps be allowed to express a hope that the Intercolonial Race may be kept up a 8 an ? annual affair. The succesß which has attended the first two certainly augurs well for the future, but I should like to see the Intercolonial Race a more successful race still; a race in which all the provinces contributed their representative crews would be well worth going a long distance to see— even by sea. 1 trust next year, in whatever province the race may take place, that in addition to Canterbury and Wellington, Otago and Auckland may also put in an appearance, and—that I may be there to witness &.