YACHTING

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25088, 21 January 1947, Page 8

YACHTING

MELLISH CUP RACE TROPHY RETAINED BY G. MANDER Winning the third race of the series on the Estuary at Mount Pleasant on Sunday afternoon, by 14min. G. Mander, of the" Christchurch Yacht and Motor-boat Club registered his third consecutive win and retained the Mellish Cup awarded for B class inter-club sailing. The race was held over a triangular course and Mander. sailing Pip. led throughout. Cheetah (P. Southey), Tauranga, was second, and Kiwi (D Jackson), Ponsonby, was placed third. Thistle (Jean Mackay), Mount Tauranga. fouled a mark and retired. Falcon capsized and was towed in. Races Held Yesterday The contests for the Tanner and the Mellish Cups for P class boats were brought to a close on the Estuary yesterday afternoon, when two novelty races were held. The first was for all comers, under 16 vears of age, and was a "capsize race, the boys having to capsize and right their craft four times during the race. The safety of these tiny craft and the skill of the boys was amply demonstrated in this event, the time taken-from the start of the. capsize until the coats were on their way again being about five seconds. Some took a little longer, and one boat, sailed by M. Backhouse, got its mast stuck in the mud at the first capsize and it took the boy five or six minutes to get The placings were:—Matchbox (B. Herdegen), Richmond Club. Auckland. 1; Pip (G. Mander). Christchurch Yacht Club. 2; Panic (D. Mander). Christchurch Yacht Club, 3. j . The delegates’ race turned out to be a comedy item. The delegates—some of them in fancy costume, squeezed themselves into the little boats, and even before the start there were some capsizes and several more when the competitors essayed to gybe around the lee mark in a flukey south-west wind. An act of piracy was committed by two of the contest skippers in a spare boat, when, after following up their elders, they managed to cut one out from the fleet, and, taking his boat from him. sailed away, leaving him standing waist-deep in the middle of the Estuary It was some time before the official launch was able to leave her regular duties and go to the rescue of the marooned delegate. A local boat was the first to finish, but it was discovered that there had a been a “ring-in,” the skipper not being a delegate.