New Surf Boat For Brighton Club

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28938, 4 July 1959, Page 5

New Surf Boat For Brighton Club

jJ£jBB®ERS of the New Brighton Surf Club are showing a great interest in >BUrf boats this winter season. This comes after the gaining of all three placings in this event at the last national championships by members of the club. There are now so many clubmembers Wishing to make use of the boat that the club has found it necessary to build a second craft.

« Work has already begun on this new boat, under the supervision of Mr Jack Ryan, an international surfer. Construction will be of moulded ply ’consisting of three skins, built over a mould. The new boat will be 25ft long, sft 3in wide and 2ft 2in in depth. Oars for the new boat will also be made by the members of the club, and these will be 14ft 6in long by 3in in diameter. The sweep oar will be 23ft long, and 4in in diameter

The club’s present craft is slightly shorter than the new boat, but is much deeper This boat has been recently overhauled and is ready on its towing trailer for any emergency It will be used in case of life-saving or floods. Crew members will begin training tomorrow tn an attempt to get fit- for the coming season, when both the New Brighton boats will be entered in the national championships at Gisborne. Finance is the major bar to the wholesale construction of these craft, but the Murlwai Surf Club in the North Island is negotiating for the purchase of a boat from- Australia This will replace the surf boat which has been in use by the club for a number of years Surf boating has been the main attraction at Australian carnivals for many years, and this year the public in Christchurch will see surf boat races on Canterbury beaches for the first time