YACHTING R-CLASS SQUADRON RACES FOR PEGASUS CREST

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29177, 11 April 1960, Page 13

YACHTING R-CLASS SQUADRON RACES FOR PEGASUS CREST

Canterbury’s R-class squadron produced some of its best sailing of the season on the Estuary yesterday afternoon when competing for the Pegasus Crest, the last major racing fixture for the class this season. The official season of the Canterbury Yachting Association will end next week-end with the Easter regatta on the Waimakariri. A gate start was employed yesterday, and final placings were decided on a handicap percentage. The first yacht to finish was Frenzy, with Graham and David Mander as crew, but on hndicap first place was filled by the two young Loader brothers, Sidney and Bruce, sailing Rondo. S. Loader is a former Cornwell Cup winner, and in his first season in the R class has been improving rapidly. C. Papps, the former squadron champion and unsuccessful nominee- for the Rome Olympic Games in a Flying Dutchman, was seen back in Freeway, a yacht which has had many Rclass successes in the province. With an inexperienced sheethand sailing with him and oversize sails, he did not feature in the results. A. W. Shields, this year’s squadron champion and one of the best performers at the national Leander Trophy, was in good form, and offered Frenzy some opposition over the closing stages. Sailing Vision, Shields and his for’ard hand, B. Marriott, revelled in the heavier conditions when the wind rose towards the end of the race. After a particularly fine piece of sailing which gave the yacht third placing across the line, Fresco (B. Treleaven) was disqualified and third place went instead to Impetuous (B. Wall), which was the pathfinder yacht in the gate start. The race began in a light easterly, and was four times around a triangular course. Freeway, Frenzy and Fresco led on the first leg of the opening round, but slow setting of the spinnaker on Freeway allowed Frenzy and Fresco to draw away. Impetuous, with the kite set very high, made up ground on the run and Vision also came up with the leaders. By the end of the first round, Frenzy was 16sec ahead of Impetuous, with Vision another ssec back. Frenzy’s Big Lead On the beat of the second round, Frenzy rapidly opened up a large lead. David Mander was often occupied clearing weed from the centreboard, but Frenzy seemed to gain its advantage from pointing higher than the other yachts. At the windward mark

on the second round Frenzy was 60sec ahead of Vision, which had passed Impetuous. Fresco was lying third ahead of Impetuous and Rondo. The spinnaker on most of the yachts was excellent, a contrast to some of the performances by squadron representatives in the Leander Trophy. The race then entered a quiet period in which positions remained unchanged. At the end of the second round, Frenzy had been 75sec ahead of Vision. But with the breeze becoming stronger, Vision began to close the gap on the leader, and the margin was reduced to 62sec by the start of the last round. The gybing by the crews of Frenzy and Vision was exemplary, and apart from one or two cases of tangled ropes, the whole fleet gave a good display. Results were (starting time, 3hr 15min 30sec):— Scratch. —Frenzy (G. Mander), 4hr 44min Bsec. 1; Vision (A. W. Shields), 4hr 45min 25sec, 2; Impetuous (B. Wall). 4hr 47min lOsec, 3; Rondo (S. Loader), 4hr 48min 16sec, 4; Sari (F. Simpson), 4hr 49min 15sec, 5; Query (D. Harrison), 4hr 51min 4sec. 6. Pegasus Crest Handicap.—Rondo 1, Wizard (H. Hobden) 2. Vision 3, Impetuous 4, Result (G. Good) 5, Query 6.