YACHTING RECORD FLEETS AT OPENING OF SEASON

Press, Volume C, Issue 29626, 23 September 1961, Page 13

YACHTING RECORD FLEETS AT OPENING OF SEASON

The yachting season in Canterbury will open this weekend. Three centreboard clubs are to hold official ceremonies and open handicap racing for mixed fleets to mark th* occasion. They are the Christ • church Yacht Club, which will cater for Estuary skippers and crews, and the Stewart’s Gully and Waimakariri Sailing Clubs, which will atract river boat*. The Christchurch and Stewart’* Gully club* wiil open their seasons this afternoon. Waimakariri will hold its opening at Kairaki tomorrow.

All clubs will be open for the season by Labour Day week-end. The Mount Pleasant and Timaru yacht clubs will begin their season’s activities on Saturday, October 7, end Pleasant Point, the third Estuary club, a day later. On October 14 the first Lyttelton harbour yacht club, Canterbury, will open. KeCler yachtsmen who are members of the Banks Peninsula Cruis ing Club will hold their opening the same day. When Labour Day weekend begins on Saturday, October 21, Charteris Bay and Akaroa will open. The former club will be host to a fleet of more than 20 racing dinghies competing in the South Island R-class championship series, in addition to club craft and other visitors It is expected that the season will produce more new boat* than have ever been seen on Canterbury waters at one time before. This will be the result of an intensive winter building programme by yachtsmen’s owners’ associations in addition to individual construction. There will be more than 50 new sailing eraft on the water between now and the New Year. At least 13 R’s, th* “Senior” racing yachts eligible for Leander Trophy contests have been completed or are in various stages of building. More than half of them will appear at the two Waimakariri clubs. 11 New Finns

The next most popular class for building has been the single-sailed, one-man Finn, which is a major international design. The choice of the Finn as one of the a fillip to the Finns. Eleven boat* eligible to sail again al an Olympic Games has given of these boats have been built, and by the end of the season about 30 should be sailing on Canterbury water*. A new class last year, the Junior Cherub, is expected to double its figures this season. The Junior Cherub owners and the Christchurch Yacht Club have played a large part in the construction of six new hulls, and some private building may also have been done.

Four new catamarans at least are expected. All will be to the 12ft Kitty Kat design. Three Takapunas (including two of plywood, one at Timaru) have been built, and some existing boats of this class have been rerigged Marconi after the lifting of a restrictive rule late last season. Previously, all Takapunas were required to be gaff-rigged. Criticism Of Design

A new design will be watched with considerable interest. It will be the monotype OK, one of which was launched some weeks ago by a junior Estuary skipper. It is understood that five more of these sprightly little vessels are either being built or about to be started. Their performances will be even more interesting, as the design ha* come under a barrage of criticism from some Of New Zealand's leading skippers, although they are an international class with a very large following in Europe, the United States, and Australia. About six new keelers are expected at Lyttelton, two of them having been put into the water within the last month.

The home waters of new boats will be a* follows: Lyttelton Harbour 16, Waimakariri 15. Estuary 14. The analysis ha* taken no account of the immensely popular P class (7ft, Tauranga Cup). Generally these boats are built for youngsters who do not make a connexion with a yacht club until they have their craft. In recent times up to 30 of these cockle-shells have come newly on the water around Christ-

ehureh in a season; including P class boat* there could be as many a* 75 or more new sailing craft coming on local waters within the next few months, the largest number of new boats in one season on record in Canterbury. Appeal For Safety The attention of skippers and crews has been drawn to safety rule* by th* president of the Canterbury Yachting Association (Mr W. H. Beanland).

"The Marine Department is concerned about the number of accidents and death* and the necessity of keeping rescue organisation* prepared and alert,” he has said. “Yachting could come in for more regulations and restrictions, and we must see that yachtsmen belonging to our clubs do not suffer. We have no control over the inexperienced general public, who are often seen taking risks that may endanger not only themselves, but those going to their aid. “Let us co-operate and help any in need, and in our own racing keep in mind safety rule*, and thus relieve anxiety of the race officials,” he has told yachtsmen.