YACHTING G. J. Good Wins Pegasus Crest In Lyttelton Race

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29770, 13 March 1962, Page 22

YACHTING G. J. Good Wins Pegasus Crest In Lyttelton Race

The Pegasus Crest, one of the major handicap events in the yachting calendar, drew a record inter-club fleet of 23 R-class dinghies w hen it was sailed for on Lyttelton Harbour on Sunday. It was won by the Canterbury club boat Reply, which was launched less than 10 weeks ago by its skipper, G. J. Good, who also designed and built it. Good’s crew was D. Balm. Reply was sixth across the finish line at the end of a race which produced some of the best competition seen in Canterbury this summer. The boat which should have been sixth was the Timaru yacht Frequent, sailed by J. Shanks. Frequent was outside the mark when inches from the line. Shanks had to put about but found he had to give way to a group of other boats, led by Reply, bearing down on him; he lost more than a minute and six places. Shanks sailed an exceptionally good race, coming from behind in the latter stages to overtake ancther South Canterbury boat. Rebel II (J Dickson), which had impressed in hard competition at the Leander trophy contest in Wellington in January. Pathfinder’s Lead G. Wilson, of the Waimakariri club, was named as pathfinder for the race and made the most of his advantage when the whole fleet—having to give way to him —made a confused start. Wilson and R. J. Greenaway sailed Tempest either in front or near the head of the fleet for most of the way, but finished fourth and dropped five places on handicap A notable absentee was B. E. Treleaven’s Fresco (Christchurch club) which has been sold outside Canterbury. Treleaven has been one of the enthusiasts of the H class, missing no race of anv Importance and sailing In most of the unimportant events. His role as challenger for top position was filled yesterday by the Waimakariri boat Retort, skippered by D. Harrison. After a battle with another Waimakariri boat—G. J. Cooke's Fantastic—Retort pulled away to finish second—seventh on handicap. After several months’ absence from tillerwork, because of illness. F. G. B. Simpson (Christchurch club) returned to competition in his former race-win-ning boat Sari. His crew was the j’oung Charteris Bay junior cherub skipper. J. Rountree Sari finished near the tail of the fleet. Fleet Leader The first boat home was G S. Mander’s Frenzy I Canterbury club). Mander did not start well and was'in the middle of the fleet when it put about the first weather mark after the start. However, once Frenzy's pale blue spinnaker began drawing on the run across to the south side of the harbour on the breath of a fresh easterly and with A. M Holland climbing out on the trapeze wire Frenzy made up for lost time and gathered in most boats that had put around ahead. Bv the third leg Mander appeared to have the race in his pocket, with the rest of the fleet surging in his wake over the long, ranging swell of the incoming tide. However on the next slog from Casa Bay to Pile light. Mander lost his ground by heading too far away to leeward. He was not the only one: many places were won and lost in the 15 minutes it took to cover this teg Harrison went to the front and Wilson was second at one stage: then C. Panps. in Freeway (Christchurch club) and B. J. C. W’all in Imnetuous iCanterbvrr club) came through in what appeared to be commanding positions; and near to them were K. TourelT. in Beta fWaimakanril. A W. Shields, in Vision (Canterbury), and Cooke.

A dropping wind would have favoured the weather boats, which included Reply. Papps and Wall; but the wind freshened and enabled Mander to cut over to round the mark inches astern of Cooke, with Harrison (who was handicapped with a kite tangle) close behind.

The next two runs, under overcast sky, sorted the fleet into the procession which was virtually the finishing order. Results. showing handicaps and corrected finishing times, were:—

Reply (G. J. Good and D. Balm, ’Canterbury), llmin 12sec. 1:3.51. 1; Tranquil (M. Boyd and R. Sutherland. Waimakariri). 13min ISsee, 1:4.5. 2: Pirouette <H England and L. Wales. Christchurch >. llmin 12 sec, 1:5.15. 3: Phoenix (J. and D. McArthur, Nelson), 9min 6 sec. 1:7.15. 4; Rapture’(J. But-' terfield and D. J. Whytock. Ti-' maru). 13min 18sec, 1:7.22. 5; Flirt (I. Donaldson and D Hutton, Waimakariri). 7min 42sec. 1:8,8. 6; Retort ID. Harrison and J. B. Watson. W'aimakariri), 2min 48sec. 1:8. 33, 7; Contort (M. Holland and K. Fitzgerald. Canterbury). 4min 54sed. 1:9.45. 8.

Scratch results were : Frenzy (G. S. Mander and A. M. Holland. Canterbury), 1:10.16. 1: Retort. 1:11.21, 2; Fantastic (G. J. and C. J. Cooke, Waimakiriri), 1:11.42. 3i Tempest (G. Wilson and R. J. Greenaway. Waimakariri), 1:12.36. 4; Contort. 1:14.39 5; Reply. 1:15.3. 6; Imnetuous (B J. C. Wall and B. D. Taylor, Canterbury). 1:15.15. t: Freeway <C. Papps and R. Davies. Christchurch). 1:15.36. 8: Vision (A. W Shields and B. R. Marriott. Canterbury), 1:15.50 9: Flirt. 1:15.50. 10.