messing about in boats

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30275, 30 October 1963, Page 15

messing about in boats

Dying Spasms The distress of Takapuna crows at finding themselves no '.oncer recognised as a class strong enough to race atone is understandable; but the Canterbury club s decision to continue Takapuna handicap competition tn association with Junior Cherubs is realistic. Even so. the prestigious Navy League and Forsyth Cups g ven for Takapuna competition renwn the preserve of the Z ciass. Takapuna boys feel the modern Junior Cherubs show their boats up as antiques. So they do. But if it is competition that Takapuna boys earnestly desire they will have to move with the times. They food no-one but themselves clinging to Itopes of winning Navy League, Forsyth and Cornwell Cups so they

may be considered on a par with the champions of yesteryear.

The Takapuna boys feel they have a case and as an informal owners’ association they are entitled to be heard.

But it did their cause little good when one of tf eir spokesmen publicly and uncouthly upbraided the Canterbury club racing secretary. Mr A, W. James, who has devoted many years of his life to conducting races for yachtsmen.

The loutish skipper responsible would not have dared to address himself in •uch vein to his no-non-

sense commodore. Mr J. U. ( ropp. a former Takapuna lad who has probably forgotten more than the juvenile showman will ever leem. Mr Cropp could not only teach him manners but teii him quietly and knowledgeably the fascinating story of the evolution of sail. Tripod Hie tripod racing mark in the Estuary was back in place again for last weekend's racing. The stake was the victim, earlier in the month, of an unequal contest with a catamaran. The mark was replaced by two Christchurch club members, D. J. Triggs and L. Mott. To catch a tow tide that suited them to plant the stake in its former

position on a slio&l they had to be up and out on the water before 5 o'clock one morning. Triggs has returned to Canterbury sailing at the helm of a 14ft Javelin.

Bung, Ho! Back in the water after a major reconstruction during the winter was M. C. Holland’s 12ft 9in racing dinghy at Lyttelton last Saturday. The blackhulled craft locked a vast improvement on Holland’s 1962 Contort version but Holland and K. Fitzgerald, after only a brief sail, were back at toe launching ramp with the boat taking water. "Bungs. J forgot the bungs," Holland muttered as he returned from his car to the boat with a handful of corks with which to plug

Flew

The farmer catamaran ra-ner. T. Relten, cf Pleasant Point, launched a new Flying Fifteen on Saturday afternoon in Sumner Bay. He sailed around Godley Head to the harbour and pointed downwind in a fresh easterly, later reporting his delight at the boat's pert-maioe. "She flew; you’d never believe it was a keeter," he said. From Erskine Point, Rolton set out with the Canterbury club’s open fleet but soon had to return ashore with a boom fitting adrift. Bolton, who built the boat himself, appears to have made a fine job of hull construction, the rolled-in decks being a particularly streamlined feature.