Three Canterbury Men Lead Finn Yachts

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30477, 26 June 1964, Page 13

Three Canterbury Men Lead Finn Yachts

["The Press’* Special Service]

NAPIER, June 25.

Three Canterbury skippers—F. G. B. Simpson, P. F. Pritchett and B. de Thier—took the honours from Auckland in the fourth race of the national Olympic Finn sailing trials off Napier today.

Auckland skippers, favoured to win in light conditions, could do no better than fourth and fifth.

The defending champion, R. H. Roberts, crossed fifteenth and dropped to third on the points table, behind P. G. Mander and B. de Thier. Mander, who won the previous three heats, never improved on ninth place in the under-5-knot southerly. Improved Position Simpson, thirteenth and fifteenth in previous races, took the lead in the first leg today and never relinquished it, Pritchett improved from sixth at the third marker to edge de Thier out of second place on the last beat to the line and reduced Simpson’s

lead from 3min to lmin 17sec. D. E. Newell, of Auckland, who sailed in the 1963 world gold cup series in Europe, made the best improvement of the day, proving his ability in zephyr conditions. He led the fleet in the second race which was abandoned because of insufficient wind. Passed Mander

Newell had been lying twentieth at the end of the first triangle; he improved to tenth astern of Mander on the next windward leg and passed Mander and J. W. Tenkin on the beat to the finish.

The younger brother of R. H. Roberts, C. A. Roberts (the 1964 North Island champion), retired today after a protest flag was raised against him by M. R. Swanson, of Wellington. His best placing so far has been ninth.

Results, showing finishing times, were:—

F. G. B. Simpson (Christchurch), 2:49:30, 1; P. F. Pritchett (Charteris Bay), 2:50:47, 2; B. de Thier (Mount Pleasant), 2:52:19, 3; N. R. Everett (Auckland), 2:53:7, 4; T. J. Speed (Auckland), 2:53:43, 5; R. G. McCullough (Gisborne), 2:54:17, 6: P. W. Letcher (Auckland), 2:54:36, 7; D. E. Merrell (Auckland), 2:55:15, 8; P. G. Mander (Christchurch), 2:55:33, 9; D. H. Schmidt (Auckland), 2:56:27, 10.

Other Canterbury skippers finished as follows:

A. J. F. Ballintine (Pleasant Point), 14; R. D. Eastmond (Charteris Bay), 18; J. F. C. Morgans (Mount Pleasant), 21; B. E. Treleaven (Christchurch), 22.

M A. Pope (Nelson), was twelfth.

Progress points, with worst performance deducted, are:—

Mander, 4389, 1; de Thier, 3009, 2; R. H. Roberts, 2708, 3: Everett, 2611, 4; Speed, 2389, 5; Letcher, 2134, 6: Simpson, 2099, 7; M. A. Pope (Nelson), 2088, 8; Schmidt, 1833, 9.

The top seven men, after three more races, will hold a seven-heat sail-off to determine the leading skipper to represent at Tokyo.