messing about in boats

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30916, 24 November 1965, Page 19

messing about in boats

Benmore The Otematata club’s annual regatta will be run next week-end on the Ahuriri arm of Lake Benmore. The club has an Olympic type course over deep water, with no obstacles or fluctuating water levels. Large parking and rigging areas, and wharf and boat harbour facilities, are served by two 12ft wide 1:10 grade concrete launching ramps. The launching area at Sailors Cutting is about five miles by road from Otematata. Entries so far number 24 with no word from either Christchurch or Dunedin. From Oamaru will go three R’s and three Moths; from Timaru two Finns, two R’s, six Idle Alongs and, possibly, one X class (if it is ready for the water). Finns Canterbury’s Olympic Finn fleet has a lesson to learn, a lesson which the R class learned to its cost five years ago: it is not wise to boycott the Estuary. On Sunday, when the Estuary pennant series was continued, only one Finn turned out in embarrassing loneliness; the rest of the class fleet was at Lyttelton harbour practising on water and in conditions likely to be met when their national contest takes place there in February. There are plenty of other opportunities for this; but surely Canterbury men—so intensely concerned with beating the Auckland fleet —can spare one afternoon for a major event on the Estuary? Fund-Raising

It has been held together in Canterbury (while it has grown sub-

stantially in other centres : spontaneously) largely by ■ fund-raising efforts and • generous distribution of • profits have brought much j credit to the organisers. ; At the present time the : Finns are attempting to : raise money to send men ■ overseas for experience ; next year; in 1967 they : will be soliciting the j yachting community and • the public for funds to ; support more pre-Olympics : experience; and in 1968 • there will undoubtedly be ; another foray for funds. : They are now running the : risk of antagonising a lot * of people who might help : them. They will have : only themselves to blame • if, when they make ap- ■ proaches, they are met : with remarks like this: : "Finns? We never see j them. We support classes • which support our ; events.” ! Entries :

Administratively, as well : as on the water, the first ■ of the season’s Estuary ; pennant championships on : Sunday was the best in the i four years of the series. • As officials have become : familiar with the proce- 1 dure for handling extra- • ordinarily large fleets (125 : boats on Sunday, only a ! handful off the record set ; two seasons ago) they ; have found more time to : pay attention to transgres- ■ sions by competitors. On ■ Sunday for instance 36 : seven-footers sailed, but a • careful check showed four ■ skippers had failed to : enter formally. “They just ■ won’t be counted,” an offi- ■ cial said. “The rules are : clear, were put in the ! Canterbury Yachting Asso- ■ ciation programme this : year, and posted in the > clubs. If they can’t read, • it’s too bad.” :