Good surf season for Taylor's Mistake

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31645, 3 April 1968, Page 13

Good surf season for Taylor's Mistake

'THE Taylor’s Mistake Surf x Club, which has an active membership of. 45, has just completed a successful surfing season with its fourth win in five years in the Canterbury surfing championships and second place in the national surfing championships. The swimmers who returned from the national championships at Titahi Bay, Wellington, were justly proud of the two first placings and three minor placings in the championships against teams which had a much larger representation. The team which won the championshins, Muriwai. of Auckland, has an active membership of 120. Taylor’s Mistake Surf Club is well known for the number of rescues it has made. Three years ago, 60 swimmers were taken from the water at Taylor’s Mistake by members of the club. Recently the numbers have fallen: last year four, this year one. The conditions for training seem to give them more experience in difficult surf. But the surf at the national championships was flat for two of the three days of competition. The team was first in the open surf teams race and the junior canoe race. It was second in the prestige event of the championships, the senior six-man rescue and resuscitation event, third in the junior six-man, and third in the open Malibu board event. The women in the team won their heat in the sixman rescue and resuscitation, but were disqualified in the final. There are only seven active women surfers in the club so their performance was all the more creditable. In the Canterbury championships, the club has fared

even better. It has won the championship each year since 1964 except for 1967 when it was placed second. In the inter-districts carnival at Wanganui, Taylor's Mistake won the Taplin Trophy, which is presented to the club in New Zealand which wins most points in six different events. Although the individual performances of members has been outstanding, credit must also go to the coach, Mr G. Pratley, who was winner of the national senior beltman's title in 1958 and is a former Canterbury Surf Association president.