Lester wins O.K. dinghy yachting championship

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32531, 15 February 1971, Page 16

Lester wins O.K. dinghy yachting championship

P. Lester gained his first major success since he cleared the junior P class at the beginning of this season, when he won the South Island O.K. dinghy yachting championship at Lyttelton during the week-end.

A second and two thirds in the first three races kept Lester in a challenging position for over-all honours, and he headed off his strongest rivals, D. Hobson and R. Gibson, when he led home the fleet of 18 starters in the final heat yesterday afternoon.

Under the Olympic lowscoring system Lester conceded 14.4 points. Hobson and Gibson lost 23 points each, but Hobson was declared the runner-up on a count-back of placings.

Gibson was the overnight leader after recording a first and a second in the races sailed on Saturday. But he lost the chance to add the island title to the Canterbury championship which he won on the Estuary in December, when he slipped to eleventh in the third heat. Thia event, held In very light conditions, gave Hobson the widest margin of victory in the series. However, in the afternoon race he finished a modest seventh to fall behind Lester on the points table, even though he was the only skipper to win The consistent C. Price was fourth over-all—ahead of N. Vincent and A. J. WomaU. Racing was very close, with the 16 local and two Invercargill competitors crossing the line within 9min in three of the heats. Class racing The first heats of the Christchurch club’s class championship were disrupted when the light easterly wind faded away yesterday' afternoon. The P class contest, which had attracted a fleet of 24 starters, had to be abandoned. At that stage J. Smith held a slender advantage over P. Maynard with N. McDonald and T. K. Stevens next. C. Papps won the catamaran section, even though he was required to sail an extra lap because he mistook a P class mark for his own wing mark.

The O.K, skipper, K. Maynard,

rounded off a very successful week-end by winning the D class on corrected times. On Saturday he had taken a line honourshandicap double in the second race for the Memorial Cup.

The drifting conditions assisted N. and G. England to open a gap of more than 6min to the second J.C. crew, R. Ineson and N. Jackson;, and H. Hobden was the only finisher among the four Moth class helmsmen. Girl competitors dominated the week-end P class events at the Christchurch and Canterbury' clubs. At Christchurch on Saturday Miss M. Stemmer returned fastest time in spite of the presence of Smith, Maynard and P. Townsend; and Miss E. Maynard and Miss C. Partington filled the minor handicap placings behind Miss Stemmer. It was a similar result at Canterbury, where Miss Maynard and Miss R. Shields came out ahead of their seven rivals on handicap yesterday morning after Miss Shields had beaten her sole male opponent the previous day. The Tornado catamaran, Wildfire, with B. Moore at the helm, left the top Canterbury Flying Dutchman crew, G. \S. Mander and D. Nixon, by just over 20min in the A division race on the harbour on Saturday. However, the second Tornado, Enterprise (L. Kissellh had been only 2sec behind Wildfire, although not eligible for a placing. Results:— O.K. dinghy championship Race one.—D. Hobson (Zenith) 1, R. Gibson (Emma) 2, P. Lester (Vainqueur) 3, C. Price (Kapai HI) 4, L. Davenport (Haurere) 5, G. Kilburn (Okaiawa) 6.

Race two.—Gibson 1, Lester 2, N. Vincent (Supreme) 3, P.

Folter (Okere) 4, Hobson 5, Price 6. Race three.—Hobaon 1, A. Wor nail (Constantia) 2, Lester 3, Price 4, Kilburn 5, Vincent 6. Race four.—Lester 1, Gibson 2, Vincent 3, Price 4, D. Le Page (Zodiac II) 5. Wornall 6. Over-all points.—Lester, 14.4, 1; Hobson, 23, 2, on count-back of placings from Gibson, 23, 3; Price, 35.7, 4; Vincent, 39.1, 5; WomaU, 44.7, 6. SATURDAY Christchurch club Open.—Memorial Cup, second heat (12 started): Okaloa. O.K. (K. Maynard), 3:15.32, 1; Tom Rush, J.C. (R. Ineson and N. Jacksonj, 3:21.44, 2; Max, Finn (J. McLeod), 3:22.49, 3. Over-all: Tom Rush 1, Stampede, catamaran (G. C. Penney) and Okaloa equal 2. Sea Spray Trophy, first heat.— A division (12 started): Metro (Miss M. Stemmer), 1:57.37, 1; Pastime II (Miss E. Maynard), 1:57.59, 2; Mink (Miss C. Partington), 2:1.16, 3. B division: Kiri (M. Woods). 1:8.31, 1; Pepe iR. FrizzeU), 1:10.15, 2; Shrimp (G. Woods), 3. Canterbury club A division (nine started): Wildfire, Tornado catamaran <B. Moore and W. Cordell) 1, Legend, A Class catamaran (C. Papps) 2, Caprice, Flying Dutchman (G. S. Mander and D. Nixon) 3. B division (eight started): Krakajak, Javelin (R. Donaldson and L. Thurlow) 1, Ella Mae, Javelin (D. Sutherland and R. Tillman) 2, Psyche, Javelin (C. F. Dann and B. Smith) 3. C division (five started): Strife. Moth (A. M. Holland) 1, Tijuana, J.C. (K. May and A. Ruth) 2. P class (two started): Twiggy (Miss R. Shields) 1, Elusive (E. Snowden) 2. SUNDAY Christchurch club Club class championships, first heat—J.C. (five started): Rana (N. and G. England, 3:32.33, 1; Tom Rush (R. Ineson and N. Jackson), 3:38.50, 2; Quest (M. and G. Stevenson), 3:49.32. 3. Moths (four started): Nereid (H. Hobdeni, 3:39.50, 1. Catamarans (seven started): Legend (C. Papps), 4:15.46. 1. D. class (five started): Okaloa, O.K. (K. Maynard), 3:40.27. 1; Finntastic, Finn (W. H. Beere), 3:41.24, 2; Waywood (B. and J. McLeod). 3:44.34, 3. Line honours: Waywood.

Canterbury club C division (six started): Conquero, O.K. (D. Dawson), 2:24.47, I; Finnis, Finn (V. Smith), 2:27.45, 2; Cloud, J.C. (R. and K. Evans), 2:32.36, 3. P class (nine started): Pastime II (Miss E. Maynard). 2:8.1. I; Twiggy (Miss R. Shields), 2:8.46, 2; Vitesse (C. Roberts). 2:9.54, 3.