Catamaran titles defended

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33069, 9 November 1972, Page 26

Catamaran titles defended

A convoy of cars carrying crews and towing trailers bedecked with catamarans of various designs will leave Christchurch tomorrow for the South Island championships at Picton.

Among the 15 or so Canterbury multi-hull craft which have been entered are four boats which will be defending titles won last season — Christabel (C. Papps), Wildfire (B. M. Moore and J. Dove), Miss Boupique (B. Johnson) and Sabre (S. Dickey). Papps will renew his rivalry with the West Coast A Class skipper, W. Hende. Between them they have shared the last two New Zealand championships, but more recently they have joined Moore in a syndicate aimed

at challenging fbr the Little America’s Cup. Undoubtedly, this prestige international trophy — held by Australia — will be a major topic of discussion at Picton. Hende’s new A Class catamaran has a wing mast, a moot point considering that he will be designing the C Class Little America’s Cup contender. Three other Tornado catamarans are expected to dispute the B Class series with Moore and Dove, and one of these, Smokey, will be sailed

by D. Bryson, who is better known as one of the province’s most capable Finn helmsmen.

W. Nolan, the commodore of the Canterbury squadron, will also be competing, and the quartet is completed by H. Timms (Wellington) and his recently-launched Tornado.

The Paper Tiger division should provide interesting competition, especially because of an extensive building programme undertaken on the West Coast. Johnson and Hende were the joint winners 12 months ago, and in Hende’s absence Johnson will probably encounter most opposition from K. Skelton (Nelson). Two years ago Skelton

won the national Paper Tiger title at Charteris Bay and was a place-getter at Wellington last season. Johnson may also have one or two of his regular Canterbury, rivals in the fleet.

Dickey should be strongly Cressed by two other Canterury Sabre skippers, B. Papps and A. Koller. Last Saturday Koller, in Erbas (Sabre spelt in reverse), won the Noel Dickey Trophy in very testing conditions at Charteris Bay, and Papps will be competing in Sioux 11, the boat in which B. Cliff won the 197071 New Zealand title.