Roberts looks sure to win O.K. trophy

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33753, 28 January 1975, Page 26

Roberts looks sure to win O.K. trophy

(By

JOHN COFFEY)

it was a day of delay, personal disaster and. tinalh, disorder and drama when the New Zealand O.K. dinghy yachi ing championship continued at Lyttelton yesterday.

The morning dawned fine and hot, but conditions at the allocated venue, Scarborough, were found unsuitable for launching. Several hours later the sailing ended abruptly with the abandonment of the sixth heat when a strong easterly wind and heavy seas proved just too much for many of the helmsmen to handle.

Some racing was managed, after the boats had been trailed over to Lyttelton and were towed to the starting point in an almost flat calm. Clive Roberts (Auckland) continued to dominate the series and virtually assured himself of winning the Elvestrom Trophy for the tenth time when he comfortably headed the fleet in the fifth race. The breezes which were later unexpectedly increased in force and left about 20 yachtsmen struggling to right their craft — and others pondering over gear damage — also had a marked, if more subdued, influence on this event. Roberts was in front throughout, and such was his advantage that he alone escaped the reshuffling of 1 positions that followed a, decided wind shift during: the second beat to the top mark.

While the leading group could make only average headway near Camp Bay, the more modestly placed competitors benefited greatly from being towards the middle of the harbour. This leg of the course completely disrupted the order which had been maintained almost from the start.

John Leydon (Wellington), tenth at the completion of the triangle, suddenly elevated himself to second; the three who had been in line astern of Roberts, John Douglas, Rex Lamb, and Harold Bennett (all Auckland), lost only one place each; but Gary Lock (Auckland) dropped from fifth to tenth. STRUGGLED

The remainder of the Camp Bay contingent struggled to the buoy, and most of them arrived in time to meet a flotilla of regular middle-of-the-fleet skippers, causing extreme traffic problems as they jostled for room to round the mark. Those who were less fortunate struck the buoy and had to re-navigate it, adding to the congestion. Douglas and Lamb managed to slip by Leydon on the next leg, but Leydon was not prepared to easily relinquish his surge to prominence, and he finally crossed the finishing line in the wake of only Roberts — who had a margin of almost Imin in recording his fourth consecutive heat win — and Douglas.

Although he had previously been more prominent in the light airs, Lamb held fourth. The youthful former Tanner Cup holder, David Barnes (Wellington), was fifth, Bennett sixth, and the next trio — Mike Leydon (Wellington), Peter Maynard (Canterbury), and Alan Holdt (New Plymouth) — all re-

(turned their top pointsI scoring results. Lock eventually drifted to thirteenth, and Craig Gilberd (Auckland) was fourteenth — out of the first nine for the first time, DISASTERS Until the wind turned fortunes inside out, the most notable happenings had been the individual disasters which struck two members of the 1974 New Zealand squad, Graham Woodroffe (Auckland) and Peter Lester (Canterbury). Woodroffe broke his mast step on the third leg of the triangle, when he was filling jhis usual role of heading the | chase after the fleeting Roberts. He had to be towed back to the Canterbury Yacht Club, incurred 51 penalty points, and had to borrow a boat — sportingly lent to him by John Leydon —■ to (return for the day’s second race.

The only blemish on Roberts’s record is still the sixth that he suffered in Saturday morning’s opening event. This cost him 11.7 points, but when he discards it as his worst performance he still enjoys a perfect score. The set-back to Woodroffe multiplied his penalty points .to 60, but this high total (drops to only nine when his l “did not finish” is not considered. Douglas (30.1 before 'discarding, 20.1 after doing so), Lamb (42.7, 31), Bennett 1(47.1, 35.4), and Lock (61.7, 42.7), complete the Auckland supremacy, and Lester (63, 47) and Barnes (72, 55) have

(done better than any ot ,et’ (from southern centres. I Lester was frustrated b< a number of mishaps. He hit (the distance marker at tlv (start and had to re-wind; (after improving from four teen th to sixth in very ini ipressive fashion, he capsized !on the run; only his con siderable skill brought him (back to tenth at the finish END TODAY On the evidence of the aborted afternoon heat Woodroffe may have diiticulty holding Douglas at bay when the contest ends today. (Roberts was more than Imin faster than Douglas and iWoodroffe to the top mark, lost ground on the run, but was safely clear when the race was called off as Rob erts approached the end of the second-to-last leg. Douglas had emerged as the sternest of Roberts’s rivals, with Woodroffe slipping back to third in his borrowed boat. It is hoped that Woodroffe’s yacht will ,be repaired in time for the last two heats at Lyttelton today. Results:— Heat 5.—C. A. Roberts (Auckland) 1. J. S. Douglas (Auckland) 2, J. Leydon (Wellington) 3, R. Lamb (Auckland) 4, D. J. Barnes (Wellington) 5, 11. L. Bennett (Auckland) 6, M. F. Leydon (Wellington) 7, P. A. Maynard (Canterbury) 8. A. R. Holt (New Plymouth) 9, P. Lester (Canterbury) 10. Heat 6 was abandoned. Over-all points (with points after discarding worst performance in parenthesis):---Roberts, 11.7 (0). 1; Douglas, 30.1 (20.1), 2; Lamb 42.7 (31), 3: Bennett, 47.1 (35.4), 4; Woodroffe, 60 (9). 5: Lock. 61.7 (42.7). 6; Lester, 63 (47), 7; Barnes, 72 (55), 8.