Heavy seas hit cats

Press, 23 November 1976, Page 40

Heavy seas hit cats

Canterbury skippers won two of the three classes and dominated the major placings when the South Island catamaran yachting championships were held at Timaru during the week-end. However, not all of the favoured contenders filled the top positions, the very heavy seas on Saturday claiming a number of victims, while others fell foul of the measuring certificate regulations. A costly capsize and then severe cramp virtually wiped out Chris Hensley's chances of extending his winning sequence to four in the A class division. He came back to take line honours in both events on Sunday, but could not make up the leeway on another Canterbury skipper, Gavin Walter. Julian Boyd, also of

Canterbury’, was third. One of the most spectacular mishpas was that of Wayne Nolan (Canterbury), who completely destroyed one hull of his A-class design, Ittledo, and faces a massive rebuilding task. John' Dove and John Ashby (Canterbury) headed off their provincial teammates, Lindsay Kissell and Alan Marsh, in the B class. Their victory was somewhat hollow, though, for Sam Henderson (Canterbury) piloted Smokey to jwin three of the heats before being disqualified for not having a measuring certificate. The well-performed helmswoman, Mrs Sue Blakely, extended the Canterbury squadron’s record when she was the runner-up to Richard Craig (Kaikoura) in the Paper Tiger fleet. Third was

Bill Lawes (Kaikoura), who also had the distinction of having built the first three boats.

After the problems caused by the huge swells on Saturday, it w r as of some comfort to the competitors that the seas calmed considerably as the wind dropped on Sunday.

Leading place-getters were.—

A class: Surf Streaker (G. Walter) 1, Katrina (C, J. Hensley) 2, Christable (J. Boyd) 3.

B class: Tanglefoot (J. Dove and J. Ashby) 1, Stanley (L. Kissell and A. Marsh) 2. Paper Tigers: Dar Na (R. Craig) 1, Silver Bird (Mrs S. Blakely) 2, Achilles (W. Lawes) 3.