SIDELINES

Press, 20 November 1981, Page 15

SIDELINES

VETERANS had a race of their own for the first time when the Canterbury Rowing Association held a pennant regatta at Kerrs Reach recently. The conditions of entry were rather interesting with “veterans" having to be at least 27 years of age, have been away from active rowing for two years or more, and required to produce a medical certificate before starting. Crews raced over 1000 m and the winning Avon four (David Lindstrom, Ray Flanagan, Mark Brownlee, and Dave Husband) shaded Union by little more than a length. Both Lindstrom (1972, 1976), Avon’s premier coach, and Brownlee (1964, 1968) are former New Zealand Olympic representatives, THE INTERCEPTION of the Italian round-the-world yacht race entrant, Vivanapoli, by an Angolan warship on suspicion that it was a South African spy ship, had all of the makings of a French farce. Shots were fired into the air as the Angolan marines boarded the Vivanapoli, and its angry skipper, Beppe Panada, replied by throwing an immigration officer into the water. Panada, a former karate instructor, conceded that he lost his temper because of the delay in completing the first leg of the race to Cape Town. The Italian crew was detained for a week before the Italian ambassador in Luanda secured the release of the boat. Panada was determined to carry on in the race even though he eventually reached Cape Town many days after his rivals had left for Auckland. PAT CARRICK, a former New Zealand women's cricket representative and Canterbury captain, will be umpiring men’s cricket in the second grade today. She has just retired from active play, but is not yet fully qualified as an umpire. She will be sitting the formal tests'later. GORDON PRITCHARD, who spent the 1980 season with Eastern Suburbs in Christchurch, has played a prominent role in the promising start made by the new Welsh rugby league club, Cardiff Blue Dragons. Pritchard transferred from Huddersfield to become one of Cardiff’s pioneers and his fine form at full-back made him a logical selection for the Welsh team which recently suffered a narrow loss to England in Cardiff. QUITE A FEW rowing followers will regard with some disbelief one particular statement in the Wellington association’s application (subsequently granted) to hold the 1983 national championships at Lake Horowhenua. “The condition of the lake has been considerably improved," the statement reads, “and has now been certified fit for swimming.” When the nationals were first held at Lake Horowhenua (near Levin) in 1977 jokes abounded about the then heavily polluted water which had allegedly been painted by the Army (responsible for laying down the course) in its own colour and was “thick enough to plough.” When one dog started to slake his thirst a spectator jokingly warned his owner to “get him out or he’ll die." Championships have since been held at the lake in 1980. For the 1983 regatta Wellington plans to incorporate a new shower and toilet block next to the Horowhenua club. Other plans are the re-arranging of the angle of the course so that the starter can be land-based, the formation of a new launch area and a raised embankment on the foreshore. A WELLINGTON publisher, lan Macfarlane, is to skipper Ta’aroa in opposition to four Australian yachts in the first Sydney to Rio race next January. The organising Cruising Yacht Club of Australia is well aware of the rigours of sailing around the treacherous Cape Horn and has suggested the following trial to any entrants doubting the difficulties of the voyage — spend 10 hours a day alternatively running and standing still under a cold shower; two hours a day rolling in snow; eight hours a day sleeping in a damp sleeping bag in a freezer; four hours a day drinking soup standing in the back of a moving five-tonne truck. The manual says this should be repeated for 10 days, with washing permitted in ice cold sea water every third day. A VERY USEFUL booklet on the preparation and maintenance of cricket pitches has been published .for the Local Government Training Board, as a practical guide to groundsmen. It deals with fertilisers, soils, grasses, moiving, rolling, marking, and watering. It pays particular attention to spring preparation, summer maintenance and autumn work. There are illustrations, showing the preparation of the new block at the Basin Reserve. The booklet is selling through the Local Government Training Board, P.O. Box 5034, Wellington, at $4.50 to local authorities, $5.50 to schools and others.