With the Yachts

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 126, 24 November 1923, Page 18

With the Yachts

PROGRESS IN THE BAY

OFFICIAL OPENING TO-DAY

WELLINGTON'S YOUNGEST CLTJB.

CLUB EVENTS,

To-day—Opening of Evans Bay Y. and M.B. Club; first race of Fort Wcbolson MotorBoat Club Programme. December X—Evan» B«y Club Yacht and Motorboat Fixtures. December B—K.P.N.Y. Club Baces.

(By "MauisaU.")

Wellington's youngest aquatic club, the Evans Bay Yacht • and Motor-boat Club, is opening its 1923-24 season this afternoon. The function will be a very formal one, the procession of boats usually held on such an occasion being abandoned in order, that members may entertain visitors. The club was founded in June, 1918, with a membership of about twenty yachtsmen and motor-boat enthusiasts.. Little progress was made until March of the following year, when things began to go ahead by leaps and. bounds. The first opening day in November, 1918, saw the club with total fundsof £7 2s 4d starting on a season's yachting and committed to prize money to the extent of nearly £50 in cash. In that year there- were in Evans Bay four yachts and five motor-boats; to-duy there are nine yachts, 15 motor-boats, and over a score of 14 to 18-footers, while the club's assets are over £1800 and its liabilities £450. In 1920 -an.'up-to-date clubhouse was erected, fitted with all conveniences, while a jetty 120 feet long- and a club slip, capable of taking up all the club's boata, was constructed-. The social aspect is an. important consid-i eration with the Evans Bay YachtClub, and weekly dances are held in the clubhouse, both for the purpose of improving the funds and of -fostering, the, healthy spirit of companionship ashore j' as well as afloat. If the club continues to prosper at the same rate as it has done since its establishment, it will very soon be in a very healthy financial state.

WHY NOT A COMBINED OPENING!

The unfortunate clashing of dates lor the opening of the local clubs was.referred to at a recent meeting of the Wellington Yacht and Motor-boat Association. The chairman pointed out that, without the authority of the association, the Heretaunga Boating- Club had fixed ifc opening for the same Saturday as' the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, which was to be regretted. Further, through the decision of the Port Nicholson Motor-boat. Club not to join forces with the R.P.N.Y. Club on opening day this year, a third opening- was set dowii for the same day. The chairman expressed regret from the sporting point of view that the motor-boat club had not seen fit to unite with the yachtsmen, though he recognised it was entirely a, matter for the club to decide. He hoped it would be arranged in future that opening fixtures should take place on separate dates, so that interclub visits could be made. The principle of clubs opening on separate days seems sound enough. Opening days is a milestone in the progress of a club—a sort of sacred day— and ono can appreciate the desire to make it purely a club.affair, but would it hot be a. better idea, both from the sportinj viewpoint and the social aspect, for all' clubs , to- combine, in one opening function, at which each club could'have equit representation of speakers. Such a function would do much, in the writer's impartial opinion, to cement interclub relations and create mutual interest :in': one another's affairs, and if tho dav"s racing programme was made a combined affair, mt*rclub competition, which .s not catered for to a very great extent at present, would be further encouraged. Regatta Day is the only day in the year, under present conditions, on which such competition is possible. The combined opening was advocated in Auckland ten years ago with the very object of avoiding clashing, and it at once- caught on. One of the chief arguments in its favour wa to save dates in the season. CUP TESTS. While deserving of all credit for her performance in the first Sanders Cup test at the week-end, Peggy had ail the luck. The wind was too light for a satisfactory race, and a few more trial* will be required to reveal the best lightweather boat. Claire was hopelessly ouV of the race from the start, but her' luck was out. As Mr. Johnston becomes accustomed to her—he has sailed her only twice—she should show to much better advantage. Considering that she is regarded as a heavy-weather boat, Eynin's performance was the best of the three on the day. Claire asserted herself in the second test by winning. Credit is due to_ all the skippers for the handling of their craft. Some changes in the crew may be made in the third test today. Winifred has so far had the best fortune in the Sanders Cup tests at Dunedin, having won three out of five races, while Heather and June hold one first place each. Weather conditions down South have not been conducive to a fair test in various weathers, and on that account a proposal that some of the contestants should be eliminated from further trials has been negatived as being a little premature. The boats will prob' : ably be fined down after'they have all been thoroughly tried out in a stiff breeze: There are seven candidates in Dunedin for the representation' of the province. By the way, Mr.- C- W: Sundstrum has presented" to the Otago: Association a handsome silver cup to-be a permanent record of the Otago repre--sentatives in Sanders Cup contests. < It will bear the name of the successful boat, skipper, and crew, year by year, and the names of past winners will also be inscribed on it. Conditions are to be drawn up governing the cup. The first Sanders Cup trial at Lyttelton is to be sailed on Ist December between Mr. S. Sinclair's Linnet;- Messrs. R.,R. and F. Morrison's Secret, and Mr. F. Pidgeon's Lapwing. Secret is the restricted Rona design boat launched three or four weeks ago at Redcliffs. Seven test races are to be held. Linnet has twice represented the province-. in former contest*. Lapwing is an exDunedin boat, buiit experimentally, and' has a box bow. - • •'

Mr. F. 0. Holmes has been appointed as delegate from the Evans Bay Yacht and Motor-boat Club to the association, vice Mr. Rowell. A letter of appreciation of 'past services has been forwarded by the executive of the Yacht and Motor-boat Association to Mr. J. A. Mac Donald, the late secretary. The start in the race for second-class yachts of the R.P.N.Y. Cup fleet last ~ Saturday was an unusually bad one. Not a single boat was on the starting line when the last disc -was removed. Writing to a friend in Auckland, Lieut. G. H. P. Muhlhauser, E.N.R., owner and "skipper" of the yScht Amaryllis, which recently made a voyage round the world, stated it was his intentfon to sell his boat, but, to use.his own words ''he hated the thought of it." His book" describing the voyage, is well in hand; in fact, half of it i» already in the' hands of the publishers. , A cablegram from the B.N.V.E. officer* in Auckland has been »ent to Mr. Muhlhauser, congratulating him on the completion of hit trip rouuJ the world. •■■