OTAGO SUGGESTIONS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1924, Page 8

OTAGO SUGGESTIONS

(I- TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL TO THE POST.)

.;• DUNEDIN, This Day. The "Star," in an editerial pn the Sanders Cup ceiitests, says: "There is room fpr belief that the centests would be yet more valuable if they were held in bigger bpats-f-sixteen er eighteen fpoters—in preference to the craft whose exiguous dimensions make them impracticable for use as pleasure boats, while their extreme instability, sho\vn_most notably but npt fpr the first time in the Wellington cpmpetitions, make a. detraction from their value as racing machines. If that character of the contests which has net militated against their pppularity with the multitude or the keenness ef these engaged in them is unalterable, seme : reflectien might be given to a revisien pf the rules which make a divergence ef seveneighths of an inch from the medel a matter for censideratien in the censtructipn pf the vessels;, Such rigid regard for uniformity surely is not required. If simple outside measurements such as length and beam were laid .down for the contestants, and the rest left to the craft of the designer, the competition would be.made one to a greater extent for builders as well as for sailers."

10 IBS BDITOR, Sir, —That the'sympathies of all true spprtsmen will be with the Rona in the result ef Saturday morning's- race will, I think, not be disputed. That an accident, at the starting point, an accident of a trivial nature, in no way affecting the chances of any" one of the cempeting.bpats, shpiild, at the finish of the race, have been seized upon as -the grounds of a protest against the winner, seems; strange.- Equally strange;, is .the fact that the Sailing Cemmittee took no less than three hours to decide the pretest, as ene result ef which: delay advantage was lest pf an afternoon the weather conditipns pf which were as near perfectien as ceuld be fer a true,sailing test. It is fairly evident to all who have followed' the Sanders Cup contests since their inception that there has crept into them a feeling (not general, but evident in certain quarters) which seems opposed to the principles of true sportsmanship, a feeling which, it is sincerely' to be hoped, will not be allewed te cen : tinue if, in future, the contests are te be held in the spirit in which all such centests should properly be held.—l am, ''' • YACHTSMAN. , 30th January. ■