YACHTING

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 50, 28 February 1931, Page 20

YACHTING

by. "Mainsail" SUCCESS AT LAST;

SANDERS CUP VICTORY,

THE BETTY'JJ -CONSISTENCY

After ten ye.aH of failure and disap« pointment it is hard to believe that tha Sanders Cup has come to Wellington at last. Local enthusiasts had becomo accustomed, to the oia story of defeat each season, and they began to .show their anxiety when the ■ Betty' took so ; long to assert herself, even though sh« ' had won the early races. She had' strong competition, and probably in no previous contest wore the boats as evenly matched. It must not be overlooked, however, that the human fac* ■ tor played a very important part in tha ( Betty's success. Too much , stress is. apt to be laid on the superiority of the boat, while the ability of the crew i» . disregarded. . Johnson and his mea fully justified their selection.. It is true that Johnson sailed at the contest by virtue of having skippered th» Betty in the trials, but he has shown, that he could not have been passed over in any case. : Some comment has -■ been passed on.' the fact that .Wellington's..first* win. . was scored- by a boat which had al« ready captured the, Cup three times for Canterbury, and it has been suggested, that more merit would attach, to tha victory if it had been brought about by a locally-built boat. To some extent admittedly it is to be regretted that a local product did not achieve ■ what Wellington yachtsmen have bedn. striving for during the past ten years, but, on the .other hand, Mr..Wagstaff!s sportsmanship in purchasing the Betty) with a view to Sanders Cup honour* deserves some reward. /'Mainsail" warmly congratulates him both on his sporting action, in acquiring the boat and on being the first' yachtsman to own a Sanders Cup winner bearing the big "W.", . . ..'••-'.■' ' The record of tho contests to. date is as follows: — Year. Boat. Province. Where held 1921 Heather ■■ ' Otago .•'■.:. Auckland 1922 Desert Gold Auckland Dunedin 1923- Rona Auckland ■ Auckland 1924 Rona ? Auckland Wellington' 1925 lona Otago ■ Auckland 1926 Betty Canty. Dunedin 1927 Betty Gant'v. Lyttelton 1928 Betty Canty. ' Stewart I* 1929 Avalon '. Auckland Akaroa 1930 Eileen Otago Auckland Evans Bay Racing. For both participants, and onlookers last Saturday's race for keel''yachts was very engrossing and'was easily the most interesting race seen this season. Thanks to excellent handicapping, tha result was in doubt right up to the end. It was a triumph for the Mark Foy starting system, and many opponents were completely won . over. All yachts were heavily reefed, many having trysails. At' Coromandel the Rawene was seen, to be a long way ahead of her rivals. The Eomp lay second for a while, but was outweathered by ■ the Atalanta. The latter boat-,- which, , started at six minutes past 3,- was favourite. The Romp carried,a,,leading jib, and this appeared to, be" dragging her head off in the squalls. ' Soon all yachts were strung across the harbour between Cdromandel and Somesj and. were -.tearing-.along. * About Ja of a mile past Cpromaudcl the' crack bo.a.t,,.Marangj,',.o,v.er.h.auled .hoi .nearest rival," this .Shamrock. ' For' quite an. appreciable' time the £>liamfock held her, and in the heavy squalls actually; seemed to creep ahead^ut slowly tha Marangi crept past; *Jt; wad .a that the .former lost tirfto at tlie start. The boats' now lay: Rawene, Atalanta, -Romp, Galatea, ' Wairere L, Viola, Marangi, Shamrock.. .It soon" was--seen, that the Rawene would take a' lot of catching. The run down Evans Bay, tested the skippers 3 seamanship to the full, and in the gusts many of the boats seemed to take charge.. The Galatea came to light and passed in succession the Romp, Atalanta, and Ravrene to win by lmin 55sec. The little Rawena held second place, the Atalanta just failing to overhaul her by 55 seconds. The Marangi came in fourth, being lmin 45sec behind the Atalanta. Ths Shamrock withdrew at the iheail of Evans Bay although fast overhauling both the Wairere I. and Romp. The Nanette, which was to have started, tore her mainsail whilst leaving- the Boat Harbour. Racing at Parom&ta. ! Despite the fact that a fnil gale 1 eoni the nor'west was blowing, it was decided to hold a race for the. first-elassi j centreboarders during the week-end. The result, with handicaps and actual sailing times, is given below: First* class Centreboard Handicap: ■■ Miss , Josephine (scr), lhr 12mia 33secj 1; Peggy- (4min), lhr 19min, 2; Kia Ora. (4Jmin), lhr 20mih 13sec, 3. • Also started: Kuini- (scr), lhr 16mia 18»ec; Kotuku 11. (ljmin)i lhr S4min SSsec; Kewpie (4min), did not finish. Thai Kewpie early met with trouble' in j Brown's Bay, when hor jib carried away. As she was also making a great deal of water, she retired from , the race. The Kia Ora held the lead until the long beat to Grey's was nearly. over, when she was headed by tho Peggy, which rounded the windward mark with 35 seconds in. hand. The Miss Josephine, which was sailing _ a wonderful race, was here only one minute six seconds behind the leader, with, the Kuini two minutes further back. The Kotuku 11. was never at homo at any stage, and after being almost swamped rounding Bradey's Buoy, continued to fall back for the remainder of the race. ■ The Miss Josephine now passed the Kia Ora and the Peggy, and cleared Moorhouse buoy on the \run to the shed with a lead of over a minute. Fairly flying through the" water, she continued to gain on tho "rest of the fleet, finally crossing the finishing line 2 minutes 27, seconds ahead of tho Peggy. The Kia Ora sailed' a much improved race to gain third place. .'., . Worser Bay CluTj. ' A very' eventful. race was held jlast Saturday in a strong to' gale forca northerly. On account of the strength of the wind it was decided to sail the race three times around a short windward and v leeward course of nearly: half a mile. Therri were seven entries. Every boat was. well "reefed down, and some boats even, ran short of reefs to take'in. The Hinc-tc-\vai, a 14-footer, was just getting off tho beach when a squall sent her over.. The Demon also capsized in'a heavy squall before reaching the starting line. .- The Spitfire was first away with 11' mm, ■ but on hor first beat took over, a green sea which half filled her. She drifted on to a small patch of sand surroundedby: rocks, and. was. certainly lucky to get there.' The' Ngaru arid Ngaroma were next seiit.off with eight minutes each. These two were tho only boats i to finish tho race. It was a hard slog j all the way for both boats, and they, > showed great speed on1 the run; Spin.- j nakers were not used. The O.K. Baby, j with five minutes, was working. close up the shore and was just weathering a big collection of rocks when she capsized under a heavy squall," turningstraight over. It was with difiiculty j that her crew were able- to boach- her j. to windward of the rocks. The Kiwi (scr) found that two reefs down were not enough, and under a long'white squall her mast split practically/.from gooseneck to topmast band. She- was successfully beached at SesrtmHS