YACHTING

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1932, Page 19

YACHTING

• By "Mainsail"

SANDERS CUP CONTEST

SIXTEEN DAYS AWAY

THE CHALLENGING BOATS

•On.Monday, ISth. January, or Blxteeu days froni now, the twelfth Sanders Cuji contest will be in. progress 6n Wellington Harbour. Much has been d6ue. by way •of preliminai:y arrangements by the, Wellington Provincial Yacht and Motor-boat Association, under its energetic new chairman, Mr. O. Moller, and it is anticipated that when the time for the contest arrives everything will be in order'for a'successful gathering. Finance has been, and still is, the bug' bear of the association, but it has every confidence;in the yachtsmen arid general public who, it is expected, will not allow the lack of money to be the stumbling-block when .Wellington for the first time holds the contest here m its own right. : Thei provinces competing will be represented as follows; Auckland, Bafagi; -Wellington, Betty; Otago, Heather Southland; Valj Canterbury, Colleen or Avenger. n In regard to Canterbury's challenger vthere is some doubt at the time of writing. ■ The paragraph which' appeared m this column last week showed that the Avenger; was regarded as faster than the Colleen, although the latter boat had been selected, and there is a possibility of the Avenger making the trip to Wellington^ Auckland's Challenger. "! ■ "Speedwell," writing in the "Auckland Star," has the following comment to make on the Kangi, which has been selected to represent, Auckland in the Sanders Cup contest: Bangi was built sis years ago by Colin Wild/of Stanley Bay, for Winstone brothers/She was raced by them in the Jellicoe class for her. first four years,. and then laid .up. In December last1 she was purchased by Mr. W.;T. Matthews, an old Auckland yachtsman, and. last owner, of the Valdora, who had beenlaway for a number, of years. He could see" possibilities of speed in her, and gradually got her up to Sanders Cup pitch. ,With the Avalon sold to: Otago, the Eangi ranked equal with Joan, Iron Duke, Idler, and Desert Gold; all we have left now of our once, big fleet of this class. By careful preparation and attention to> detail, second only to Frank Cloka with the Avalon in this respect, "Bill" Mat, thews has the Eangi in real good order. Cornwell Cup Kepresentatlon. : ■ \ "Constructive" forwards the follow-ing-additional comment oa Cornwell Cup- representation:-^ •■'- ■ ■ ■ - •Reference has been made in a previous issue to those 12ft 6in miscellaneous boats we have in Wellington that should have teen standardised when construction,, was under consideration. It now transpires that the-impetuosity which so often impedes progress <was no!; confined to boat-building. The sail plan also had to submit to the innovations of the amateur, with the-regret-table result that the Cornwell Cup trials were conducted at a time when- there was not a true Cornwell Cup mainsail in.Wellington. Presumably a standardised sail will- have to be obtained' for Wellington's challenger.: Bnt what; of the trials? Why the, changing ofi boats, the taking of finishing times:? The absence of true Cornwell Cup sails mp.de for conditions that were unjustto' -the selector .and the^boys; Was this nobody's responsibility? ~; Wese:. there the conditions prevailing hor» when the governing body eighteen months: ago applied for this contest to be sailed at Wellington? \ B r , Every harbour has its crude yachtsmen, still it,.is difficult to,understand' a procedure----so unjust to the lads^-; that cannot possibly hope, to accomplish, anything more than a slowing... doyen of the rapid development of the Cornwell Cup class-and what it stands for.' With some dozen Takapuna boats: here, half of_; which are true. Cornwell Cup boats, is it .not a, remarkable thing that, there was not one true Cornwell Cup sail at this port? 7 It is economical to own a boat that has been faithfully built, and is well found. Classified boats"with restricted sails mean more boats! and more clubs. It also discovers the bestV yachtsmen. Miscellaneous' boats' and sails these three purposes. It is this latter' type that has been, Wellington's stumbling-block, and its removal is long overdue. The thinking yachtsman knows that the human .element is the ono thing that cannot be eliminated. The Cornwell Cup standardised boat! and sail with its "swap boat" system finds the man who possesses that huniaii element, which is best suited to the' glorious sport of yachting,; and there is not a yachtsman in Wellington Harbour who would attempt to slow down such a system. Slow-down systems and retrograde steps are not the work of,true lovers of the sport. They are' more often the results of ignorance by well-intentioned though misguided people,l but these things'will. not. happen in the future for., better .counsel; born of the experience of the past will be sure to prevail. ' ..'-" ' ..."" : Sanders Cup Remits. }: ' .; At a meeting of the Auckland Yacht and Motor-boat Association; held last weak three remits were drawn up to be submitted to the Sanders Cup Dominion! Conference. - The. first one deals with: the necessity for measuring all coni-i petitors before each contest. The second sets out that strict measures be taken to see that all Eona type boats are true to specification and advocates a minimum weight-for the boats. The. third remit is proposed iu,caso,the other Uvo arc not approved, and it reebm-. mends that the one;design class be abolished and a restricted class 'bo' decided upon as a substitute, consideration being given to! present craft holding certificates. . . V Iteply to Criticism.. : .. : ;. •. . The criticism levelled at the white pine Takapuna boats by, a correspdndent has led aiiother_yachtsman to reply as follows: "The ~ correspondent says that if common-sense prevailed every Takapuna would have been:a kauri boat and we would have been saved the humiliation of borrowing kauri boats from other ports. This 'is sheer rot, ; and. if the correspondent .sees, humiliation now it is a pity he did not foresee-it and make his bright suggestion, before^ the white pine Takapunas wore built! The- airy- way in which he talks about the few extra pounds involved in buildr. ing in kauri shows that the financial position^ the boys whp. build such boats is entirely unknown to him. If the correspondent will come, to'light with the 'few extra pounds,' the boys will willingly build in kauri, but not before, un-: less they , receive outside assistance. The contempt which-he tries-to read into the term''miscellaneous boats' fails so miserably that he might as well complain- about the. operation: of .kindergarten schools. As for claiming that white pino is a spongy and sap timber, he ; displays such ignorance as vrould amaze any boatbuilder. It is to be doubted very much whether he can distinguish, between jrhite pine and kami^a