YACHTING

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 109, 10 May 1934, Page 7

YACHTING

A MODEST CLUB

PROGRESS IN EVANS BAY

The modesty of the Evans Bay Yacht and Motor-boat Club was commented upon by several speakers at the annual smoke concert of the club last night. Mr. J. Paterson, president, occupied the chair.

-In< proposing ..the toast "The Harbour Board," Captain Keane, commodore of the club, said that the board had a very important secondary responsibility towards the town and its institutions. *Th eEvaus Bay Club was a self-supporting organisation, and had been from the start. It had contributed at a cost of £400 a slipway for keel-yachts, and had done much to improve facilities for the. upkeep of the. pleasure fleet round Wellington, for which the Boat Harbour was inadequate. The club had always had fair treatment fronnthe Harbour Board, but he was inclined to think that it had been rather modest in its demands. The time was approaching when more assistance would be required. After all, the club and the sport in general was doing a splendid service to the community by training the men of an island Dominion to develep a sea-sense. A MODEST INSTITUTION. Councillor C. H. Chapman, M.P., who replied on behalf of the Harbour Board, expressed surprise at the extreme modesty of the club. In self-assertion, h esaid, yachting was miles behind the' other sports, some .of which were quite insistent in approaching evep the City Council for considerable assistance. The club should cast oft such false modesty. He felt sure that the Harbour Board would give it air the help .possible. Yachting deserved every encouragement. The country depended greatly on followers of the sea, and there could be none better fitted than yachtsmen, to defend the country in time of threatened invasion. He congratulated the club on its 238 members. In-.towstinjr the president and vice-presi-dents, Mr. G. Tanner; official judge and handicapper of the club, stated that, far from the clubs being backward, he could assure Mr. Chapman as one who had been connected with almost every branch of sport, that yachting was the one in which most initiative was necessary. It was rather for that reason that the Harbour Board had not been approached more otten. Very often the vice-presidents in a sporting organisation were elected for their contribution, but in the Evans Bay these officers provided an incentive to the younger: members as model citizens In reply, Mr. J. Paterson said that Jie remembered attending the second meeting of, thei clubi •• held ...in,'., the old Waitangi shed along the -beach;* and 'the first general meeting, at th cold Kilbirnie Hall. There he was elected -n vice-president, in which position he had been very 'happy.

MODERN DEVELOPMENTS. The growth of the club fleet, particularly in tlie smaller classes, was somethui" to be very proud of, said Mr.. Paterson. Evans Bay, with its tricky winds, was ideal training ground foe young yachtsmen and had turned out men equal to New Zealand's best. He had been pii' the first deputation to inquire concerning: the proposed reclamation, fourteen years'agp, and he thought that some time would-elapse before.the club's part of the bay-was interfered with, although the time 5 would come some day. ..... •■ ■■■■: Mr. Rowell replied on.behalf -of the vicepresidents. . \ ...■>.... . ; . *Mr. L. Robertson, a member' of the committee, proposed the toast ot Kindred Clubs, and emphasised the value of co-or-dinated action on the part "of all clubs : The toast was replied to by Mr. Corcoran, of the Royfel Port Nicholson Yacht Llub, and Mr. Christensen, of the Worser xsay Club. ' .

■ Other, toasts' honoured were "The Wellington Yacht and Motor-boat Association : Ar- E W- Hargreaves), "The Press" (Mr. C. Lindsay), "The Ladies" (Captain Keane), and "The Visitors" (Mr. R H Rolle). •'■ ■ ' ■•'. • •■•;..

Items were given during the evening by \J\ jParkm^Boaf apuvn^and ■McAllister.-' ■"••-'■-■■■'-' ■)'■■■ «ay ;'«■;;«:» ■;, n