OVER THE TASMAN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 1, 2 January 1937, Page 4

OVER THE TASMAN

Weather and sea on Saturday, December 5, favoured the North Bondi Club's annual surf carnival at Bondi, which opened the New South Wales competitive season. There was a good crowd of spectators, and many events were keenly contested. For the first time the new method of judging rescue and resuscitation competitions was utilised. It made the events more interesting to watch, as it dispensed wittt the lengthy delays of the old methods, but calculation of points and makingup of official results occupied much of. the saved time. Manly Club won bymore than a point over Bondi. In the parade and march, past,. Queenscliff and North Bondi tied for first. Four professionals competed in. the unrestricted surf race, which produced a close finish. The veteran, J. Lapthorne, snatched a win by inches after A. Laidlaw had led for most of the long swim. : Lapthorne made the most of a small shoot when he was a few lengths behind Laidlaw 50 yards from the beach. R. Bassingthwaighte won the -restricted surf race and the senior belt ; race. There was sufficient strength in the waves to make the surf ■ boat races spectacular. Four crews qualified for the final, which was won by Queens* cliff, who had to survive a protest by, Cronulla, who alleged that the winners did not go round the proper .turning point. The protest was dismissed.. On December 6 Cronulla and NortH Cronulla Clubs held their annual interclub contests for the Monro Shield and Rofe Cup. Cronulla retained the Monrgl Shield, its team, R. Turner (belt),.R, Michaelis, J. Miller, R. Holcombe, and] B. Schell winning by 15 seconds. Thf North Cronulla team was D.' Lechleit-i ner (belt), E. Dews, C. McCready, R< Scott, and H. Hitchins. The Rofe Cutf competition, for Juniors, was won byj North Cronulla, L. Ewers (belt), R. Whitfield, W. Kelly, V. McGrath, an<J F. O'Sullivan, finishing 28sec before A. Warburton (belt), G. Brickwood, K, McPherson, I. Barker, and K.; Griffiths;

". The Deewhy Club is making-experi-ments with life-lines. The" limit 'of breaking strain with a current ; cottort line is 6001b and when it is necessary to haul in a surf boat several lines hava to be used. It has been discovered that a yacht manila line of the same weight as the cotton line has more than double the breaking strain, 12321b, and tests are being made to find if it is otherwise suitable for surf life-saving purposes. If the line of equal gives satisfactory results, further tests with lines half the weight will 'ba made.