SURF CHAMPIONSHIPS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 56, 8 March 1937, Page 17

SURF CHAMPIONSHIPS

A CLEAN SWEEP

WELLINGTON TEAMS

.'h^eveS^nique distinction of Pacing one of its teams first in every heat of the two main events the a« man and the four-man .championsnga. Maranui's list of Placl^V^ water able in that, in eleven starts mw* events, the club achieved eight first nlaoines The other three were ?eSI Lyall Bay also showed up well with wins in the junior rescue andl resuscitation and beltman's events Island Bay won the march past, ana found it unnecessary to defend the land-drill title, which the club holds The distance of the buoys from the beach and the strong and confused, nature of the surf made the watermark test the most severe winch Wellington teams have encountered in many years. A strong and increasing southerly drift did not improve matters The buoys were over 300 yards from the shore, a swim more than twice the distance normally provided. J-his was due to the fact that they were placed by launch on the morning ot the competitions. The breaking suri prevented the launch venturing too close. In the afternoon, a crowd of several thousand was present. The weather was fine, with sunshine at times, and a fresh breeze. SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP. Eight teams competed in the Hack-shaw-Searle' Shield event, which is the West Coast championship for rescue and resuscitation teams of six men and a captain. In the first heat, D. O'Neill, of Island Bay, led by a narrow margin from D. Bagnall, the Maranui B support. G. Cooper, Maranui s beltman. completely reversed the position however, and gave the haul-in signal over a minute before the Island Bay team,- which was the only other team to finish. The Maranui teams lead in water time points gave it the heat. ■ The second heat was fought out between Maranui A, Eastern United, and Opawe. D. Evans and J. Clark, in the water for Maranui, got out to the buoy in good time, despite being carried down by the drift. The team's land work was very fine to watch. The East End and Opawe beltmen were soon in trouble.' As they went down together with the drift, their lines tangled badly, and unable to make headway, both had to be hauled in. Both teams were automatically disqualified. Patea and Lyall Bay met in- the third heat. The Wellington team, which was practically the same as the one which won the Wellington title, went well on the land. Pelham opened up a good lead, and it looked as if the team must make the final an all-Wellington one, when J. Williams, in the belt, stopped swimming, and had to be hauled in. Apparently the line had caught in some projection on the bottom, and the beltman could not make headway. He took off the belt, which was hauled in without difficulty. Patea comnleted the course, and entered the final. The two Maranui teams, Patea, and Island Bay contested the final, the lastnamed because it was the only second team in the contest. A duel ensued between the two Maranui teams, both of which remained very strong in the water. Clark, the A beltman. went off the beach with a slight advantage over Cooper, of the B team. He held this all the way out, but Cooper was not far behind, and the two teams finished almost together. The Patea beltman could not reach his patient. O'Neill, the Island Bay support, again made a good swim Pf it, but the long wait at the buoy was too much for him. He collapsed on reaching the shore, and the beltman's condition was little better. D. Bagnall, of Maranui B, also suffered from severe cramp, but completed the contest before dropping out. The result was as follows:—Maranui A (D. K. Evans support, J. Clark belt, E. A. Eaven, H. D. Baird, P. J. Ballard, H. C. Downs, K. F, Hoy captain), 1; Maranui B (D. Bagnall, G. Cooper, K. Stephen, C. Wilson, C. Redmond, P. Aldous, C. R. Durrant), 2. GIBSON CUP. The four-man alarm event for the Gibson Cup proved the most popular with competitors. In the first heat, Maranui B, holders of the New Zealand four-man title, opened a long lead on the other teams both in the water and on land for an impressive win. East End were second and Castlecliff A third. Times: Maranui B, smin 47sec; East End, 9rnin 29sec. The second heat went to Maranui C by virtue of water-work. The landwork of both Maranui and Lyall Bay was sound, but G. Cooper beat F. Mollier to the buoy by 12 seconds. Patea B were third.. Times: Maranul C, 6min 3Qsec; Evall Bay, 6min 42sec. The third heat was. carried off, also, mainly on water work, by Maranui A, whose beltman, H. Downs, is still a junior. Times: Maranui A, 7min 29sec, 1: Ohawe, Bmin'42sec, 2. The final was not held, because of the programme falling behind time, and the result, decided on the points made by the three teams in tjieir. respective heats, was as follows: — Maranui B (J. Clark support, D. Evans belt, H; Hawken line, K. Hoy captain), 67 points, 1; Maranui C (N. Caradus, G. Cooper, E. Raven, P. Aldous), 65.5, 2; Maranui A (P. Ballard, H. Downs, H. Baird.-C. Mentiplay), 64.5, 3. BELTMAN'S TITLE. The first heat of the beltman's championship resulted in a clear-cut win for D. Evans (Maranui A), who led M. Shipman (Patea) to the buoy by 55 seconds. Evans's time was Bmin 55sec. The second heat was won by F. Mollier (Lyall Bay) from P. Ballard (Maranui B) by a similar margin. Times: Mollier, 7min 44sec;* Ballard, Bmin 41sec. The final was a repetition of the second heat, because of the withdrawals of.Shipton and Evans. Evans was feeling the effects of several swims as beltman and support during the day. Ballard had been a replacement in the heats to enable the club's faster men to rest for the final of the HackshawSearle contest. His swim in the final of the beltman's race was as meritorious as the winner's. Faced with an increasing drift, a rising surf, and a lengthening distance, the two beltmen entered the water for one of the finest belt duels seen in New Zealand. The Lyall Bay veteran early went into the lead, but drifted down, to be followed by Ballard. After swimming off over 400 yards of line, Mollier fought, his way up against the drift, still closely followed by the Maranui man. Times: Mollier, llmin 43sec; Ballard, 12min 7sec, JUNIOR EVENT. . Owing to the distance to the buoys, the junior six-man event was swum to men acting as markers about 100 yards from the shore. Five teams went off at once, and immediately there was confusion as to which teams were to bring in which patient, Lyall Bay put up a splendid show, and hauled in first, with Island Bay second. The Maranui patient had beep out at tha buoy for some time before he was seen. Island Bay lost its patient, and after hauling its beltman in, sent out another member of the team. The result was as follows:—

Lyall Bay (K. Blackie, W. Bell, S. Scoones, J. Bell, CStoddart, W, Cole, S. Muller, captain), 1; Maranui (W. Raven, H. Downs, C. R. Durrant, M. Baird, D. Gray, E. Lewis, K. F. Hoy, captain), 2; Paekakariki (O. Smith, P. Field, J. Crawley, D, Dorizac, A. Sewell, K. Smith, C. Waite, captain), 3.

The result of the march-past competition for the Williams Cup, in which all teams took part, was as follows:—lsland Bay (W. Harris, I. Williamson, G. Boocock, A. Churchill, A. Herron, G. Perry, M. Neal, C. Coleman, J. Jenkins, H. Tonks), 1; Opawe (C. Dowdle, F. Smith, O. Brown, P. McLean, E. Ryan. I. Butchart, K. McGlashan, R. Nixon), 2; Patea (A. Currie, R. Adams, C. Haining, M. Shipman, R. Clarke. _.L Richardson. S. Pauline). 3.