YACHTS AND MOTOR BOATS

Evening Star, Issue 18255, 20 April 1923, Page 9

YACHTS AND MOTOR BOATS

[By Filing Jib.] [Secretaries of chit® -and others interested in aquatics are requested by “ Flying Jib to forward any items of news or comments to this office not later than Wednesday afternoon of each week.] NOTES AND COMMENTS. _ Norana towed Winifred and Eunice to town last Saturday afternoon. Valmai was noticed sailing around at Broad Bav on Sunday last. Woodanga went on the rocks at Cemetery Point on Sunday afternoon. The crew stayed on board all night, and succeeded in getting her off about midnight. The Tucana hoys removed the mast from their boat on Sunday in readiness to be towed to Port Chalmers. Miti sailed up to the boat harbor on Saturday last. She is to go on the slip for overhaul and painting. It is said that the Miro may be sold to an Auckland buyer If this is the case her loss will be deeply felt. However, if no yachting enthusiast in Otago is willing to pay as much as outside people, one cannot blame her owners for taking tho highest bid. The nomination forms for membership of the Broad Bay Boating Club are now in the hands of "the committee, who aro busy enrolling members. As soon as the committee is in a position to estimate the number of members for the year, it hopes to start building the clubhouse. It has been suggested that the clubhouse be large enough for a concert and dance hall. This is a really good idea. Quite a number of yachts ana launches moor at Broad Bay during the week-ends and holidays, and if provision is made for the crews’ comfort when they come ashore, ‘Broad Bay will be a very busy centre. Broad Bay has the water and space for nil crafts, and if the Broad Bay Boating Club is at all successful in its efforts, it will soon be the largest and most popular club in Otago Harbor. I cannot emphasise tho fact too much that it is for the benefit of the boat owners alone that the Slip Committee is working. Some members seem to be doing all they can to hinder the Slip Committee in its work. These men are a continual nuisance to other boat owners who have complied with the regulations. The Slip Committee at the boat harbor is still having trouble with members who will not provide moorings for themselves or get them down in their allotted position. Some of these men do not realise that the Slip Committee is working solely in their interests. If a boat owner secures the regulation moorings and gets them down in the position allotted to him, his boat is fully protected from bumping another, and his swinging space cannot be intruded upon. A member of the crew of the Auckland mullet boat Kokin has solved the problem of stowage. He has constructed a portable phonograph, and in its large sound box the crew can place boots, shoes, old clothes, and so forth. Of course, if the machine is too full the musical qualities are spoiled somewhat. The regatta held at Tawiti Bay on Easter Saturday surpassed all other regattas held in and around the Hauraki Gulf this season. Sixty-five yachts and launches were present, representing every club in Auckland. One even noticed the Manukau Yacht Club Turgee on the Kntare, and the Russell Regatta Committee’s flag on Waiter© 11. and Dolphin. A feature of the crowd at Kawau (Hauraki Gulf] this Easter was the 14Aquatic’). The Wat cruised to. all the tray spots; to Warkworth, Mahurangi, Waiwera, and thrashed out from the place through the Tiri passage to Arkle’s Bay under heavy conditions during a blow. In fact, the Aotea went anywhere the mullet boats ventured, and pegged along in their wake, taking about another four hours on the journey. The following paragraph appears in the * New Zealand Aquatic ’ of April s: One would think that the crews of all craft would behave themselves in a reasonable manner, especially as attention has of late been only too often directed towards the doings of a certain small section of the yachting community (meaning Auckland). Tho crew of one small boat over at Coromandel behaved in an absolutely improper manner recently, much to the disgust of their fellow yachtsmen. The Canterbury Yachting and Power Boat Club’s new club shed under construction at West Lyttelton should be , finished in another fortnight. The Auckland launch Lorraine, which figured in the shocking boating calamity on the Tairua Bar (Mercury Bay) on Sunday, April 1, in which five well-known northern yachtsmen lost their lives, was built about twelve years ago. She -was a 32ft raised-deck cruiser, with a beam of Bft, and a_ draught of 3ft. She was a fine type of tuck stem cruiser, and had, on her many jaunts up and down the coast, proved herself an exceptionally fine sea boat. Her engine, a six-cylinder car job, was located somewhat forward of amidships, and then came the main cabin, about_ 10ft long, whilst aft was a self-baling cockpit about oft 6in long. The Lorraine became a total wreck. A late report from the owner (Mr S. Cory-Wright) indicated that the accident resulted from the stopping of the engine and its failure to restart promptly, probably because the motor was deluged by water. A remarkable stern-wheel motor passenger boat has just been built in Germany [reports the ‘Motor Boat’ journal). She is ten metres (or about 32ft 6in) in length, and the object in adopting tho stern wheel was to reduce the draught, which is about 121 n. The boat is built of duralumin, and the paddle wheel is of a special type with hinged paddles. The paddle wheel is driven through a propeller shaft and helical gears by means of a twentyfour h.p. four-cylinder petrol engine, a reverse gear being fitted.

THE COMING BRITISH SEASON. Following is a list of the big yachts that will be in commission in the Old Country for racing during the coming season. Nearly all the names are familiar to yachtsmen. It will be noted that the King’s yacht heads the list; Brittania (H.M. the King), Nyria (Mrs E. R. Workman), Terpsichore (Mr R. H. Leo), Mariuquita (Mr H. J. Garratt), Sumurun (Lord Sackville), Thanet (Mr J. W. Cook), Harbinger (Sir Thomas Dunlop, Bart.). Fifteen metres : CestrianfSir William Burton, K.8.E.), The Lady Anne (Mr J. W. Robertson), Tuiga (Mr Warwick Brookes), Paula ILL (Sir Walter Preston). Twelve metres : Noreen (Mr F. Last), Sirocco (Mr P. de G. Benson), Ataianta (Mr A. C. Adams), vessel building (Mr J. B. Payne). SPEED-BOAT RACING. Speed-boat racing is rapidly gaining popularity in New Zealand, and it will not be surprising if such an event figures in the programme at the next Wellington Regatta. At the present time the launch Waione has nothing to compete against in her own class, and she is naturally heavily handicapped; at last regatta s'he flew round the harbor, but oh corrected time was fifth. It is hoped next season to attract similar boats from other ports. An event in which several speed boats competed would be an undoubted attraction for the public. As a southern writer points out, the day of the mixed handicap for motor boats is past, and if regatta committees do not cater for the speed class they are not meeting the public taste. Each regatta shows that there is more popular interest in the speed boats than in any other particular class. THE TASMAN CUP. Mention of Australia and the twenty-one-footers recalls the subject of the Tasman Gup, offered by Sir Joseph Ward for competition between suitable types in New Zealand and Australia. Although negotiations have been procleding for some months past m an endeavor to decide upon a type that will give satisfaction to yachtsmen on both aides of the_ Tasman, nothing definite has yet been arranged. New Zealand seems to favor the six-metre class as being the best for intercolonial contests, which is certain to receive the support of large numbers of owners in Australia. Mr A. Saxton, of Sydney, would probably be one of the first to challenge for the cup with the well-known boat Awanui. Other