EIGHT-OAR BOATS

Evening Star, Issue 21285, 14 December 1932, Page 6

EIGHT-OAR BOATS

HAS OTAGO A SPECIAL RACER ? CANTERBURY ROWING ASSOCIATION'S UNUSUAL DISCUSSION ERROR IN PACKING SUGGESTED [BrSCTAL TO TZZ ' Stak.M CHRISTCHURCH, December 14. At last night’s meeting of the Canterbury Rowing Association the question whether the boat used by Otago in the interprovincial eight-oar _ rowing competitions was the special racing boat which originally had been intended for Southland, and had gone in error to Otago, caused considerable discussion. Of the two boats used by Otago, said the secretary, one was much faster than the other—so much so that the two Otago tealtis always tossed for the use of the faster boat, and the team winning the toss always won the race. The racing boat had cost the New Zealand Association £2O extra, and most likely had been wrongly packed, going to Otago in place of Southland. It was not Otago’s fault that it used the boat, for the two boats there might never have been compared in respect to actual measurements the Otago crew merely knowing that the one boat was faster than the other. Otago always used the fast boat for the interprovincial race, and it had won four years in succession. Mr Atack said the race was certainly for practice eights, and it would seem unfair if one province had the use of a special and Ugh ter racing eight. A member: Would it not seem sour grapes for a complaint such ns this to come from Canterbury, after Otago winning in the last four years? Mr Hobbs said he would not like Otago to think that Canterbury was complaining, but if, in error, Otago had the wrong boat, inquiries certainly should be made. He understood' that measurements recently had been'.taken of the boat which had been sent to Southland, the proper destination of the racing boat. Mr Kesteven moved that the New Zealand Association be asked to state exactly where the racing boat was kept, and this motion was carried. " A LOT OF ROT " „ OPINIONS OF LOCAL OARSMEN. “ It’s a lot of rot,” declared Mr F. (“Mick”) Brough, the well-known champion stroke of many successful Otago crews, when a reporter showed him the report of the Canterbury Association’s discussion to-day. “ Both boats are identical,” he continued, “and Canterbury’s statement that one is always used in the interprovincial eights because it is faster is false. Because this boat is housed at Port Chalmers, where ‘ rep ’ crews train, it is used. Crews become accustomed to it during training, and to change over might be detrimental.” One year both boats were stationed at Port, and the shell from the Upper Harbour was tried. The crew liked it the better, and trained it, later packing it off to Auckland, where Otago won by its biggest margin to date. The reason for tossing for the boats in the interclub races came about in this way: Two Upper Harbour clubs raced in one heat and two Lower'Harbour clubs in another. The crew winning the toss naturally desired the boat in which it trained. Perhaps the reason for the'exception to this procedure was on account of the boat Usually taken away being given a little more attention. Examinations of the boats had proved them to be exactly the same. So was the boat sent to Southland. _ When Mr Brough was in Wanganui in 1930 he compared this boat with those distributed among local associations, and there was no difference. Apparently no special racing boat was delivered, tliongh it was ordered with the other shells built for the N.Z.A.R.A. “ Personally,” said Mr Brough, “I think that all the boats are of the racing class, and not practice boats as they were supposed to have been. The only lighter boat I have ever seen was to have been used by the interstate Victorian crew in the King’s Cup in Australia, but it was destroyed by fire before it was launched. I rowed in the boat over which all this fuss has been made at the Empire Games in 1930, and it was no faster than any of those distributed amongst the associations in the various centres.” When interviewed, Mr S. G. Styche also averred that Otago’s two boats are exactly similar. “It seems to be_ the idea among oarsmen that one is a little faster than the other, but I have my doubts,” he said. “ Our boat may be faster than those belonging to other centres, but only becau*e it has been given careful attention. Often it has been pointed out at championship contests as being the smartest and bestkept boat present.”