YACHTING

Evening Star, Issue 22003, 12 April 1935, Page 4

YACHTING

[By Tub Bailer Bov,] YACHTSMAN’S CALENDAR. April 20—Vauxhali Club (C. C, Wakefield Cup), Broad Bay Boating Club, Easter races and Oliphant Cup race. April 22 (Easter Monday).—Portobello regatta. BROAD BAY RACES. The Broad Bay Boating, Club will hold its final series of club races for the year on Easter Saturday, when a good programme of races will be decided. Boats from all clubs are eligible and a good fleet is sure to be present. Motor boats and yachts 18ft and under will race round the club course, while the large yachts, which will be self handicapped, sail the channel • course as in former years, CUTTING DOWN A SAIL. A correspondent signing himself “ Amateur,” writes that he requires a new mainsail for his 12ft 6-er, and lias been offered a second-hand one, which is, however, too large; and asks whether the new sail could be cut down successfully. The idea is quite a leasable one, and if the job is placed in the hands of a relfiable sflilmaker should be a success. The best way to set about cutting the sail down would be to use the'cringle at the buff end of the boom as a starting point. From here measure off the appropriate lengths along the boom to-

ward the leech and up the buff toward the Vthroat. When the position of the throat has been determined, the length of Hie gaff should then be measured off and the head of the jjaff joined to the end of the boom. That will giro the outline of the required size. All that regains is for the waste pieces to be cut off and the sail to be re-ropld and the after leech hemmed.. ,A point to be watched, however.- is the slope or the gaff. Although it is an -axiom that the higher the gaff the more drive in the sail, itmust notbe forgotten that a higher gaff might require a higher mast to support it. MR SOPWITH’S APPRECIATION. Some time before the contest for the America’s Cup, held last September between Mr T. 0. M. Sopwjth’s British challenger Endeavour and Mr Harold Vanderbilt’s American defender Rainbow, the officers arid committee of the Taraaki Yacht. Club (Auckland) forwarded a letter to Mr Sopwith wishing him success in hi* attempt to “lift the cup.” The letter wAs accqmpaiuW bv a club burgee, and wis delivered to Mr Sopwith by a friend of his who was visiting Auckland, as officer of one of the New Zealand Shipping. (Mrapany’a steamers. Last week Mr W. A. Wilkinson, commodore of the Tamaki Club, received an autographed photograph of the cup challenger Endeavour, taken off Cowes v The yacht is close-hauled, and shows the double-clewed jib. In A covering letter Mr Sopwith expressed his thanks for the flag and the kind wishes for his success in the contest for the America’s Cup, and said he was sorry that he was unable to fulfil the club’s good wishes. It gave him pleasure to think that yachtsmen in a land so far away should have hi# interests “At heart. He was full of praise for his boat and her amateur crew, and the crew of the Rainbow. He was neither dissatisfied with the man ner in which the races were run nor the way they rejected his protest# and expressed the opinion that he would be quite prepared to meet the American again, provided the rules were met by both boats. The Tamaki Club’s pennant, he added, would be on board the Endeavour when she competed at the various regattas during the coming season. The photograph is intoribed-m Mr Sopwith’s handwritingTd the Flag Officers and Members, Tamaki Yacht Club—T. 0. M. Sopwith.” ' POWER BOAT TYPES. There must be many thousands of motor vehicle drivers who obtained their first road experience with horses. Much the same metamorphosis is,taking place on the canals j between London and the Midlands, m Lancashire and Yorkshire • and other - industrial districts horses are becoming foWer as barge owners take delivery of motor craft. It is not so much with’ boats used f6r pleasure purposes that the most striking developments have occurred lately, but rather in commercial and. Government activities.: Particularly interesting are the fast craft now in" the service of the Royal Air Force and which are' actually targets for bombing practice; These boats are about 40ft in length and fitted with three' 100 li.p. six-cylinder engines, each driving a separate propeller; the maximum speed is about SO ni.p.h,-Non-explosive bombs are used, but to be struck by a relatively light weight falling from a height of several thousand feet might cause serious damage, and for this reason the crew, and the machinery are protected by Armour plating. , ~ , Similar fast cyaft are also used by the R.A.F. to act as emergency tenders for seaplanes. The success and reliability of these boats attracted the attention , of a pnyafce firmy. who hire put a similar vessel, haying, suitable accommodation; of ’.covirtej • in' seWice between Southampton'and the IsUs of Wight. Boats of this type revel in quite, rough water and notwithstanding their capacity for speed, they are safer than larger craft in fog for directly, the engine throttles are closed they lose speed very quickly. . ' Some journalists in search of sensational copy have written much about the alleged smuggling at oortainjavoured spots around the coast. Whatever are the facts of the case the Customs authorities are awake to tha possibilities of illicit trade of this kind, and some fine motor crAft have been built to discourage those who might be tempted ,to regard smuggling as eAsy money.”