OCEAN YACHT RACE.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLV, Issue 57, 8 March 1911, Page 6

OCEAN YACHT RACE.

ROUGH TIME IN COOK STRAIT

The long-distance ocean yacht race, over a course from- Wellington to Port Underwood and back, under the auspices of the Port Nicholson Yacht Club} was commenced at two minutes past 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon and finished shortly after 9. The race (says the N.Z. Times) was keenly contested, and the weather was of the kind that enables a boat to show her sea-going abilities.

.Throughout the trip a good stiff son-east wind prevailed, and the sea in the Strait was fairly heavy, but Ino accidents of consequence occurri cd. All the boats made good i weather of it, and everyone has a ! word pf praise for the way the lolani the (the smallest boat contesting the I race) stood up to the. big seas. lOn the sounding of the starter's I ffun the boats moved away in the followinig order: .Windward, White Heather, Syren, Viking, lolanthe and Ngaira. As the boats sailed across Oriental Bay to Jerningham White Heather passed Windward and took first position, the positions of the others being unaltered. Going down the fairway White Heather and Viking were the only boats to go outside the entrance in one board, the others having to make two boards and go outside the Black Rock. The first boat—White Heather—cleared the Heads at 3.4.0 p.m., and the Ngaira, which was lying last, got clear at 4.5 p.m. OUTSIDE THE ENTRANCE. After clearing the Heads White Heather and Windward stood round towards Terawhiti, where they were soon lost sight of. The four other yachts, with Syren in the lead, kept closely together across the Straits, the Syren dropping back when nearing the other shore to let the Viking take the lead and show the way into Port Underwood. The Viking, howover, was soon lost sight of and chances of getting into port that night were lost. Dark clouds made it almost impossible for the yachts to pick up the entrance, and only two out of the six yachts succeeded in finding the launch in the bay that night. These were the White Heather and Viking, which, arrived in Guard's Cove at 8.53 and 10.30 p.m. respectively. The Ngaira, un,able to pick up the entrance, passed a comfortable night in Cloudy Bay, while the Syren and lolanthe, which were off the shore about 9 o'clock, being unable to pick up the entrance, I decided to return to Wellington, where they arrived about 5 o'clock Sunday morning, the passage across j the Straits being a lively one. | UNAVAILING SEARCH. Mr Jackson's launch Taniwha, which journeyed to Port Underwood, to act as mark boat, left Wellington at 12.15 p.m. on Saturday and arrived at Guard's Cove at 6 o'clock. A tremendous sea and heavy rip were experienced of Sinclair Head. After the Viking and White Heather showed up, some anxiety was felt for the safety of the lolanthe, so at midnight with the assistance of some of the Viking's crew, the launch put out in the hope of seeing some of the other yachts. Her search was, however, fruitless, so she returned to port and the crew passed away the night with a concert. Sunday at 7,8 a.m. the Ngaira put in an appearance, after being hove to all night. A consul-

tation t«jok place between the three [ crews, and it was decided to wait for ! a few hours and see if any of the stragglers would show up. As it happened, no boats did, so a start was made for Wellington, the boats leaving at the following times.— Ngaira 1:1.55 a.m., Vikhig 12.5 p.m., and White Heather 12.14 p.m. ! BOAT NOT RETURNED. The new boat Windward, belonging to Messrs Millman and Cooke, is the only boat that has not as yet put in an appearance. The last seen of her was when she was following the White Heather across, but it is believed she is now sheltering inside Tory Channel. There is a crew of four aboard; Messrs R. Millman, F. Cooke, S. McWilliams, and A Flana • gan. The race resulted as follows: — Messrs Elton and Headland's Viking, o hours 1 Messrs A. Lancaster and T. Hanney's Ngaira, 4$ hours 2 Messrs Donne and Hoggard's White Heather, scratch ... 3 Also started—Mr Chisolm's Syren (2 hours), Mr J. Kelly's lolanthe (3 hours), Messrs Millman and Cooke's Windward (3 hours). The finishing times were:—White Heather, 7hrs 21min; Naira, 9hrs 9min; Viking, 9hrs llmin. These were the only three to complete the full cburse.