YACHTING

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 19 March 1940, Page 10

YACHTING

AURORA SAILING CLUB ! MARITA WINS THIRD SERIES | DULUX CUP ■ The Aurora Sailing Club held further j racing for all classes during the week- | end. Conditions were good with the exception of variable winds from a westerly quarter. Marita sailed by R. Owen and R. Bradley, established an early lead dur- ' ing the first round and led throughout. ! Five boats faced the starter with quite ! a nice breeze. Mayfair, gaining a good ! start led Marita by 20 yards, with Taij nui to leeward of her, and Rascal and ! Slipper lying very close. All boats j came about on the starboard tack after | crossing the line and headed for the western shore to get the advantage of the tide. Marita came about on the port tack first, followed by the Tainui. Mayfair was still covering the first field with a small lead. After several split tacks Marita rounded the northern mark just in front of Mayfair, with Tainui next, then Rascal and lastly Slipper. On the run down the harbour spinnakers were set and the order was the same at both the entrance buoy and the southern buoy. Marita was the only boat that gybed her spinnaker at the entrance buoy which helped her during the failing breeze. Marita led all the way and increased her lead in both the second and third laps with the exception of near the top mark when she was challenged strongly by Mayfair and Tainui but she managed to stall them off, and rounded the mark first The other boats ran out of wind and were caught by the foul tide and had to make an extra board to round. This gave Marita a great lead and she ran down the harbour with the strong tide.

On the southern mark Marita again carried her spinnaker well round as a large Genoa jib and won by several minutes. Tainui and Mayfair had quite a duel for second place. Tainui passed Mayfair to leeward to gain second place by several seconds. Rascal war fourth. Slipper did not finish. Points awarded for the third series of the Dulux Cup were: Marita (R. Owen, R. Bradley) 100 points. Tainui (J. Chapman, H. Saunders) 66.6. Mayfair (A. Hargreaves, T. McConchle) 50. Rascal (G. Chapman, L. Martin) 40. Slipper (K. Haycock, E. Irvine) nil. Points to the end of third series: Mayfair, 250; Marita, 233.3; Rascal, 130; Tainui. 116.6; Slipper. 33.3. Mayfair has a lead of 16.7 points and the next race should be very interesting as Marita will make a strong challenge to reverse the placings. A special meeting of the club will be held on Thursday next, at 7.30 p.m. to discuss further points for the Idle Along and Tauranga contests.

HANDICAP CLASS Three boats faced the line to a good start in the handicap class. Rosemary, Jean and Poneke sailed a very close race in the light and failing breeze, and Jean deserved her win against the larger sail area and greater length of Rosemary. Poneke was close behind all the way and these three boats of different type and rig gave a very clever performance in the light weather prevailing. The race was the first of a series of three for a life jacket and. as usual, in this class there was some very close sailing. TAURANGA CLASS The Tauranga class held their last race for the H. C. Robertson Cup which was won by A. McConchie. The race was started in a fresh northerly breeze, all boats starting on a port tack. Piri gained the best of the start from Kipper and Tyke. Brat and Aberdiar were well astern at the start and lost a great deal on the leading boats. However, on rounding the top buoy Piri rounded first with Kipper, Tyke, Kokl, Merlin, Brat, Cygnet, Kia Ora, Jaffa, and Aberdiar in that order. On the run to the bottom buoy the order remained the same except that Kia Ora and Cygnet passed Brat and rounded before her. On the beat up for the second lap Tyke passed Kipper and Brat again passed Kia Ora and Cygnet, while, as the wind dropped Aberdiar, who was carrying too much weight, withdrew. The boats now only just drifted round the top. buoy Piri still maintaining her lead on Tyke with Kipper third followed by Kokl, Merlin, Brat, Kia Ora, and Cygnet. Jaffa then withdrew. Once again on the run down to the bottom buoy Kia Ora and Cygnet passed Brat and on rounding the bottom buoy the tide was running hard and there being no wind the beat back to the finish was a slow affair for the rear boats, proving too slow for Kipper, Merlin and Cygnet who withdrew but Piri crossed the line first with Tyke second Kokl third Kia Ora fourth and Brat fifth.

The following ten boats and skippers started (only five of whom finished):— Piri (W. Bean); Tyke (I. McConchie); Kokl (R. Samuel); Kia Ora (G. Forster); Brat (A. McConchie); Kipper (R. Nalder); Cygnet (P. Win); Merlin (G. Topliss); Aberdiar (D. Forster); Jaffa (G. McConchie).

When points were added up the final result for the cup fas:—A. McConchie. 48 points; W. Bean, 45; R. Samuel. 36; I .McConchie. 35; R. Nalder, 30; G. Fors ter, 23£ D. Forster, 22; G. Topliss 2H; Miss V. Griffith 19; P. Win, 17; G. McConchie, 8.

Several boats have now changed hands and the club welcomes some new members and hopes they will carry on doing well in the boats they have purchased. Merlin has been bought by R. Potton. Cygnet was sold to W. Field. Kipper has been purchased by Bill Bean, one of the club’s promising young skippers. Aberdiar has been sold to R. Thomas, and P. Win, who previously owned Aberdiar, has purchased the Tub. Most of these boats have done well this season and the club hopes that they will continue to do so in the future.