Yachting.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 358, 21 December 1878, Page 10

Yachting.

THE ROYAL SYDNEY YACHT CLUB. (From the New Zealand Herald.) Auckland yachtsmen have been exercised of late with regard to the meeting of the above, in consequence of one of our locally-built boats having entered to compete with the two crack yaches of Port Jackson. The mitteryacht Waitangi, constructed by Messrs. iSiceol of the North Shore, was the representative yacht of our tradesmen, and her success or non-success is therefore a matter of interest to all of us. It will be seen from the following extracts from the Sydney Morning Heiald that the Waitangi, while holding a good position shortly after the stai-t, came to grief, and hald to retire early froin the contest, a most unfortunate contretemps, and one that will be regretted by all, as it is very rarely that such weather as then prevailed can be secured in Sydney, which would have tested the yacht on ail points. The Herald says :—" The Waitangi has just arrived from New Zealand, having been built to the order of Mr. Newton. It is said that she has been built after the

in > iei of the Varassa, the celebrated Kngii.ih twenty-tonner of Hatcher's. The woather was of such a character as to test the capabilities of the boats in a very signal manner, for a stiff breeze from the south-e st j i availed throughout, which towards the close of the contest freshened up considerably. As the yachts had a good six mile stretch outside the Heads, where the water was very lumpy, their weatherly qualities were pretty severely tried, and it was a pity that au accident to the Waitangi should have occurred off the Heads, which put her out of the race at a time when she was in so good a position. Her main sheet ran out, aud she carried away the goose-neck of her main boom, and as a result was quite unfit to tackle the breeze blowing outside. The race between the other yachts was a grand one from the start, and the finish a very close one. in the Magic's favor. At the appointed time the Mistral, 35 tons, W. O. Gilchrist; Magic, 28 tons, A. Fairfax ; and the Waitangi, 22 tons, J. Newton, tDok up their positions. At 21 minutes to 12 the flag fell to a fair start, the new boat being the first on her legs, she being to windward. The Magic being the leeward boat, was the first to feel the spanking southerly. The Mistral was the last to get away. There was a fine fresh southerly wind at the start, a one-reef breeze, and, being able to carry a free sheet, topsails were hoisted. At Bradley's Head the three were all of a lump, but the Magic, wishing to get windward position, ran up to the windward, which made the Mistral and Waitangi do the same. The sight was worth seeing. The Magic having got what she wanted, the Mistral bore away, and, giving" her a free sheet again to a ripping breeze, she took the lead and kept it to South Reef by half a minute. Her topmasts were housed and all made snug, and the Mistral rounded the boat off Long Reef by »ne and a half minutes ahead. Off North Head the Waitangi carried away her boom at the goose-neck, which, in such a breeze, lost all her chance of the race, although at the time she was almost sn the Magic. Some idea may be formed of the wind and speed of the boats when the Magic arrived at 3h. 23m. 305., and the Mistral at 3h. 24m., the Magic being only half a minute ahead, after having run a race of about 45 miles, and the distance having been accomplished in 4h. 3m.