THE ROYAL SYDNEY YACHT CLUB.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5537, 25 December 1878, Page 3

THE ROYAL SYDNEY YACHT CLUB.

(From the New Zealand Herald.) Auckland yachtsmen have been exercised o£ late with regard to the meeting of the above, In consequence of one of our looaJly-bullt boats having entered to compete with the two crack yachts of Port Jackson. The cutter • yacht Waitangi, • constructed by Messrs. Niccol 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 bo seen from the following extracts from the Sydney Morniwj Herald that the Waitangi, while holding a good position shortly after the start, came to grief, and had to retire early from the contest, a most unfortunate contretemps, and one that will bo 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 all 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 model of the Varassa, the celebrated English twenty-tonner of Hatcher’s. The weather 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-east prevailed throughout, which towards the close of the contest freshened up considerably. As tbe yachts bad a good six milo stretch outside the Heads, where the water was very lumpy, their weathorly qualities were pretty severely tried, and it was a pity that an 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, and 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, 85 tons, W. O. Gilchrist; Magic, 28 tons, A. Fairfax ; and the Waitangi, 22 tons, J. Newton, took up their positions. At 21 minutes to 12 the flag fell to a,fair start, the new boat bein'; the first on het legs, she being to'windward. ‘ This Magic being thclcewardboat/waa the first to feel the apankhig southerly. The Mistral was ‘ the B*t‘ to got away. There wits a'fine fresh Southerly wind at the start, a oao-rco| breeze,

and, being able to carry a free sheet, topsails were hoisted. At Bradley’s Head the three were all of a lump, hut 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 oil Long Beef 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 tho race, although at the time she was almost on the Magic. Some idea may bo formed of tho wind and speed of the boats when the Magic arrived at Bh. 23m. 80s., and the Mistral at Sh. 21m„ 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. ’