YACHTING.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4296, 4 March 1901, Page 7

YACHTING.

MILLS MEMORIAL CUP

The race for tho Mills Memorial Cup .011 Saturday afternoon resulted in an easy win for the Maritaun by 3min User from the Kona, the latter being hnin 2Usec ahead of the Waitangi. The scratch boat. Rainbow, passed the judge first, three minutes before the Waitangi, am! Minin Tosco before the Maritana. Kollowiug are the positions of the. boats Maritana (28miu handicap;, Rona, (41 ruin), Waitangi (Khnin), Siren (38'oiti). Muhina (oSmin), Rainbow (scratch;, Atalanta (33niin;. The Rona, Muhina, Rainbow and Waitangi got away before time, and were recalled, and thus lost la tween half a minute and a minute 0! their handicaps. Mr A. G. Johnson ■••. m- . and he was assisted In Messrs 11. A. W. McKenzie and D. Howard.

The method of starting handicap race: adopted is freely criticised. The sy.,toiTi in vogue is to start all the. boats together and to time them as they pas, tho finishing post, tlie result being ascertained by comparing tho handicap aad the time of finishing. The consequence is that there is no means <4 telling wiiat boat is the winner til! the last yacht lias got home and tho necessary calculation has been made. The result of Saturday’s race was nob known by tho crews of tlie different yachts til! they had reached town, and interviewed the timekeeper. The proper method, it is argued, is to start tho boats according to their handicaps and.so deckle tho race on the position of the boats passing the judge. It would thou bo at once clear to the officials, to tho crew: of the competing yachts, and—a matter of considerable importance—to the general public. Under tho present system the public are discouraged from taking an interest in yachting.

ARAWA SAILING CLUB

The half-rater class sailed tho HuaJ beat for the Ilighet Challenge Cup 01 Saturday. Tho Dauntless, sailiii/ splendid' form, soon established a leaf fioni the Arawa. The latter boat- wa; leaking badly, and Mr Seagar, finding it a. hopeless task to catch Dauntless, g.iv up the race. Tho Dauntless thus, scored her second win, and hoiu.s the cup unti. beaten.

The second heat for Mr E. Seagar': Cup was won by the Lima (18111111 iirmdicap;, Manure being second.

There will bo a race for the first and second classes next Saturday. Mr IV G. Baker’s trophy for the former, arm the Waitangi Cup for the latter. Immediately tho steamer Rinuitaka (now in , Wellington) was launched from the .yards of Messrs Denny Brothers, at Dumbarton, pioparations were made to lay the icce of tho next challenger of the ArneHei, Cup on the same stocks. The first -top taken was to cover the whole of the slocks over with a great wooden frame building, the light being admitted through a skylight olf frosted glass. There is only one door to the budding, and that is kept . closed, with a man constantly on guard. So close is the new yacht’s style to be kept that every workman is sworn to secrecy. It- was mentioned in an article in the “Times” of last Friday that Watson, the designer of .Shamrock 11., has chosen the Dennys’ to build the yacht on accomr of the wonderful testing tank which th great ship.building firm has invented. Mr McAlpine, the second officer of tin Rnnutaka, had an opportunity when ir England of inspecting the tank. Hi describes it as> a great oblong glass structure. and the model to he tried as being of bard wax. As the model is moved through the, water it can be seen bj looking from below exactly bow the watci is displaced, and the nature of the wave thrown oft.’ Tire model, being of wax Hie run of the body can he altered un til (lie ideal displacement and wave is secured. ■ - -