RACING BOATS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 6451, 24 February 1908, Page 3

RACING BOATS.

j HOW THE FASHION CHANGED. j i Be r oro 1893 the "host and best” scul-' ' ling boat was about 3Di feet in length, ■lO inches, beam. 3 1 , inches deep forward, ■! 2 1 inches aft, and about 51 inches, auud- • ship, the weight for a medium-sized man i being about 331 b. Such boats were con■’sidered the beat possible production. But ' when C. Neilseu introduced a boat ot i ' 22ft length, 12iu beam, Ciin forward,: I and other measurements in .proportion, t; very few could believe that the old lons ; • boats were doomed to pass away as ob- '; solr-tc. The first race in which both i scullers used short boats was that in ' ; which ( . Towns licat C. Ncilscn on the u Hunter in 1890. Since thou Australians I ; have always used the short boats, al1' though it was some time before such > ! scullers as Beach and Kemp could real- ' : ise that they were faster, easier, and : \ rnoro reliable under all conditions. f Toivns introduced the short Ixnu to The | j Thames, and now all scullers in I.ng--1 land use thorn. Wlicu Towns rowed I I Garni an i* in 1001 ho used a boat 25 ft ! lonjj, and Gandaur one of over SOft; and I it is no wonder that Towns was able to make a far better turn round tlio half-

way mark. • This race in far-away Rati Portage will probably be the last in the history of first-class sculling. There is no doubt that the long boat hae gone out of best-boat rowing for ever. Tho boats used iq tho Webb-Towns match were both built by G. Towns, and are practically sister boats, being thd same length. (25 feet), the same beam, depths, and freight. The weight of a boat now for a man of 11 stone is about 341 b. As to the fittings, a most important matter to scullers, tho height of work, sprwad of riggers, distance of stretcher, and, general are practically the same, the men being about the same height, and otherwise requiring the same fitting-up. A man is so fitted up that ho can transfer the whole of his weight and power to tho sculls, thus relieving tho boat of the pressure of tho body; tho scullor standing against the ' , stretcher, ani using all his power on ! the sculls while they are in the water. This is. of course, a matter of skill, for the heavy man who sits down in his • boat has not only the weight of the boat ’ but his own weight to life on ©very stroke. BREADFRUIT-TREES. : From the breadfruit-tree the South Sea. Islanders obtain their principal feed. 1 In appearance it resembles somewhat the wild chestnut. It grows to the • height of forty or fifty feet, and has r dark-green leaves, many of them two • feet in length. Before it is ready for table use the fruit must be roasted, when it looks like wheat-bread, and is both palatable and nutritious. Usually the fruit is cut t into three or four slices, and roasted or i baked in the oven. i Bread is not the only product of tho , breadfruit-tree—cement, cloth, tinder, , and lumber being obtained from it as . well.