SANDERS CUP TRIALS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21831, 19 December 1932, Page 7

SANDERS CUP TRIALS

SQUIB WINS FOURTH RACE AVALON IN SECOND POSITION. Skilful handling by her young skipper resulted in Squib winning the fourth race between the Jellicoe class boats, which was sailed over the Port Chalmers Yacht Club’s course under ideal conditions on Saturday afternoon. Squib’s skipper showed splendid judgment and never made a mistake. His sailing was an object lesson to the skipper of the Avalon, who threw away chance after chance in the first round of the course. In the last two rounds, however, Hunter made amends for his earlier mistakes, sailing his boat with better judgment, and almost catching Squib at the finishing i line. Had Avalon been handled with any reasonable skill early in the race, she must have been placed first Winifred belli, a good position until the finish of the second round, when she received a setback owing to a mishap to the mainsheet. 1 Eileen and Heather practically tailed the fleet throughout the race. The wind was a light northerly at the start, but it increased to a good sailing breeze before the first round was completed, and held fresh and fairly true until the finish of the race. Four of the boats had to be towed from the boat harbour to the Lower Harbour, and the race was not started until 4.4 p.rn.—one hour late. The officials decided on a windward and leeward course, which f lic fleet covered three times, making a total distance of over eight miles. Starting off the end of the George street wharf the boats beat down to a mark off Pocky Point (Deborah Bay), then running before the wind to a mark off' the Queen’s Drive Boating Club’s shed, and then beating back to the starting line. The tide was on the flood, and most of the skippers failed to take advantage of tactics which should have benefited their boats.

The starters were: Squib (J. Salter), Avalon (A. Hunter), Winifred (I. M'Grath), Eileen (E. Cuthbert), and Heather (J. Burt). The boats were sent away to a splendid start, Squib being the first to cross the line in the weather position. Then followed very closely Avalon, Eileen, Heather, and Winifred. The fleet stood out to the main channel on the starboard tack, with Squib, which was sailing well into the eye of the wind, quickly drawing ahead. When the fleet broke tacks Winifred passed Heather and held second position. The boats beat down harbour on short and when within a short distance of the weather mark Eileen sailed to windward of Avalon. Squib increased her lead on the next board from Carey Bay, and made the mark 30 seconds in the lead of Winifred. Eileen rounded 2niin 30see, Avalon about 3min, and Heather over bin in after Squib. Some smart work was performed by Squib’s fo’ard hand (Reynolds) when the boat came off the wind, as the spinnaker was set and drawing a second or two after she made the turn. Squib gained about Bsec on Avalon on the run, and Avalon gained half a minute on Eileen. Once round the lee mark Hunter did some good sailing on the beat up to the line, as he brought Avalon into third position. On this beat to windward Squib sailed remarkably fast, drawing well away from Winifred and commencing the second round with a lead of 2min 45see. Avalon sailed into second position when Winifred’s mainsheet came adrift just before reaching the line.

Squib had covered only a short distance on the starboard tack to the main channel when the shackle of her leading jib snapped with a loud report, and the loader was rendered useless. Salter kept his boat moving, and Reynolds did some quick work in changing the leader for the working jib. Squib again did some fast sailing on the beat to the weather mark, which she rounded with a lead of 3min 25sec from Avalon, the Vauxhall boat having gained over MOsec. Avalon, however, reduced Squib’s lead by lin on the second run to the lee mark, there being 2miu 30sce

between the boats when they commenced the last beat down harbour. Hunter did his best sailing at this stage, and had he kept his boat on a tack further into Carey Bay he would have overhauled Squib, but the Port Chalmers boy failed to realise the advantage that lay before him. Nevertheless Avalon was sailing faster than Squib and qlimbing well into the wind, with the result that she gained very fast, and there was only 4osec between the two boats when sheets wore eased for the last run before the wind. Avalon gained about lOsec on the run, lint she lost this advantage before reaching the lee mark, as seconds elapsed before her sails were filled when a slight change in the direction of the wind made it necessary for the skippers to gybe in order to change over the sails. When the two leading boats came on the wind for the last beat to the line Hunter again did some good sailing. He kept his boat out of the tide more than was the case in the other two rounds, and Avalon gained rapidly on Squib. As the boats came towards the line, it appeared as though Avalon would just about catch the Vauxhall boat, but Salter had just sufficient lead to win by losec. Winifred, Eileen, and Heather finished in that order several minutes after the winning boat. The sailing times of the first and second boats were as follow: Squib Ihr 4(jmin ssec Avalon Ihr 40min 20sec The following table shows the placings of the boats in the four trials:—

WELLINGTON TRIALS (Pei: United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, December 18. In the final two Sanders Cup trials Lavina and Betty won n race each. Betty finished first in the morning race, but was disqualified for sailing round the wrong mark. The sea was rather heavy with a strong north-easterly, but cased in the afternoon. Lavina also won the trial on Saturday afternoon in somewhat heavier weather, Betty having capsized when lying second.

Avalon 1st 2nd . 1 2 3rd 4th 5th Squib 1 — 1 — 2 Heather . , 1 1 — — 2 Winifred 1 — 1 1 Eileen . — 1 1 2 —