YACHTING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22834, 19 March 1936, Page 5

YACHTING

By Rudder.

FIXTURES March 21.—Vauxhall Club; Wakefield Cup, Jell Memorial Shield, Vauxhall Cup (members only). April 4. —Ravensbourne Club: Lutubert Cup (open to all clubs). April 11—Broad Bay Club.—lnch t and motor boat races (open to all clubs). April 18.—North-East Harbour Club: All-comers' yacht and motor boat races. VAUXHALL CLUB The Vauxhall waterfront will present a busy scene during the coming weekend. The race for the Vauxhall Cup for club boats only, will be sailed on Saturday afternoon. The Pupuke is the present holder of this cup. The Wakefield Cup, open to all motor craft, will also be raced on Saturday afternoon. The second race for power boats, the C. W. Sell Memorial Shield, presented to the club by Mr E. W. Sell, will be open to all boats capable of 15 m.p.h. or over. The club will hold a race next Sunday afternoon for the yachtsmen of Otago Harbour who have not taken an active part in the sport for some years. This should be one of the most important races of the season. Boata from all over the harbour will be manned by premier yachtsmen of past years. Some of those who will be facing tlie starter are: Messrs F. Goodwin,-A. Welsh, H. Camp, A. Burt, B. H. Nees. C. French, C. George, P. Boswell. G. Kellet, A. Dawson, A. Bjoth, W. Lucas, W. J. P. M'Culloch, G. Currie. J. Angell. W. Sell, J. Marshall, R. Hitchon, and J. Knewstubb. Some of the best yachtsmen Otago Harbour has seen will be racing, and the spectators will, no doubt, witness a very interesting race. NORTH-EAST HARBOUR CLUB During the week the boating activity about the bay was very quiet, owinc to the boisterous weather. On Tuesday evening another very successful card function wa s held, and about 40 people were present. These card evenings' will be continued, every Tuesday. Last Thursday was the night of the monthly committee meeting, when a full muster of members was present. The club has been presented with a cup from Captain Coll M'Donald, in connection with the club races. The regatta meeting is to be held next Thursday evening at 8 o'clock to wind up the regatta account. A full attendance is requested. The club will hold a series of races on Saturday, when the Strange and Elliot Cups will be raced for. The club ig endeavouring to tfepair the slipway, which, when finished, will be in excellent order. The launch Jewel is to be stripped at the week-end for a scrub. The Rena will be back in the water again on Sunday. » ■ ■ OTAGO POWER BOAT CLUB It is almost certain that the offer of Commodore W. H. Sell to place at the disposal of the club his hydroplane Miss Victory will be taken advantage of by the committee of the Otago Power Boat Club. The Victory hull, designed by John L. Hacker, is eminently suitable for engines of up to 300 horse-power, and with the 220 Hispano Suiza has attained the sneed of 65 miles per hour. Inquiries are now being made in America, Eugland, and Australia for a 300 Hispano Suiza or, preferably, a 375 horse-power Wright-Hispano. With either of these engines fitted, Miss Victory should produce high speeds. By making an alteration to the pattern used in the construction of Miss Syndicate's gearbox, the committee hopes to produce a box which will have sufficient distance between the shaft centres to overcome the shaft angle difficulty experienced last year. The committee is now working energetically on preparations for its smoke concert, which will be held on April 18. The Otago Power Boat Club already has a reputation for putting on a worthwhile show, and expects that the coming function will excel those of the past. The committee also has in hand the proposal to issue a club badge. The badge will be the usual waving pennant type, Otago blue in colour, with a white threebladed propeller in the centre. It is hoped to have sufficient badges available to have them for sale to members on April 18. IDLE ALONG CHALLENGE SHIELD Ir. a hard, gusty north-westerly wind, which caused the postponement of races for bigger boats, two dozen Idle Alongs took the water at Petone on Saturday afternoon to contest the fifth race for the Idle Along Challenge Shield, premier trorjiy for the class) in Wellington. In a hard, fast, and exciting contest, the Evans Bay boat Vampire, owner by J. Astill, and sailed by E. Julian, turned the tables in an excellent race on th'e defender. Rongomai, of Heretaunga, owned anc sailed by J. Tetley. Vampire was second in the event last year. G. Graver's Pegaway (Evans Bay), not reckoned a heavyweather performer, was sailed a fine race into third place. ~,,,, The worst of bad luck befell the m°stfancied boat for the race, E. Beck's Mayfair. On the last lead Mayfair was fully a mile in front, and nothing but an accident (says the Dominion) could have robbed her of the race. But unfortunately for Beck the accident happened, and his supporters ashore were horrified to see the mainsail come down with a run. Fortunately Beck and his crew kept their heads f,nd'the boat remained on its keel. However, so fast were the others travelling that by the time another halyard had been rigged 12 boats- had passed Mayfair. ; Heretaunga's main hope, A. Harvey s new Idle Along, was badly left at the start, owing to the skipper's mistaking the starting line, and although she made vp a lot of eround she could not do better than seventh.' . From the starting line off Patrick street, Petone, the boats beat up to a buoy eff the Heretaunga clubhouse, and then sailed two laps of a course to a mar* off the eastern end of Somes Tsland. to a mark off the mouth of the Hutt River, thence back to the clubhouse, about nine miles in all. This gave a run, a long lead, and a windward slog. Even close to the shore the breeze .vns hard and gusty, but eway from the shelter of the shore seas were running high, and it says much for the seaworthiness of the class that only about half a dozen of the big field were disabled. The most hectic leg of the course was the long lead down from the island in the full force of the wind, and, seen from the shore with glasses, the boats seemed to disappear in sheets of spray as they drove through the seas at terrific speed. THE RAPUNGA'S VOYAGE The yacht Te Bapunga, which left Auckland on August 8 last, and after visiting friends at the Great Barrier, resumed her voyage to the South Pacific on September 11, met with adverse weather on the way to according to a letter received by " Speedwell' of the Auckland Star, from Captain Dibbern. The yacht arrived at Rarotonea on October 1. . , , c . The ship's company consisted ol tier owner, Captain George Dibbern, who sailed Te Rapunga from Germany to Auckland bv way of Panama, San Francisco and the Islands. Miss Eileen Morris, of Napier, Messrs Roy Murdock and M. A. Black, of Gisborne. Strong head winds were met with alter leaving the Barrier, the passage to Rarotonga taking 21 days. On three occasions Te Rapunga had to be hove-to. She again proved to be a good sea boat, and when the weather moderated made up for the delay, one day logging 204 miles, but progress was generally slow. From advice received in Wellington recentlv it appears that all enjoyed the cruise in spite of the bad weather and minor complaints. Miss Morris proved to be a good sailor, and was always ready to help. Mr Murdock suffered with a poisoned finger, which he opened up with a razor blade and removed a splinter, which allowed the wound to heal. All were in good spirits, and hot meals were served daily on two primus stoves hung in gimballs. there being no lack of variety of provisions. The ship's company of four took threehour watches, each having two spells of Bix hours a day. Captain Dibbern was exempt from cooking. Mr Black got breakfast ready. Miss Morris the dinner, and Mr Murdock the evening meal. At Rarotonga the yacht was moored at a jetty when it blew a anle from the north, right into the harbour, and the crew had an anxious time keening her from being smashed to pieces before they could be towed to sea by a launch, the mooring lines parting a dozen times. On one occasion in a gale of wind, with very little sail sot. a huge s«n struck the vaeht, pitching Mr Black oul of his bunk over the cabin tabic and into the lee bunk,

where Miss Morris was reading. The boat lay over so much that water poured in the skylight. Mr Black returned to New Zealand by the Makura, but the Te Rapunga is proceeding to Honolulu, and then on to San Francisco and back to England or Germany bv way of Panama. AUCKLAND'S LIPTON CUP This season's race for the Lipton Cup at Auckland was one of the best in the 15 years' history of this contest. The weather was hard and brought out the best in the skippers and crew. Several failed in some respects to live up to their previous good records, and again others who had gone out of the centre-board class into keelers came back to their first loves and did well. The honours go to Jones, the young skipper who sailed the 24-year-old Valeria home 38secs ahead of Marie, also well handled by Roy Lidgard. her former owner and builder, while Tamariki, whose skipper for once was caught napping at the start through not seeing the flags or hearing the warning gun, and after coming out of the boat harbour for inspection found he had too much eail, and dropped his mainsail to put in the fourth reef while the flags were up. It took longer than it should have done to do this simple job (says a northern writer) for the race had started and Tnmariki. which crossed OOsec late, was some distance past the Western wharf before the mainsail was re-hoisted. While she lost time off the wind Tamariki had the advantage of the smaller eail on the long, hard slog back from Saltworks buoy to the Bastion, working from fifth to third place. The "go" between Marie and Valeria was one of the best seen in the long series of contests for this trophy, not only the most valuable from a money point of view, but from the • fact of it being donated by Sir Thomas Lipton, who made a special chapter in the yachting history of the world and one impossible to replace. The New Zealand Division of the Royal Navy, represented by Lieutenant-com-mander J. T. Lean, whose nominee, Valeria, won the coveted trophy, is to be congratulated on the success of their first venture in this race. Lieutenant-com-mander Lean, the gallant skipper of IT.M.S. Philomel, who is also honorary secretary of the Naval Sailing Club, takes a keen interest in our regatta , and all local club races, sending crews to compete in the naval whaler events wherever a club will put on a race for them. He was one of Valeria's crew, and did his bit to help her win. The result -was broadcast to the various ships in the fleet now cruising in the South Island, and ouickly brought hearty congratulations to the owner (Mr T. M'Whirter), skipper, and crew. NOTES A meeting of thn Otngo Yacht and Motor Boat Association will be held this evening, when the co-managers of the Otago Sander* Cnp crew (Messrs A. Burt and T. Anderson) will present their official report of the trip to Auckland at the en'l of January. Mr N. H. Ncweomb, of Auckland, has cold his B-c'nss yacht Lndve Wihna to Mr James Kennedy, of Putiki Ba\\ a former owner of this well-known cruising boat, which wn* built in 1804 by Messrs Tognn Bros, for By Coxites, of Contes B"v. WfiihnVp Pnssnfrp. After the war. Mr Cyril Bassett. V.C., own"d the yacht, and nut her back into her former <rood_ trim which a sorjpq of rirpvious owners did not achieve. Under Mr Bn ca ett'= fla<* she won :> number of races. M>- Pat Newcomb efco raced n«r consistently and successfully in the T«wp*i«rn and other lone-dis-tance rnces. Mr Kennedy has "purchased l>pv for Tii« two sons.