YACHTING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23717, 26 January 1939, Page 5

YACHTING

By Rudder

FIXTURES January 28.—Port Chalmers Club races February 4. —St. Leonards Regatta. February s.—Combined picnic. February 11.—Port Chalmers Club races. b February 18.—Ravensbourne Regatta. February 25.—Otago regatta, at Port Chalmers. SANDERS CUP CHANGES HANDS The Sanders Memorial Cup, the blue riband of New Zealand yachting, has changed hands after remaining with Wellington for two seasons, and Canterbury. which had a long run of successes before Wellington took the trophy from her in 1937, has again earned the right to call herself the champion province so far as 14-footers are concerned. Huia’s victory was a meritorious one, especially when it is considered that the Wellington boat had two wins to her credit on what proved to be the last day of the contest. Tissiman and his crew, however, were not to be denied and gained two victories on Tuesday, the last race proving a fitting end to the 1939 contest. It rhust be said that Canterbury’s victory was in the nature of a surprise one, as, up till the last day, Vanguard appeared to be the superior boat and her crew the most likely one to carry off the trophy. She won the first race bv the convincing margin of 2min 22sec from Vorena, the Southland representative, and then occupied second place in the next two races, first to Canterbury and then Auckland. Vanguard proved herself to be a good light-weather boat in the fourth race and again won bv a large margin from Lavina, taking second place to Huia again in the fifth race after fighting out the issue with the Canterbury boat all the way. At this stage it appeared that Wellington would retain the cup this season, but she had to lower her colours to Canterbury in the afternoon race, although she was beaten by the narrow margin of lOsec in a fresh south-westerly breeze. There was a great tussle between the two boats i . this race, Vanguard holding the lead during the first round of the triangular course only to lose in the concluding stages. The finish was a spectacular one, with Vanguard going full out right to the finishing line in an endeavour to catch her formidable rival. These two provinces have been the most serious contenders for the cup since the inauguration of the contest and with the retirement of Nigel Blair last season it appeared that Canterbury might have a better chance of regaining the trophy, a hope that was justified. Coleman, however, upheld the honour of Wellington in a worthy manner and can congratulate himself on the excellent performance he put up. Auckland was the only other province to win a race and in the light of her performances in the other races it did not appear that she would be a serious rival to Wellington or Canterbury, which had the contest practically to themselves so far as first positions were concerned. Otago went south with high hopes of bringing back the cup and the performances of Lynette in the trials earlier in the season seemed to justify the belief that she would make a bolder bid than the province’s representatives for some years. But it was not to be. She certainly gained third positions fairly consistently, but at no time were her supporters’ hopes raised very high. She made an inauspicious start by capsizing early in the first race, which was sailed .in a heavy sea, But occupied a more prominent position in the next, when she was third to Huia and Vanguard, only lOsec separating the three boats at the finish. She was again in third place in the race on Saturday, being 21sec behind Vanguard, but she came a bad last in the fourth race. Except for Huia and Vanguard, Lynette was the only other boat to finish in the last race, and she was a long way back in third place with a torn spinnaker. It was unfortunate that Pettit and his crew struck .such heavy weather, as the four men were all on the light side and badly needed a heavier man for just the conditions that prevailed throughout most of the contest. Off the wind Lynette was the fastest boat of the six engaged, but she could not compete to the same extent with some of the others in other departments. Burt more than held his own in spinnaker work and Pettit won the admiration of all for the manner in which he showed his willingness to “have a go” at anything. He was the only skipper to set a spinnaker in one race and he carried it on every run. He was unfortunate in being recalled by the judges at the start of the race which was won by Marjorie, as, apparently, the judges admitted afterwards that Lynette was not across the line at the gun. The winners of the cup to date are: — Year Boat. Province Where held 1921 Heather Otago Auckland 1922 Desert Gold Auckland Dunedin 1923 Rona Auckland Auckland 1924 Rona Auckland Wellington 1925 lona Otago Auckland 1926 Betty Canterbury Dunedin 1927 Betty Canterbury Lyttelton 1928 Betty Canterbury Stewart li. 1929 Avalon Auckland Akaroa 1930 Eileen Otago Auckland 1931 Betty Wellington Dunedin 1932 Avenger Canterbury Wellington 1933 Avenger Canterbury Lyttelton 1934 Irene Canterbury Lyttelton 1935 Irene Canterbury Stewart Is. 1936 Avenger Canterbury Auckland 1937 Lavina Wellington Lyttelton 1938 Kitty Wellington Dunedin 1939 Huia Canterbury Bluff

' THE CORNWELL CUP The Otago Cornwell Cup crew—J. Camp and W. Carrington—is to be congratulated on the excellent showing in the Cornwell Cup contest, which was concluded at Plimmerton on Monday. Although the boys did not succeed in bringing the trophy home, they secured two good wins, and were in the same position as Auckland, Wellington, and Manukau when the last race was held. Their fortunes varied considerably during the contest, and their placings ranged from first to last, but there is no doubt that they put up a much better performance all round than any Otago crew in past years. Peculiarly enough, one of their victories was in Torment, a Takapuna borrowed from Evans Bay to replace a damaged boat. As is often the way with substitutes, she performed well, being brought home first in the fourth, fifth, and sixth races, which were all held on one day. Camp and Carrington proved their superiority in the trials, and they worthily upheld the faith put in them by their supporters. Their trip north will have been of great benefit to them, for they are both young and have many years of racing before them, so that the experience they have gained will stand them in good stead in the future. RAVENSBOURNE REGATTA A further meeting of the Ravensbourne Regatta Committee was held on Monday night to discuss the question of courses. It was decided to lengthen the course for motor boats, and to use the club’s Challis course for allcomers’ yachts, X class dinghies, and boats 18 foot and Slider The Z class boats will sail over the course used in the trials—that is. three times round the flagged pile off Maia. Launches will race down the harbour to the yellow and black flagged pile of! St. Leonards. Crews arc advised to make themselves fully acquainted with the new starting line, which will be between a flagged pile on the retaining wall and the flag pole on the starting balcony. All races will be run under the sealed handicap system, NEES MEMORIAL CUP The 1939 contest for the Nees Memorial Cup, held by the Otago Yacht Club on Saturday proved to be an interesting one as well as being very popular with the spectators. The race attracted <*nod entries, and in the fresh south-westerly breeze the yachts had a good run from the boat harbour to Broad Bay. The handicappers. Messrs M. Bad ion and E. Simpson, did their work well, with the result that the first five boats home finished within 2Jmin of each other. The breeze suited