WHALE-BOAT RACING IN GOOD OLD DAYS

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 166, 4 October 1927, Page 12

WHALE-BOAT RACING IN GOOD OLD DAYS

The early Auckland regattas always liad on the programme a race for whale-boats; the genuine article complete with tubs, lines and harpeons, just as when the boats were lowered away for the chase of marine gian s.

It is on record that when American whalers in the Bay of Islands entered their boat’s crews fo.r the events i;hey •ailed or rowed their way from the Bay to Auckland, generally arri /ing the night before the race. The course was from the Queen Street Wharf to the Watchman, hen down to the old Resolution Rock and back to the wharf; a good five miles. It requires some zeal to pull a heavy boat at any time, but these whaleboats had inch-planking; then t lere was the big load of gear, the ong heavy oars and the three-two arrangement of crew. Picture the sweating and excited steersman grasping the steer-oar with his left hand and “heaving” the stroke oar with his right hand. The tanned •weather-hardened crews bathed in perspiration rowing for dear life. The •prize money was £1 per thwart! * Man! But it was racing,” as an oldtimer remarked. When the whalers vanished, the •’whale-hunters” of the Waiter lata used light boats. The championship carried big money and that led tc the undoing of the sport. One crew' even went so far as to build a special boat with 1-inch skin and tuck stern, with a. rudder. This boat competed in the gig events, and a shipwright was ready on the beach to knock out the tuck and a hasty job, plugged up with clay or anything handy, was raced in the whale-boat event. Each of the clubs in Auckland, the one at the Thames and another at M ihurangi, had boats for "this class, arrt the struggle for supremacy was ke ?n. Mr. William Hoile Brown, still living at the Shore, remembers as a lad in Niccol’s shipyard, back in the 50’s, the real whale-boat racing and he was f. member of a crew in the later “fancy whale-boat” struggles. VIKING’S NEW RIG Auckland's biggest keeler Viking is now almost ready for her first cruise. The relative advantages (or the reverse) of her new ketch-rig. as compared with her former yawl sailplan, is the subject of much discussion among yachtsmen. "Too much top-hamper” seems to be the opinion of many. NEW PATIKI NEARLY FINISHED The new patiki which is being built by Fred Mann is now almost finished. Mi a has been fully planked and it should not be long before she joins -he *M” squadron afloat. Her owner, Mr. R. Goodwin, of Herne Bay. has not yet decided on a name for his new restricted typo 18footer, but it is understood that feminine influence will decide the important question. That he intends her to be one of the smartest craft afloat this season is shown by the fact that he has ordered a suit of Lapthorne sails from England. These are due to artive next week. CORNWELL CUP CANDIDATE Master Dug. Rogers is very keen to represent this province in the Cornwell Cup contest this summer. His Takapuna one-designer Delphlne has this youthful yachtsman fully occupied at present, burning the paint off inside. The performances of Gadfly at Lyttelton in the last contest appear to warrant a lightening up of the hulls in our local Takapuna class boats to even stand a chance of getting near her. NEVER OWNED DEFEAT The bulldog spirit that, never knows when it is beaten was undoubtedly the heritage of those hardy pioneers who founded Auckland, and incidentally the sport of sailing on the Waitemata. The following challenge was issued In an Auckland newspaper of 1855: Ja». McLeod, of the Jimmy Awrews, which came nowhere on Regatta Day f January 29, offers to race either the Ij-nguin or the Rifleman or both over lh«* regatta course for £lO, provided tlrifU* WOn by Shillng and not by