WITH the OARSMEN

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 260, 24 January 1928, Page 14

WITH the OARSMEN

BY

"RIGGER”

EIGHT-OAR TRIALS Eight-oar trials are the order of the day. The selector, Mr. T. Marshall, is taking his responsibilities seriously and is making every effort to see the candidates from all angles. * , * * THE PATCHED BOAT The boat damaged when West End were taking it through the Hobson Bay gap has been satisfactorily repaired, but has not yet been taken out again. The broken top-streak has been replaced in a darker timber, which will always be conspicuous, but otherwise the patch is a clever and ingenious piece of work. EIGHT FOR WEST END The West End Club is endeavouring to get one of the Best-and-Best eights to be housed at the club. An application has been lodged with the Auckland Rowing Association. * * * WEEK-END WEATHER Oarsmen again enjoyed a fine weekend, and on Sunday morning the water was particularly good. Waitemata and Auckland crews were out in great numbers in the vicinity of the eastern reclamation. G. Huddleston© and B. Andrews, Waitemata veterans, both had crews out. * * * t PLAYING THE GAME Members of rowing clubs would assist their clubs if they .paid their subscriptions more readily. Some of the Auckland clubs have been handicapped by the non-payment of subscriptions. This inevitably leads to discord. AUCKLAND’S BID Auckland Club, which has been conspicuously in the minor place money at earlier regattas this season, will be fully represented at Hamilton. Training operations at the shed have been facilitated this season by the installation of a punch-ball, which has served its purposes admirably. * * * EIGHTS FOR HAMILTON Both the association eights, which are sectional, and therefore easily transported, will be consigned to Hamilton by train this week, and on Monday the provincial selector will choose four trial crews from the oarsmen racing at Hamilton. The two eightoar trial races, when eights will be placed on the Waikato for the first time, should be an attractive feature of the Hamilton programme. * * * THE CONWAY TRADITION The West End Club veteran, W. H. Conway, has not missed one meeting of his club this year. Every Saturday afternoon he turns out, and puts some of the younger members to the blush with his enthusiasm. Conway rowed his first race for the Ponsonby Club in. 1889 and won his first race in 1891. Next year he will have five sons rowing for ther West End Club. * • * OARSMAN’S. MARRIAGE There will be a rowing atmosphere about a wedding to be celebrated tomorrow, when Collinson (Waitemata) who is to be married, will be supported by Lowe and Brooker, two fellow members of the Waitemata Club. Collinson, a powerful type of oarsman, is a member of the Waitemata junior challenge crew, which was scheduled to row the regatta juniors last Sunday, though the race unfortunately did not materialise. * • • SENIOR RACE AT HAMILTON With four crews entered, the twomile senior race at Hamilton may easily provide one of the races of the season. Tauranga juniors, so successful at their home regatta, are abandoning the quest of minor honours by concentrating upon a bid for the highest prize, and will row in the senior fours next Monday. West End hopes of unearthing a fourth senior man have not yet /been realised, but Waitemata, St. George’s and Hamilton are all entering senior crews, and it is on the cards that Tauranga may complete an even field. » • * ST. GEORGE’S HOPEFUL With a useful acquisition in F. Corlett, late of the Hamilton Club, who

was recently transferred to Auckland, the St. George’s Club is boating a senior four which, it hopes, will make rival combinations move. Under a rearrangement Woolhouse is replaced by Corlett, who goes bow, with Hargreaves at 2, Solomon 3, and K. D. Page stroke. The extra weight of

Corlett, whose work reveals few serious flaws, makes the crew very solid, almost too heavy, perhaps, for the new club’s new Sims boat. W. Logan, who is coaching the crew, should soon effect improvement in its work. * * * WEST END REPRESENTATIVES The following crews will represent the West End Rowing Club at the Hamilton Regatta: Junior Fours. —O. Felton, W. G. Bloxham, G. Conway and G. Dowling. Junior Pair.—O. Felton and G. Bloxham. Open Maidens.—J. Haylock, L. Strange, R. Macey and V. McFarlane. Open Pair. —J. Haylock and V. McFarlane. It is doubtful whether the selected light maiden crew will start, as one man is on holiday. The tentative selection was: J. Stratton, R. Woodside, W. Blomfield and F. Conway. RANDOM NOTES St. George’s trials, which produced some great racing on Saturday afternoon, were rowed on glorious water along the inside of the Hobson Bay wall. Noticed on Sunday: Dean (North Shore) rowing short, and Mahon (Auckland) skying at the catch, as the second trial eight came in to the skids with the pace on. * * * Excursion fares, available on the Daylight Limited for next Monday, will permit city oarsmen to make the trip to Hamilton in comfort in a day. ♦ * * There is unlikely to be a Mercer regatta this season.

WAITEMATA SENIORS Waitemata seniors were out on Sunday morning, when their Work was an improvement on the earlier performances of the same crew. Through the defection of T. Johnson, who had been placed at 2, D. M. Smith has returned to the crew in his old place at bow, with N'. Doubleday at 2, Brooker at 3, and V. Smith in the stroke seat. Apart from the change of strokes, Smith replacing Johnson, the crew is the same as that which won at Melbourne, and was second at the championships last season. Its first serious test will come at Hamilton next Monday, but it is yet impossible to predict with safety a repetition of past successes. * • * WHY NOT ARAPUNI? With the completion of the Arapuni dam the Auckland Province now has the finest rowing course in New Zealand, a stretch of calm and sheltered water, overlooked by a hill which would permit spectators to see every foot of the course. Though transport arrangements would at the outset be difficult to adjust, oarsmen should nevertheless endeavour as soon as possbile to capitalise the newly-created facilities. Boats could be railed to Putaruru, which, by a first-class Public Works road, is only six miles from Arapuni. The difficulties are not insuperable. OTAGO LEFT OUT PROTEST FROM DUNEDIN Press Association. DUNEDIN, To-day. . At ? meeting: of the Otago Rowing Association it was decided to protest against Otago’s omission from the selection committee to pick the New Zealand crew for the Olympic Games.