ON THE WATER

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18057, 18 January 1927, Page 10

ON THE WATER

ROWING, SAILING & POWER BOAT NOTES.

(By J-ASON.) FIXTURES. January 22 —Head-of-River events. February 19—Christchurch Regatta at Kairaki. March 19-—New Zealand Championship Regatta at Picton. The third series of events in the head-of-the-river competition will be decided next. Saturday afternoon, when the youths’ four-oar and junior double sculls will be rowed. In both of these the Union Club has been drawn to place two teams, to make the number of contestants even. The draw is made by straight-out. ballot. The revival of Saturday afternoon events is proving popular with rowers and the public, as was evidenced during the races last week-end. The finishes were fairly close, and clubs can look forward to a quickening of interest in the sport as a result. The New Zealand Championship Regatta, to be held at Picton on March 19, should be full of interest, in that the Otago four, champion of the Dominion, who took everything before them recently in Australia, will be competing, in addition to at least one Australian crew. Following are the crews which will take part in the double sculls events for the Walton Cup, Avon Club. The race is open to all Avon Club members, and will be rowed in about a fortnight’s time: A. Harley, C. Ilaigh; A. Frame, K. Lovett; R. Taylor, L. Patterson; W. Barwick, G. Crosbie; G. Litten, C. Kelly; X. Barber, C. Bishop; R. Lyons, V. Boundy. The Booth Memorial Cup pair-oar races of the Union Club will be commenced next Tuesday evening. « The Christchurch Regatta will be held at Kairaki on February 29. The tide will commence to come in from one o’clock, which will make the course its most suitable, as pulling against both the Waimakariri and the tide is a great weight. The Regatta Club is making all arrangements, and the course will be surveyed by the engineer to the Waimakariri River Trust. Crews are in training for tlae regatta, and the Avon Club is the only one which has so far decided upon its representatives. They will be as follow, subject to alteration: Youths’ Four-oar—No. 1 : A. Harley, A. Mac Duff. G. Rush worth, A. Woodham. No. 2: T. Ritchie, 11. Lanauze, T. Adkins, J. Brixton. Youths’ Double Sculls—No. 1: A. Frame, L. Knox. No. 2: H. Lanauze, T. Ritchie. Maiden Four-oar—No. 1: A. Harley, A. Mac Duff, J. Lane, J. Harley. No. 2: L. .Webb, A. Wood ham, F. Brett ell, J. Brixton. % Light-weight Maiden Four-oar—G. Rushworth, W. Barwick, T. Adkins, A. Jones. Maiden Double Sculls^—No. 1 : W. Palmer, H. Brixton. No. 2: A. Frame, L. Knox. Jupior Four-oar—E. Barkle, G. Litten, J. Lane, R. Lyons. Junior Double Sculls: W. Palmer, E. Barkle. Senior Four-oar—C. Stiles, W. Sergison, G. Stiles. R. Nightingale. Senior Double Sculls—W. Sergison, R. Nightingale. Senior Pair-oar—O. Stiles, G. Stiles. James Paddon, who has now definitely retired from rowing, held “The Referee” Challenge Cup, emblematical of the sculling championship of Austra-

lia, for thirteen years, first winning it from Arnst in 1913. He then made hi's first bid for the world's title, journeying to England in 1914, where he met Ernest Barry over the Putney to Mortlake course, on the Thames. He went close to wresting the honour from Barry, but he had to wait until 1922 before he received

his second opportunity, against Darcy Hadfield, whom he beat on the Wanganui Ri*ver. Paddon again beat Hadfield dn the Richmond River (21-7-23), and also successfully defended the title against A. D. Felton on the Brisbane River (12-8-24), and Major Goodsell, present champion, on the Richmond River (20-9-24). Paddon then retired, but after W. C. M’Devitt, who assumed the mantle of champion, was beaten by Goodsell, and the latter had also retained the title against J. P. Hannan (New Zealand). Paddon challenged the holder for a race for the championship and £2OO on the side. The contest was held on November 7, Goodsell winning by a length and a half. The Evans Head giant has now definitely retired. On his retirement Alf. Burns assumed the title of Australian champion, and Paddon had charge of Burns in his first race against Frank Seroppe, in which the latter was defeated. Paddon was one of the tallest and

heaviest scullers who ever sat in a rigger, but, with it all, modest and an adornment to the sport in which he achieved so much fame. In recognition of his having held the Australian championship so long, and, to mark his retirement, “The Referee” presented him with a handsome cup, of which the champion and his family are extremely proud. Tasmania is to lose one of its most promising oarsmen in Alan Ingles. He was a member of the University crew that won the in ter-’Varsity race at Brisbane last year, and also of the Tasmanian King’s Cup crew that won on the same river this year. For the latter race his training had been crowded into too short a time, and he was done at the end of two miles, and was a passenger the last two or three hundred yards, though he gamely struggled to keep stroke. He rowed at 13st 61b, and should have been down another halfstone. He is twenty-one years of age, about 6ft 2in high, and out of training goes over 14st. More than that, says an exchange, he is a young man of high character, and has had a brilliant scholastic career. Besides being an oarsman, he is a fine footballer, having in representative teams. Having been selected as Tasmania's 1927 Rhodes Scholar, it may be said that he is just the type of scholar and athlete that Cecil Rhodes had in view.

The life of a well-built boat is surprising, considering the amount of work required of it (says an exchange). When the length of the four-oar is taken into account, k. will be realised that only the finest, workmanship can provide the rigidity, combined with lightness, which is an essential factor in racing craft. The occasional bumps on snags and floating debris, the strain on the ribbing sustained through the rapping of oars on bridges, and even such an accident as the overturning of the boat, oars and all, may be expected to limit the life of a boat to a very .few years, but there are many skiffs hung up in different clubhouses that have been pensioned not for any weakness, but simply because they became obsolete through the development of new models of lighter weight. Though subjected to the hardest usage throughout thirteen seasons, two practice boats owned by the Gisborne Club have been put aside f 01 * the hulls being as sound as possible and the frames as rigid as could be desired. The remarkable feature in connection with these boats is that thy have had little expert attention, the.work done on them having been amateur in the main. Many other clubs can boast the possession of boats as old and as sound, and the fact stands as a tribute to the workmanship put into the.craft. The committee of the Christchurch Regatta Club at its meeting last week discussed the question of the locale for this year’s regatta, and finally decided upon Kairaki, which is near the mouth of the Waimakariri. Why Lake Forsyth was discarded in favour of Kairaki is not mentioned, but seemingly the opinion was that a change was desirable. I have not seen the Kairaki course, but I have spoken to several who have, and they say that about a mile straight is available. As it appears to be necessary that a course some distance from Christchurch has to be selected, personally I cannot see what advantage Kairaki has over Lake Forsyth, except that the former may not be so affected by wind as the latter. At the same time it is some considerable distance from Kaiapoi and is tidal, which may mean, after the experience of racing on it, that position may have an effect on results. To reach the course, if one cannot go by car, he must travel by train to Kaiapoi, and then by car or launch to Kairaki. Seeing that the entrants for regatta will almost wholly come from the Christchurch clubs, which means an entry of only three in most of the events, I would ask why go to Kairaki when the course at Kaiapoi is available? True, the selection of the latter course would mean rowing some of the events in heats, but what of that? The local clubs are becoming accustomed to heat rowing. It seems to me that the committee have been unwise (in their selection. Allowing that it was necessary’ to go into the country for a course, then, Lake Forsyth having been discarded, the best selection would have been Kaiapoi, and not a place several miles away from the town.

Two of the thirteen eight-oared boats ordered by the New Zealand Rowing Association have reached Christchurch and for the present are under the care of the Union Rowing Club. So far as the local clubs are concerned the boats are something of a white elephant; they cannot be used on the Avon, and if they could they could not be manned by qualified senior oarsmen. As regards housing them, when they are assembled the Union Club’s boathouse should be able to provide accommodation, but that will be only a temporary matter. The main question is a permanent locality, and at present none is available. While commending the New Zealand Rowing Association for its desire to do something to increase interest in rowing. it seems to me that it has been a little premature in launching out to the. extent of such a large order, as the conditions of the sport in the Dominion did not warrant such an extravagant order. True, other centres are not handicapped to the same extent as Christchurch in the matter of water, but as regards manning the boats they are little better off. I am not in accord with the views accredited to Mr F. D. Kesteven, which, to my mind, are altogether too pessimistic. I much prefer to side with those/ expressed by Mr Owen. My belief is that if the latter’s scheme for improving the Avon comes to an issue then we shall see eightoared racing on the Avon, because a suitable course will be provided, and once given the course, the crews will follow. lam one of the optimists who look for a Henleyjjpn-Avon regatta, leading to a big revival in rowing in Christchurch. Talking to Mr Sid Bell, a former member of the Canterbury Rowing Club, and at present on a visit to Christchurch after many years’ residence in Australia, he gave some interesting particulars with respect to single sculling in the Commonwealth. He regarded ’Major Goodsell, the present world’s champion, as a wonderfully good sculler, but he said the next champion will be Robert Pearce if he turns professional. Australian papers speak highly of this young oarsman, who is a son of Harry Pearce, once champion of Australia. A telegram from Whangarei states that P. J. Hannan expects'to sail for America in March to meet Goodsell for the world’s championship. In England, according to a cable message, a fund has been opened to defray the expenses of Bert Barry to visit Australia to row Goodsell on the Parramatta in June. Now, which is correct? As Goodsell does not possess the powers of Sir Boyle Roche’s famous bird he cannot be in America and Australia at the same time. Goodsell has already easily defeated Hannan and another match between them would have no interest, whereas a match with Barry would. The latter, who is a nephew of the former champion, Ernest Barry, is the best sculler in England. To the general run of New Zealanders the Colquhoun Sculls at Cambridge is of no interest, but it is to New Zealanders who have been in residence at the university and particularly to those who while there turned their attention to rowing. In this year’s race, one of the competitors was a New Zealander, P. O’Rorke, of Christ College, who was defeated in the final by a fellow collegian. T. K. Letchworth. The Colquhoun Sculls is the oldest event for which competition takes place at Cambridge University. It was originally instituted as a Lady Margaret College fixture in 1837. and was carried off by an outsider for the first time in 1842. It gives its name to the portion of the River Cam, over which the race usually takes place, and the winner is accorded the title of “Champion of the Cam.”