SANDERS CUP BOATS.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20233, 17 February 1934, Page 17 (Supplement)

SANDERS CUP BOATS.

Builder Who Produces the ' Winners. MR FRED DOBBY.

(By

A LONGSHOREMAN.)

■\T ODESTLY watching the Sanders ‘ 4 ‘ ?A Cup races from the shore, absent when the “ experts ” discuss the building of yachts, avoiding the limelight when those who have won success are honoured, Mr Fred Dobby, the man who has done more than any other to make Canterbury the fourteen-foot racing champion province of New Zealand, is too often forgotten when Canterbury folk grow mutually congratulatory on their representatives’ remarkable successes. Good seamen cannot become firstclass racing yachtsmen without plenty of competitive practice, and there cannot be plenty of competition without plenty of boats. Building fourteenfooters is a losing proposition, so there can be fleets of them only where there are wealthy yachtsmen, or where some craftsman is willing to sacrifice time, labour and money to their creation. And the wealthy yachtsman is as rare as the moa, in the South Island at least. That Lyttelton should have the finest fleet of fourteen-footers in New Zealand is attributable largely to the efforts of one man—Mr Dobb\ r . Herein Canterbury is at a great advantage compared with Otago and Southland, as was shown at the recent Sanders Cup contest, where the southern crews, excellent seamen individually, lacked that finish and cohesion which onl} r constant competitive racing can give. Seven fourteen-footers have been built, either wholly or in part, by Mr Dobby. They have won three Sanders Cup contests —Avenger two and Irene one. Born at Lyttelton well oack in last century, Mr Dobby had the tang of salt water in his blood iiT~'?s earliest years. Like his father, he followed the trade of builder and ' ?ntractor, but his spare time werrt/to s.nps, model yachts at first. Pateena, built by. ’ in 1904, with which he wo;, he Cl -f church Model Yacht CF npioi* ship in the 1905-6 season, 'is stil facing on Victoria Lake. Model yach: xacing led Mr Dobby to make trips t competitions at Dunedin. Now the model sport is paying him the compliment of naming its new boats after his champions in the fourteen-foot classic. Launches claimed Mr Dobby’s attention for a time, Kowhai, a 25-footer, which he built in 1913, being still in i commission at Lyttelton. Pioioi. The Rona-Jellicoe design was adopted as a New Zealand championship class , by the Auckland Yacht and Motor Boat Association in June, 1923. Mr Dobby made his acquaintance with this type as a builder when he assisted Mr R. Tredennick with the construction of Pioioi in the 1924 season. She came to a violent end on Saturday, November 14, 1925. That afternoon, while she was being sailed by Mr Tredennick and two youths, D. Bennett and Keith Loader, she capsized in a sudden sou’-west storm a quarter of a mile off Gladstone Pier. There was a heavy, breaking sea. Loader was washed away, but Bennett got to him after he had sunk twice. Shortly after Loader had been placed on top of the hull, Bennett, who was holding him, got cramp. The dredge Canterbury’s motor-launch eventually rescued the three of them. The launch Onawe took Pioioi in tow, but after two attempts, during which the tow lines carried away, the boat was abandoned, drifting down to Officers’ Point. Mr S. Sinclair took out the launch Ruahine in another attempt at a rescue, ■which the breakers on the point prevented. Pioioi went on the rocks and was completely wrecked. Pioioi sailed in the Sanders Cup trials of 1924-25, the season in which Linnet was sent to Auckland to be beaten by lona (Otago). Among those who formed Pioiofs crew* during the trials were R. Tredennick, A. Henderson, F. Dobby, A. T. Round, S. Toomey, S. Sinclair, C. Williams and D. Pascoe. Linnet and Secret were the other competitors. Five trials sailed, Pioioi being last in all except the second, in which Linnet capsized and Pioioi took second place. Usher. Usher was Mr Dobby’s first sole pro-m-f-'L 0 "’ She was launched in the 19-o-G season at the same time as Mr ,f« rße n-^ ndrews ' s Betty, from Redcliifs. That season Usher won the Canterbury \ acht and Motor Boat Club’s cup and several other events. Mr S Sinclair came out with Linnet II in that season, and the three new yachts raced in the provincial Sanders Cup trials against Mr F. Morrison’s Secret and Air G. Whitford’s Valmai. Valmai, originally built to the order of Mr A. C. Sundstrum, of Dunedin, by Miller Brosj' of Port Chalmers, had been sold to Akaroa and resold to Mr Whitford, being renamed Magpie and sailed by Frank Collins. Among Usher’s crew were S. Toomey, F. Dobby, A. T. Round and D. Beaumont. Two trials were held on the Estuary, Linnet 11. winning one and Betty the other. Usher finished third in the first and she and Secret did not complete the course in the second owing to being becalmed. Nine further trials were sailed on Lyttelton Harbour. The results of this remarkable series are worth recalling. They were:—Third race: Betty 1, Linnet 11. 2, Usher 3, Magpie 4, Secret 5. Fourth race: Linnet 11. 1, Secret 2, Usher 3. Betty finished first but was disqualified for fouling a buoy. Fifth race: Betty 1, Linnet 11. 2, Secret 3. Usher did not finish owing to being becalmed. Sixth race: Secret 1, Betty 2. Linnet 11. 3. Usher arrived late and did not start. Seventh race: Secret 1, Usher 2, Linnet 11. 3, Magpie 4. Betty was late starting and withdrew. Eighth race: Linnet finished alone. Secret fouled a mark and Betty did not start, no reason being given. Ninth race: Linnet 11. 1, Secret 2, Usher 3. Betty carried away her rudder and was towed in. Magpie retired. Tenth race: Betty I, Secret 2, Usher 3, Linnet 11. 4, Magpie 5. Eleventh race: Betty 1, Linnet' 11. 2, Usher 3, Secret 4, Magpie 5. Betty, * having scored five wins to Linnet ll.’sl four and Secret’s two, was selected and won the cup at Dunedin. Colleen. Colleen was launched early in the l 1928-1929 season. The first impression j that she was a fast boat off the wind, though not so w’ell-performed on the • wind, was borne out by the notable j races she sailed. She raced one sensational Sanders Cup trial with Petty, which the Redcliffs yacht won J -half a bowsprit. The Canterbury came her way also. At the JflVa, Auckland and Dunedin Sane ; contests she represented j

At Akaroa (1929) Fred Morrison, of Redcliffs, skippered her. lan Treleaven, a member of Betty’s crew at three previous contests, was spinnaker hand. Alan Sinclair was third man. Fourth man was the youngster George Brassed, with his name already engraved on the Cornwell Cup and the Irene Stacey Trophy, but w r ith greater fame yet to come. Colleen’s crew was better than her equipment, for her boom burst and her centrecase buckled. She did not win a race but she distinguished herself in the fifth race by executing an exceedingly spectacular capsize, the Otago boat alone completing the course. Frank Collins skippered Colleen at Auckland in 1930, with F. Dobby, E. Sinclair and C. Weakley as crew. Avalon, which had won the cup the previous year, was defending it, Clyde representing Wellington and Eileen Otago. In the first race in a strong wind and a heavy sea, Colleen carried away her weather mainstay twelve minutes after the start, having to retire. In the second race Colleen beat the gun and lost a minute and a half in making a fresh start. After that she did well but could not get better than third place. Colleen and Clyde retired and Avalon capsized in the third race in rough weather, Eileen alone finishing. The fourth race was the last of the contest, Colleen taking third place. In the Lipton and Ross Cup races Colleen did better, beating the other Sanders Cup yachts, but being beaten each time by Betty! George Brassell sailed Colleen at Dun. edin in 1931 against Betty (Wellington), Avalon (Auckland), Eileen (Otago) and Rona (Southland). There were light and fickle airs for the first race, in which Colleen was fourth; but in the second race, in a fresh breeze, her crew electrified the spectators by the daring way they sailed her to run Betty close for first. She easily won the third race (re-sailed) and was awarded the fourth when Avalon was disqualified on a foul. In the fifth race she was fourth, and in the final was narrowly defeated by Betty. Irene. Irene appeared in the 1930-31 season, running a close second to Colleen in the Canterbury provincial trials, and winning her club’s cup. Last year, sailed by Elliot Sinclair, she defeated Betty—a notable feat—in the Canterbury championship race during Sanders Cup week. This year, again sailed by Sinclair, she again won the Canterbury championship and the Sanders Cup, and is in an unbeatable position for the Canterbury Club Cup. Avenger and Elfin. The first of Mr Dobby’s yachts to win the Sanders Cup was Avenger, built in the 1931-32 season. Sailed by George Brassell, she represented Canterbury at Wellington in 1932 where, in seven starts she had five wins and two second placings, Betty being her only serious rival. Next year she successfully defended the cup at Lyttelton in seven races, Avalon (Auckland) and Lavina (Wellington) each winning two races, with Idler (Auckland) badly outclassed. Elfin built in the same season as Avenf , for Mr J. T. Hobbs, was the b

only 14-footer built to the notorious 1932 specifications of the Auckland .Yachting Association—the specifications the attempted enforcement of which by the Auckland Association on the rest of New Zealand led to the formation of the New Zealand Yachting Council and the transfer by the donors of the control of the Sanders Cup from Auckland to the Council. Mr Hobbs decided not to race her in the provincial trials, awaiting the decision of the Sanders Cup Conference of that season on the problem of the design. The conference rejected th e “ 1932 plan ” and decided to retain the 1923 Rona-Jellicoe specification. During the following winter Mr Hobbs had the keel, one of the garboards, and several of the for’ard ribs of the Elfin removed and structural alterations made so that she would conform to the 1923 plan. Jean, built this season, is Mr Dobby’s newest production. She is the makings of a good boat, and, when finally tune c ] up, will be one to be reckoned seriously with. Takapuna Punts. Sailing as spinnaker hand on Usher and Colleen in their early days, Mr Dobby is a good man when the waves are creaming away from a boat’s stem, but nowadays he prefers to watch the racing from the shore. The intervals of his busy life have been occupied with the construction of Takapuna class twelve-foot-sixers for the Lyttelton boys. His most recent job is Echo, built to the order of the first woman member of the Canterbury Yacht and Motor Boat Club, Miss Monica Roche, and launched within the past fortnight. To create ships of beauty that are a joy forever and to provide a means whereby the youth of the community can enjoy the finest of all sports must give a satisfaction such as few men know. If there are glad hearts when the white wings go skimming over Lyttelton Harbour, surely Fred Dobby’s must be one of the gladdest.