YACHTING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 77, Issue 220, 17 September 1934, Page 5

YACHTING

What thrilil is there to compare with the one to be had from sailing a small boat in a good breeze? Spray flying, main sheet trying its best to fly out of your grasp tiller straining wildly to get free and the wind whistling through the rigging. It’s a great sport for young and old. It teaches the young to be quick and self-reliant, and it makes the old young again. It takes the aches out of the old bones and teaches the young to baittie and win out against the elements. It’s sport in its elemental state with nature assisting and yet trying to defeat you on every hand. It’s you against natural elements. You are pitting your knowledge and skill against wind and wave and winning out. It’s a real thrill.

Sailing in this way is fun but the real fun comes when you arc not only striving against the elements bu't also agaiust other competitors, in similar boats, who arc trying their level best to beat you to the finishing line. Under such conditions you must give your very best, your all, to win. Winning a race under these conditions you constitutes the real thrill of sailing. It is your own personal skill which has won against all these odds. It is your clear and quick thinking which has given you those little unseen and unfelt advantages to which you have responded automatically. It is your skill in preparing your boat, its sails, and its rigging. Your crew has helped, but you were probably largely responsible for their actions through your knowledge and training your crew to “jump to it—quick!” And what greater joy can there be, than winning such a contest in a boat you have built yourself.

Many people think that yacht racing is an expensive sport, and in some cases this is a fact. Some racing classes, by permitting variations from the original type, have developed expensive racing machines, and the race, instead of being for skill, becomes one which can only be ultimately won by the skipper with the longest pocket book.

By restricting the classes as regards size, design and sail area, this undesirable feature is overcome for the simple reason that this year’s boat will still be good to win next year if she is sailed properly. The Wanganui Sailing Club was formed last year and has just concluded a very successful season. This large and active body is fostering this clean, healthy thrilling sport and is to be congratulated ou its endeavours to keep its boats within well defined limits. The result of this action is that the boats can be constructed at a very low cost and their construction is so simple that they can be built by persons with only a very elementary knowledge of carpentering. The boats comprising the club’s fleet have ah been constructed by members, ia most cases by the owners themselves. Tre members of the chib are keen and good sports, and desire to see the fleet greatly increased in numbers. The club possesses a number of plans, and those members who have experience in building are only too willing to give advice and assistance to prospective builders. The club is holding its first annua! general meeting on Wednesday, September 26, in the Accountants’ Chambers, Maria Place, at 8 p.m., and the presence of intending members will be welcomed.