YACHTING

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 12, 15 January 1936, Page 4

YACHTING

By

"MAINS'L"

A frecdi westerly breeze, at timei squally, prevailed last Saturday afternoon when the Wanganui Sailing Club held the first of a series of races lur the Studholmc Cup. With- the tide on the ebb and a good run down stream, conditions were ideal for racing. Nine bouts faced the starter and with the exception of minor damage to one ur two ves-t/-. the contest was conducted without mishap. Tiller hands, of course, were required to keep their weather eyes ojjen, particularly in the lower reaches of the river, where the water was troubled and the wind particularly strong. • • • • After an interesting race over a eixmile course, Comet was placed first. Eve and Spray tied for second place and were followed by Avalon (3) and. Sunshine (4). The race commenced at 3.11 p.m. and finished at 4.25 p.m. Actually, Eve was the first boat hame f but Comet won on her handicap, all boats having started on the same mark. Eve pasr-ed the finishing line at 4.25 p.m., followed by Spray, 4.29 p.m., Avalon and Comet, 4.30 p.m., Sunshine, 4.36 p.m., Velma, 4.40 p.m., and Breeze, 4.44 p.m. Neptune, on the second run down, carried away her rudder gudgeon and was forced to retire. Considering the squally nature o! the winll, the small boats put up a. creditable showing. If the race had taken place earlier in the season » few e-pills might have taken place, but all hands have now settled down and are able to handle their boats to advantage. Neptune, which has distinguished herself on several occasion*, was unlucky. She had a crew of four and wae making good progress when compelled to retire. Also unfortunate, Avalon was handicapped through having carried away the jaws of her spinnaker Loom. Considering that this boat was unable to carry as much sail as the others, the did well in finishing thirl. Comet is now loading on points and Messrs. Donmey and Dearness are to be congratulated on their success. They handled their boat well. Comet has seven points and is followed by Eve and Spray with five ponts each. Avalon has four and Sunshine, A’elma, Breeze and Mistral have two points each. Noptu ie eecured one. At this early stage it is impossible to predict, the Studholme Cup winner for .1936. Tho Takapunas will do tlreir utmost to outrival the smaller craft, hut the ultimate results remains to be seen. A review of Saturday 7 race reveal* an improvement in the standard of sailing at AA’anganui. All boats started on the same mark and were quickly away. This, perhaps, made the contest more interesting than usual. Nine little vesrcls were bunched together, dodging one another and impatient to bv off when fhe gun gave the signal. Not a moment was lost and each boat, made the most of the strong wind. The start was a good study in the methods employed by different skippore. Avalon ami Eve were first to take the lead, closely followed by. Spray, Nvptune, Comet, Sunshine, A’elma and Breeze. There were several mishaps to sails and gear, however, which caused minor delays on the first run down the river. Snipe, incidentally, met with misadventure before fhe ftart of tho race and had In withdraw, her crew filling vacant scats in other boats. In Saturday’s race, Mistial, the limit boat, did nc’t .show up as well as she has in the past. Sunrhine was perhaps the best of the small boats, with Velma being placed next in order of merit. These two boats were very well balanced. Breeze was unlucky. She did not seem to be able to gain any advantage. Evo, Avalon and Neptune kept together for the flr.it run down, but on the return trip Avalc-a took the I’utiki side of the river ami gained considerably on Eve and Neptune, which remained in midstream. This is a bad practice, especially when there is a strong ebb tide which is liable to retard a boat, cveu when running before the \?od. Bprjy and Coinel did well on the run up the river, but Eve took the lead on the second run down, clcn-ely followed by Avalon. Il was al this stage that. Avalon had trouble with her spinnaker boom. Neptune on the second run down carried away her rudder gudgeon ami rc-iicd. In the meantime, Spray ami Comet were showing great form and running well with the wind astern. Bi'iiop ami R. AVatson, who raced in the Spray, undoubtedly made a well-balanced crew. I*. Domney and his young forward hand, mailing in the Eve were unlucky in this race, their vessel missing first place by half a minute. By winning two out of the throe races sailed at Bluff recently, Irene, the former Canterbury champion, will represent Southland at the Wanders Cup contest, to be held in Auckland thir month, says the Southland Times. Irene all through gave an excellent performance, and should worthily represent the province at the contest. The first race resulted in a tie between Murihiku II (Stewart Island) and Vorcna (Bluff). Irene was not prominent; the light breeze did not seem la suit her at all. It appeared from the launch that followed the boats that the Bluff craft had won this race, but the judge ruled that the boat* had lied for first place. Both the second and third races were runaway victories for Irene. On each occasion a stiff breeze was blowing and thia admirably suited the boat. Last year at Stewart Island Irene proved herself to be at home in any kind of weather, and was able to show up to advantage in both rough and smooth water. Vorent, the Bluff representative, gave a splendid performance in the three races. With a seasoned and experienced crew in her she might have been a match for Irene. A’orena is a new craft, and wa« built by J. Shannon. She has fine lines and is constructed in a competent manner. More should be heard of her in the future. The Stewart Island boat, ATurihiku 11, sailed ax excellent race in the morning contest of the first day. The Bragg brothei• understand thit* boat, and they were able to get the best out of her. In the second race she gained second place, but was later disqualified for fouling Evelyn. She did not start on Thursday morning. Rosita and Evelyn provided added interest to the race*, but hey were never in the picture.