WITH SAIL AND MOTOR.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLV, Issue 13, 28 September 1910, Page 9

WITH SAIL AND MOTOR.

NOTES FROM THE WATERFRONT.

By

RINGTAIL.)

IN a very short time the waters ot the Waitemata will be covered with the white sails o fthe yachting fleet.

Already quite a number of launches are ready for the water, and one or two are now at their moorings.

It is to be hoped that the Viking and Thelma will be seen with sails spread, giving our waters a touch of the Solent. The foreshore presents a very busy appearance. Crews of yachts and launches are hard at work painting, scraping, rigging, etc. All are busy making ready for the coming season.

It is a great pity that more of our young men and boys do not go in for the grand and healthy sport of yachting.

The crack yacht Rainbow is in the hands of Mr. A. Logan, undergoing a thorough overhaul. Her mast has been unshipped, and three feet taken off the head: it will be cleaned and re-etepped, with new- standing gear fitted. She is also to have new sails and runninggear, and will be painted white to the rail capping, instead of the bright cedar rail she carried before. The rail capping has been taken off and replaced by one of bright teak; so when she takes the water this season she will have the appearance of a new yacht. Mr. Edgecombe’s fine launch Countess will be ready for the water in a week or two, the work of overhauling the engine and the painting being well pushed forward under the supervision of Mr. Edgecombe himself.

On the crack yacht Kotiri the work is well under way, being done mostly by the crew. The mast has been taken out to have new hoops fitted, and is now ready for re-stepping. Great credit is due to this crew for the seamanlike way that they go about their work.

The work on the Ida is well under way, the copper paint having been well nibbed down, which should add to her sailing qualities.

The little yacht Iris is looking very spick and span in her new paint. The crew have been at work for some time, and she should be ready for launching at the end of next month. The Lone Star is now ready' for the water, looking very neat and natty, and is ready to give as much pleasure this coming season as she has done in the past. The yacht Rangitira looks a wreck. Her figure-head was knocked off at the end of last season, when she came in contact with the yacht Ngatiri during an easterly gale. The Ngatiri did not come off scot free, about eight or ten feet of her starboard quarter rail being carried away. Work is being well pushed forward on Mr. J. Hodgson’s fine launch Tahatu. The crew expect to have her ready by the end of October. The only new yacht so far this season is Mr. Le Huquet’s cruiser Marangi. She is a fine roomy boat, well thoughtout, having a flush deck, except for a small light-top amidships, with forebatch and companionway. She is intended as a good roomy cruiser, but should give a good account of herself in a breeze. The following are her dimensions: L.0.a., 38ft.; 1.w.1., 28ft.; b., 9ft.; draught, sft. Gin. She carries over three tons of lead on the keel, with a spread of 900 square feet of canvas. She is a three-skinned boat, all copper fastened, and very strongly put together. Tha eabiii is very snug, twelve feet long, with full head room under a light-top. The Marangi should prove a very comfortable Last week a very pleasant evening was spent by some of Auckland’s yachtsmen in entertaining Captains Blythe and Arapakis of the yawl Pandora, at a dinner at the Tifiin, some forty yachtsmen being present. The toast of “The King” having been honoured, Mr. J. Parks, of the Manukau Yacht Club (chairman for

the evening), proposed “Our Guests,” with musical honours. Both Captains replied. In the course of his reply, Captain Arapakis said that, though other small vessels had circled the globe before them, none had taken the course that the Pandora wag about to take (by way of Cape Horn, calling at Pitcairn and Easter Islands). They were quite sure of their vessel, and, like all true sailors, made very light of the whole

matter. He hoped to be again in Auckland, and to meet again the kind friends that he had made in ports of call. Mr.

Hobin, in his speech, said that he was an ex-sailor himself, and had rounded

the Horn more than once, and knew what the crew of the Pandora had to go through. They had no high bulwarks and no longboat to shelter under; there was nothing for it but to stand and take all that came aboard, and yachtsmen know a little in that line. Mr. Bagley spoke of the good that could be got out of such a voyage. He said that boys would read the account of the voyage, and want to become sailors, which is, and always has been, the mainstay of of Old England. At the close of the evening the autograph book of the Pandora was passed round, and the good wishes of all the Clubs present registered therein, together with the Club’s burgee in colours. A vote of thanks to the chairman closed a very pleasant evening. The annual general meeting of the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron will be held in the Club Rooms on Thursday, 29th September, when the business of the past year will be looked into, a new committee elected, and other important business transacted.