AQUATICS.

New Zealand Illustrated Sporting & Dramatic Review, Volume XII, Issue 751, 28 July 1904, Page 13

AQUATICS.

On Saturday next, the great sculling match between George Towns and Richard Tressider will take place on the Parramatta Rix er. The stakes will be £5OO a-side, and the winner will take the coveted title of Champion of the World. Immense interest is being taken in the race an the other side of the Tasman Sea, and from all accounts the picturesque river will be alive with spectators when these two famous oarsmen meet to settle the question of supremacy. Both men have been training hard for some time, and a great race is expected, the supporters of each being very sanguine. Towns, the present champion, is a slightly better fa- ■ ourite than his rival, but the latter is said to be a wonderfully improved man, and it looks as though the issue is very open. ♦ * ♦ ♦ Yachtsmen were just beginning to wonder what had happened to the schooner yacht Privateer, which sailed from Ramsgate for Lyttelton on February 1, and was therefore considerably overdue. A cable received during- the week states that she had put into Port Phillip to replenish her stores, which might well have become exhausted after so long a passage. The Privateer, which was built on the Clyde just thirty years ago, is a vessel of 108* tons, and has already been described in these columns. She should bein New Zealand waters very shortly. Several boats are being built to the Home Bay Sailing Club’s new rule of measurement, which will apply to all boats built after July 1. This is as follows Length overall, not to exceed 16 feet ; beam, not to exceed 6 feet ; depth, not less than 20 inches gunwale to rabbet : planking, not less than 5-16th inch thick ; timbers, mot less than by 4!, spaced 8 inches on centres : sail area, not to exceed 180 square feet when stretched; no ballast other than crew of four to becarried ; boats must be clincher built. Sir Rupert Clarke’s cruising schooner La Carabine, which is on an extended cruise among the islands of the Pacific, arrived at Suva from Samoa on Friday last,