Yachting in Port Nicholson.

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 6, 1 April 1911, Page 608

Yachting in Port Nicholson.

(By "Veteran.")

The history of yachting in Wellington Harbour naturally divides itself into three periods—the first ends in the year when the Dr.y's Bay wharf was built and the harbour ferry service began. Up to then all the bays round" the harbour had been open to yachtsmen, who every week end, were accustomed to anchor in one or other of them, boil the billy on the beach, and disport themselves in a state of nature in the • ea ; in thos « happy days the City Council imposed no regulations as to knee to neck costumes, and even the slender trunk was a thing unknown. Brown sunburnt men and boys Jay out on the silvery sand of Karaka Bay ran

races, played cricket or quoits, or otherwise enjoyed the life of the free. These were undoubtedly the halcyon days of yachting in Port Nicholson. "With the advent of the ferry steamers came also villas in every bay, ladies, and the amenities of civilisation, and for some yours it looked as if the yachtsman, having no bays left in which he could desoort himself, was doomed to vanish; yachting very nearly died altogether, and was only kept alive by s. few keen and devoted sportsmen, who determined to keep it going, and, week after week, sometimes in good weather, but more often in storm and rain, bwvght their boats out am; raced with the utmost keenness and enthusiasm. They had their reward; gradually the younger men and growing boys, with the love of the sea in th°ir bones, realised that there was something in the sport after all, new boats were built, ladies took to coming out in them, and proved themselves excellent sailors. And about 1900 there was a distinct revival visible. The second period (a period of slow do cline) extended from the opening of the Day's Bay wharf to about 1905 or 1906. The third period of revival is now in full swing. Another cause besides the one mentioned, operated very largely in the production of the period of decline: it way the extension of the wharf building in Wellington, and the consequent ousting of the yachts from their accustomed anchorages. The writer of these notes remembers well when he used to moor his boat under the balcony of the Empire Hotel, about where Victoria St. now runs; it was an ideal place, shel- ,, „ , tered completely by the Queen's Wharf. At this time all the smaller boats went on the slip at Paul and Roberts' yard near where the Clyde Quay baths now stand *. As reclamation extended the yachts shifted to the south and east, until at last they had to give up the Te Aro foreshore altogether and move to Pipitea Point. There for a time they had a secure resting place, but reclamation works again began and the order came to move still further. The boat harbour about this time became available and the smaller yachts moved there W ?, ile the "Waitangi,' "lorangi," JVlabma/' and occasionally one or two other yachts shifted their moorings to a point off the Thorndon Baths, and the Thoriidon yacht shed and Barman's boatbuilding shed, which for about fifteen years had stood off the Waterloo Quay, also moved on round the corner It will readily be supposed that this frequent shifting of moorings was both expensive and unsatisfactory n « the boat harbour was hailed with delight by the small craft owners as a permanent home. The motor boat and the yacht with auxiliary engine at once fastened on the boat harbour, and they are now familiar features on fine days cruising about with large parties 0.l ladies and children, or on calm evenings towing home a string of belated yachts. Durii.g the first period into which for convenience we have roughly divided this account of yachting, the chief feature of Anniversary Day was the Port Nicholson Yacht Club regatta; it was the custom then to canvas the town for donations, and the merchants and other leading citizens, and the shipping companies, gave liberally; considerable money prizes were offered and yacht racing may be said to have culminated in the year when £IOO was offered for the ftrst-elass yacht race, and the prize was won by that famous old flyer, the "Maseotte," of Lyttelton, the "Pastime" also coming up from the same port to compete. Of boats which have made tor themselves a naae in connection wr!< yachting we will only mention a few In the first period, we had the "Isca," perhaps the most successful boat that has ever raced in Wellington the beautiful little "Gamma/' the successful but over-rated half-decked boat, the

"Pet," the "Florence," "Xarifa," "Sappho," "Girola," "Thetis," and later the "Waitangi," "Maritana," "lorangi," "Rainbow," "Bona," "Siren," "Viking," "Mahina," and others. Of these, several were cruisers pure and simple, and would now be hopelessly behind in a race with modern craft, but one of them, the "Mahina," has held her own through a part of each period, and is still, in light weather, one of the fastest boats for her size ever seen in Wellington, as well as being a safe and sound cruiser. During the second period, most of the prizes in the first class were won by the "lorangi,'• which had many duels with the "Waitangi," the latter being without doubt one of the finest cruisers in New Zealand waters, a boat fit to go anywhere in, but never made the most of by her owners. For a few years the "Rainbow" came down from Auckland and challenged the supremacy of the "lorangi." Of second-class yachts during this time the "Mahina" was easily the most successful; from 1901 to 1906 she won the rating race every year, and until the third period the only boat of her size that proved herself a worthy antagonist was the "Janet." The "Atalanta" came from Napier with a great reputation, but after one meteoric victory she won very few races. With the third period came a number of new boats: "White Heather," "Kotiri," "Wairere," "Mawhiti," "Lizzie," "Nanoya," and others. The men to whom yachting has owed most in the past are most of them, happily, living still; some, full of years and honoured by all who love the sea, have joined the majority; among these latter the first names that come to one's memory, are Mills, who gave the Mills memorial trophy, W. W. Johnson, well known as secretary and best of canvassers for subscriptions, W. R. Symons, and Kebbell, who was drowned off his own yacht, the "Florence." Of the former, the most conspicuous have been Batkin, E. C. Mills, A. H. Turnbull, Geo. Mee, J. B. Speed, J. McLean, Dr. Fell, Dr. McGill. Holmes, Forbes, Renner, and Widdop.

This brief account would hardly be complete without some mention of an early band of enthusiasts who imported from England, and afterwards built locally, some first-rate sailing canoes; three of the Fitzgerald family, Bothamley, Dr. Rawson, Dr. Fell, and Dr. Mackenzie, all _ -had excellent racing and good camping cruises in the Sounds in these fast and picturesque little boats. It is a pity they have vanished into space. They were succeeded by the dinghy club.

"Kelvin." We illustrate on page 618 an interesting picture; of the "Kelvin" launch, showing Arnst's boat at Akaroa.