YACHTING

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 490, 24 April 1909, Page 12

YACHTING

'""■'.■'-■ t '■■■■'■"'-'■.:;.- , *~— r— ' ''■■■■ ', •- ''• "'-.' , ■''.■ .[ByMainbheet.] ', /. .'. • On Saturday last a hard northerly was blowing, tmd very few of the yachts went out. The foDowing. yachts, however; made a cruise round the harbour Janet," Kotiri, Kival, and the auxiliary yacht Ruihi. .While the: small' 11-ft. scow Rival, was making a board to make the entrance, of the boat harbour, her mast carried away through the back etay not being made fast. ;■ '■■'■ : !; : ■':■■■: On Sunday tho weather had ohanged considerably, the sea being quite calm ; and the wind a light southerly. : .'All-: the large yachts were put for a sail, and visited different bays. ; The following particulars iof an' Easter cruise' in the Syren are by one of tho crew.—Wβ left the boat harbour in company .with Kotiri ut 2 a.m. on Good Friday morning. ; Kotiri passed' us at Point Halswell, and kept iho lead to the Pinnacles. Syren.went through the Heads with jigger, reefed mainsail, staysail, and jib set; The wind freshened up off the-western.ledge, so thejigger was taken off; this made her more comfortable. The wind, was freshening nil the time, and there was'a nasty sea running, so when oil Happy Valley, the jib was taken; in, and we know we were in for a dirty passage. About this stage one of: the . orew' noticed Kotiri's-sails in the moonlight well astern, but this was: the last we saw of. her, as she, being a smaller boat,'turned back and sheltered in Island Bay!; The further • round the. Syl-on went, the worse it got. White squalls were coming off tho shore as fast as the- wind could drive them, and, on nearing, Terawhiti, the 'eea becamo very broken! As the conditions did not ease ■at all, we began to wonder if it was worth while /hanging on, but eventually we decided, to. keep, her least till ■we were well clear of Terawluti, and out whero there was a> steady son.going. •■ About i a.m. the wind and sea wore still going strong, and with no prospect of decreasing, so we decided to run for it. "Stand , by to go about," was the word, and down went the helm. Round she.came jumping high on the sea, and then down', us though she would never lift to the next curler. Out on'tho sheet! Free your back stay! Not too flat with the staysail! That-will do!" Arid now she was flying" before the wind. Twenty minutes' running brought; us off Terawhiti and into tho rip, the sea leaping high into .tho air where the wind clipped, off tops ns though: with a knife, and sent them scudding to leeward .'suddenly with a crack, crack, and n rip, and out went - the staysail. The. business now dearly was to set tho staysail off, and got the storm jib unbound as quickly as" possible; This can be done oasily and quickly in the boat harbour, but off Terawhiti, in a html breeze, whero at timt-e it is, simply a case of'"two hands for yourself' and none for the ship" it is a vastly different thing. Butns it hml to como off, .off it • came, though with a great, struggle. The storm jib was set, but this was of no use. as she was carrying too,much weather helm, so No. 2 jib had to be set out-bpard. This wns the worst job of the lot, as it meant going out to the end of the bowsprit, which was plunging down in solid water, but it was achieved. Once more-.wo were scudding along before it. Island-Bay''was passed just before daybreak, and a couple of hours later we were ttt nuohor in Scorching Bay, a tirod, wot, but' JIiUMUr,, «SW.. ' ■■'•■■'