YACHTING.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 787, 9 April 1910, Page 12

YACHTING.

[By Mainshbet.]

April 9—Special race for second-class yachts. This afternoon, if the wind suits, the last races of the present season will be got off. It was a pity that the wind dropped last Saturday afternoon, spoiling what would have been a very exciting finish in the race for Messrs. Walker, and Hall's cup. The yachts which' were on the starting, line, when the gun went off, .got away with a nice southerly breeze, which held out until Koro Koro buoy had been rounded. There were only three yachts on the line at the start, viz., Lizzio, lolanthe, and _ Taipare. , Shortly afterwards the Viking came up,- followed by the White Heather, Rawene, and Nanoya. The Janet's gaff was. broken, and it had to be changed, she not crossing the line until, about fifteen minutes after the gun had been fired. Shortly after getting away, the Janet, aided by her spinnaker, topsaid, and large racing mainsail, began to skim.through the water at a great pace, overhauling the rest" of the yachts at Koro Koro : buoy. The lolanthe rounded Koro Koro' buoy' first, followed by Nanoya, Taipare, Rawene, Janet, White Heather, and Viking. After rounding tho buoy lolanthe stood over to town and caught the last puffs of the dying breeze, which took her and the Lizzie up to Seatoun, when the wind died away to a flat calm. The yachts gave up the race, and were towed home by the launches Ruihi and Waitarigi. If, the wind is. at all favourable the race will be sailed this afternoon, commencing at 2.30.

It seems evident that' yacht owners, who keep their yachts in the Boat Harbour, do not quite realise the trouble which the Clyde Quay Wharf is going to oause. The wharf is practically finished, and no doubt will be in use by next yachting season. On Saturday afternoons, when that spot (round the entrance to the Boat Harbour) is thickly dotted with both small and large craft, what will it bo like when small or large steamers are coming up to be berthed or departing. It seems as though the yachtsmen will have a-word or two !to say. The Boat Harbour was built (costing some hundreds) for the protection of Wellington's fleet of ( small pleasure boats, but the utmost care will have to be exercised to avoid accidents when steamers are steaming about, The Harbour Board should have •taken the Boat Harbour, into consideration when they thought .of building'this new wharf. The good 'hard northerly which prevailed on Sunday did not prevent the yachtsmen from having their usual Sunday outing on the briny. The Siren got out of the Boat Harbour and sped on'her way under full sail., Tho Ethel left the Boat Harbour reefed down, and lying ! over to the gunwale. It would appear that if the crew ,of the Ethel want, to go out in a "blow'' they may need to rjut a few more hundredweighty lead on the keel. The/following yachts - spent the day at Somes' Island:—Janet, Kafaka, Atalanta, and also three launches, Puriri; Tender and Swan; The Siren, Ngaira, Ethel' and Rawene spent.the day at Scorching Bay. ■

Mr. Palmer's launch Waione was the ast launch to finish in Saturday's launch race, the limit launches' handicap being too big to beat. . The Tender, limit launch, started at 3 p m and-finished first, followed closely by the rest.of tho launches. Tho Waiono did not leave the starting line until one ""nute past four,, finishing at 4.54 p m The auxiliary yacht race had to be postponed on account of the wind dropping. The following boats competed • —Ruihi, Taniwha, Kotir'i, and Waitangi. Taniwha took the lead, followed by the Ruihi and Kotiri. Tho Waitangi went too near the wharl, and a small coastal steamer, which was manoeuvring round, blocked her from getting a good start. The race will most likely take place this afternoon • The To-Arc- Sailing Club also held a race on Saturday, which was won by Doreon, with Rival second and Redwing third. Tho Doreen, with her handicap of lomin., easily maintained her lead all the way .round the course, but when leaving tho finishing line the wind dropped, leaving her to "crawl" home. The other boats had to do tho same. Tho scratch boat, Nan, was last all the way round th© course.

the Janet was up for a scrubbing this week.

The Te Arc Sailing, Club holds its last race of the season this afternoon. The "Sydney Morning Herald," writing about the Northcote Cup, says: Perhaps no event in tho history of Victorian yachting will livo so long in the memory of yachtsmen and the general public, of whom some 2000 witnessed the race, as tho second race for the Northcote Cup, which was sailed at the end of last month. The task set the challenger, Culwalla 11, and the defender, Killara, was t.ho compassing of a square, 1J miles a side, starting from •the St. .Kilda pier, theace round • a

buoy to the southward, thence round a buoy to the westward, thence round a buoy to tho northward, thence round a buoy to the eastward, back to the start-ing-line—twice round, a total distance of 12' miles. The challenger was handled by-Mr. Marks, at the tiller, while-Mr. R. Edwards bad the tiller of Killara. Just after luncheon the wind made true from the south, but by the time tho race was started, at 2 p.m., it was little more than a fresh southerly, and so for the first half of the race it remained. After tho first round the' wind freshened considerably. "With Culwulla sailing very straight, and Killara heeled over just enough to get nicely down to her best sailing line, and, in addition, trimmed a little by the head as she was, the extra length given her line enabled her to outpoint her rival comfortably on the wind. Off the wind there was not much difference between the two, but in the first round the Victorian boat had a slight advantage'. Just as the Killara had crossed the line (13sec. ahead of Gulwulla), the shot from the gun which had been fired went through her mainsail, causing a rip from the gaff to the boom.