YACHTING.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1675, 15 February 1913, Page 12

YACHTING.

[Br Mainsheet.]

.SHIP.COVE £ YACHTSMEN: > A Rendezvous Known to All. The' interesting historical event which occurred at Ship Covo this .week'would no 'doubt serve to recall to local yachtsmen the pleasant 'days ..which many of them havo. spent at that spot.: Nearly- every yacht or launch which noses' her way into the picturesque Queen Charlotte Sound makes a point of visiting a spot fraught with big memory of'that wonderful imau— Captain James Cook—nhd others who' wero the prototypes of that dauntless array of explorers, to which the late Captain Scott, Captain Amundsen, Lieutenant Peary, Dr., Nansen and so many, others belong. ■ They have all left great marks on the page of history and (in view of the Polar tragedy which has been mado known this week) one can hardly writo of such things without betraying something like emotion.' It is an emotion, however, which, I am sure we all share. So there is no need to pursue matters further in, that strain.

When yachtsmen go. cruising 'a ,log of the places visited, and cxperienc.Vs, arc recorded daily, and nearly every time that ono picks up one of thescloge, Ship Covo is.mentioned. It is a particularly favourite! rendezvous and yachtsmen's logs often treat it with an amount of patriotic instinct. I havo often thought that somo of these logs—or parts of them— would make very interesting reading if published. They breathe the right sentiment when they tell of some occasional visit to the Cove where Captain Cook landed and exchanged'friendly.greetings 'with the then practically ferocious Natives.

Yaohtsmen probably know moro about the Cove than the general public, because many of them have visited the spot so often, and one is inclined to think that, after the unveiling of the memorial this week, it will become a moro favourite rendezvous still; ,

Let it bo known, too, that apart from historic association altogether, tho Cove is an exceedingly pretty spot, its shores beinjr covered with very attractive native bush. :There are a large number of pooplo in this city who have never seen the Sounds, and in fact aro quite unr*gardant of the beauty placeg which lie within such a short radius from home.

~ When tho - ceremony took place, thero ■ wore a number of local yachts and lnunohes present, nnd they will no doubt come back to Wellington with their loss bearing full evidence of their presence on the occasion. Tho crews, too, will return looking tho very picture of good brown summer health, for no one ever comes back otherwise from tho Sounds.