Yachting.

Free Lance, Volume II, Issue 72, 16 November 1901, Page 19

Yachting.

Auckland ha^, long been lecogniMii a> tli(« home of New Zealand yachting but it is more as a \ aeht-building centre that the Northern oitv lias established d uaiiH tor itselt .unotie; the vacht^nieii ot Aimtrala-ia Tlio most famou> builrleis in Auckland aic the Loe;an^ iiir] nn(> of tlie mo-^t successful boar-,

that has been built in their yards is the Rainbow , a yacht which has never known defeat in an open race, and which will race against Messrs. Logans latest build- -lorangi — this season. The Rainbow was built by Messrs. R. and A. Loeran in November, 1898, and won her first important race at the Native regatta held at Auckland during Christmas week of the same year, easily beating all the crack raters of Auckland. Various club races were then annexed. An easy victory was scored at Auckland Anniversary Regatta over Ida, which, until then, had been the champion 36footer. All through the 1899 season Rainbow continued her victories, art: times conceding her opponents very long starts At the Waiheke Regatta she defeated the Volunteer (33ft rater), Thelma, and others Rainbow opened the 1900 season by beating Thelma and Viking (a 22ft rater) by six and thirteen minutes respectively over an eighteen-mile course, for the Donald Cup, and that in a strong south-west breeze. The principal event at the Ponsonby Regatta was won after a most exciting race by fifteen seconds from Thelma. Then came the fiver's Sydney victories The first was the Intercolonial Challenge Race, where she met Bona (a 36ft rater built for the race), White Wings (of Fife design). Meteor (the champion 30ft rater), and several other Sydney cracks, winning easily by over six minutes. The next Sydney victory was, in^ a match of three races with White Winers, Rainbow discarding the very con^iderable time allowance which White Wines had to allow her on account of her rating. Rainbow started last season by finishing first in the opening yacht races in Auckland harbour, and the next day left on her Southern cruise. At Lyttelton, she carried off the championship against such boats as Waitangi, Yvonne, and Kai Ora She also finished first in the handicap on the following day, but had to be content with second prize, owing to Kia Ora receiving the handsome handicap of twenty-one minutes over the fifteen-mile course. At the Wellington Regatta, last January, Rainbow beat Waitangi bv five minutes. The Rainbow sails on Saturday m the haudieap race— the opening race of the season

Mr. W McKenzie leaver for Rotorua on Friday or Saturday next, having received a notification that there will be a vacancy m the Sanatorium on the "20th He is sanguine as to hi& restoration to perfect health, and his many friend? in Wellington will be more than pleased if his step regains its old elastioit\ and his joints recover their suppleness So mote it be Of George Smith's running at the amateur meeting in Auckland on Saturday u eek one v\ riter saj s — The chief attraction billed was the effort of G. W Smith to lovs er his era n Australasian record of 1 5 3-." sec over the 120 yds hurdles The champion got over the distance in lbsec, but a<j he was unpaced and had no assistance from the wind his performance must be reckoned a \ erv nieritonous one He lumped better than I have before seen him do,

and there is every reason to oonclude that with a strong pace set him. another record would have been smashed. Smith had no difficulty in winning the 440 yds hurdles, m which the excellent time of ()0 4-ssec was registered." The following are two opinions on Town's sculling, expressed by Canadian writers after the recent championship race . — His style is not unlike Hanlan's when he was defeating all comers." •Tow ns's characteristics as a sculler are his great generalship, splendid science, and his marvellous staying power." The Sydney Referee" reports, in its issue of the (sth instant, the death of W. Warbnck, at Galatea, Bay of Plenty, New Zealand, on Monday, the 28th October. It is an old saying that one has to go from home to hear news, and tt is passing strange that no mention of the death of one so well known in this colony has appeared in any of the newspapers here. "The Referee" gives Mr. Fred. Warbrick, who is living in Queensland, as its authority.