SANDERS CUP HITCH

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 543, 21 December 1928, Page 13

SANDERS CUP HITCH

LATE CITY

trial falls through AGAIN boats fail to appear Fop the second time within a fortnight the first trial race for the selection of the boat to represent Auckland in the 1929 Sanders Cup contest has fallen through. After having lapsed on Saturday week owing to the new boat Val not being ready, the race was to have taken place at five o’clock last evenThe selectors waited for threequarters of an hour, and not one of the boats, Val, Rona or Avalon, put in an appearance. All the owners had been notified by the selectors, Messrs. G. H. Mobberley, H. Kirkham and H. J. C. George. At Mechanics’ Bay, Messrs. Mobberley and Kirkham found that none of the boats had stirred from the sheds. Mr. A E. Matthew’s, skipper of Val, and his crew, were standing by, and also Mr. V. Lidgard. skipper of Rona, and his crew*, but neither Mr. F. Cloke, owner, nor Mr. J. Patrick, skipper, of Avalon, was to be found. An attempt will be made to conduct the trial to-morrow afternoon. POSSIBLE EXPLANATION It is thought that the decision of the Auckland Yacht and Motor-Boat Association this week that members of the selected crew over 21 be asked to contribute £5, or the equivalent, toward the cost of the trip to Akaroa has something to do with the hitch.. Anocher explanation advanced is the fact that the association approved a tentative remit to the Sanders Cup Conference that in future ages of the crews to be restricted to 21 and under The age of restriction, however, if approved in February, would not become operative until the 1930 contest. Mr. C. G. Macindoe, owner of Val and Rota, thought that the proposed age Imiit was a step in the wrong direction. “They have one contest for crews under 21 and they cannot manage that properly; it’s like a kindergarten," he remarked. “Just a misunderstanding,” was the summing up of Mr. A. J. Collings, secretary of the association. Mr. Codings added that the “£—theory” probably had nothing to do with the position. In former years Avalon’s crew and owner had always met the association in some way. TO REPRESENT LYTTELTON (Special to THE SUN) CHRISTCHURCH, Thursday. The Lyttelton boat, Colleen, has been selected by the Sanders Cup Committee of the Canterbury Sailing and Power-Boat Association to defend the Cup in the contest in February. Fred Morrison, of Redcliffs, will be the skipper. The Colleen, owned by Mr. F. Dobbie, a Lyttelton yachtsman, was launched only a week before the trials. She was built by her owner, who spared nothing in an effort to make the boat quite as good as any in New Zealand. In the trials she was sailed by Frank Collins, and gained two wins. She demonstrated that she is a champion light-weather boat, and her sailing qualities off the wind could only be equalled by Betty, the present holder and three times winner, of the cup. Mr. Morrison is regarded as one of the best yachtsmen on the estuary. During the last contest at Stewart ' Island he sailed in Betty, under George Andrews, and was a member of the crew of the Linnet at the 1924 contest at Auckland