AVALON’S GOOD RACE

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 590, 16 February 1929, Page 9

AVALON’S GOOD RACE

SANDERS CUP CONTEST REVIEW OF SAILING (Special to THE SUN) AKAROA, To-day. Good sailing and keenness on the part of all crews characterised the first two races for the Sanders Cup, sailed here yesterday. The wind for both races was good. The performances put up by all boats left nothing to be desired. The first race, sailed over a windward and leeward course, was won by the Wellington boat Clyde, and the race in the afternoon went to the Auckland representative, Avalon. Colleen, Canterbury, sailed into third place in both races, and in the morning race Avalon got second. The showing put up by Clyde in the second race was not nearly as good as the morning’s. Eileen showed up well in the second race and was second past the judges. On yesterday’s showing Avalon seems to be the best boat in the contest and it will be rather surprising if she does not take the cup back to Auckland. The bad smashing she got on Thursday did not »affect her sailing in any way, for the builders who repaired her made an excellent job considering the tools they had to work with. If it had not been fox* rather bad luck Avalon would certainly have won both races, for the crew showed superiority to all others in nearly every department. In the morning race Willetts had difficulty in finding the turning buoy and instead of sailing straight up harbour he and George Kellett, skipper of Eileen, the Otago boat, went straight across the harbour toward another buoy. This cost Willetts the race and although he sailed excellent for the rest of the course he could not make up leway. However, Willetts made no mistakes after this and managed to get into second place. FAULTLESS HANDLING N. Rowntree, skipper of Clyde, sailed excellently in the first race and if there was any skipper that deserved to win it was he. From the start he sailed faultlessly and although he had to fight all the way with Fred Morrison. skipper of Colleen, in the lat'ter stages of the race he had the advantage because of damage to Colleen’s spinnaker. He managed to get home by a small margin from Avalon, which had gained a lot on the beat up the harbour. This was Wellington’s first win in any contest. Morrison was extremely unlucky. Throughout the first race a faulty pump prevented him from getting water out of the boat, and when taking in the spinnaker for the first time it was badly torn. Had it not been for this misfortune Colleen would have had an excellent chance of winning, for she had been running neck and neck with Clyde all the way. The Southland skipper, O. E. Johnston, of the Muriliiku, does not seem to possess the experience of the others. However, Murihiku was good on the beats and in both races performed well in this department. Eileen was right out of the first race and because of a mistake her skipper made in the early stages she never looked .dangerous..

The wind was light for the second event and Avalon was the only boat in it and led from start to finish. This race was not very interesting and was a procession all the way, with Avalon in the lead and Eileen second. Kellett, skipper of Eileen, sailed a creditable race, but was no match for the crew of the Auckland boat. The spinnaker work in both races was good, and in this department I. Treleaven, Colleen’s spinnaker hand, was the pick. TWO RACES ON MONDAY It was decided at a conference last evening to hold one race this morning and two on Monday. The chairman explained that the Akaroa committee desired to keep this afternoon clear for the regatta, but had no objection to a race this morning.