PROPOSED ROWING CLUB

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVIII, Issue 81918, 20 February 1907, Page 2

PROPOSED ROWING CLUB

Tin: first outrigger launched at New | < Plymouth wns plated in tin- water in I front of fix: fisherman's luits at tins i harbour mi Monday evening. Tin' | conditions were not of tlie best, lint' ■ the mcinbcrs of the provincial commit- I tee act up by the rowing enthusiasts were determined to (est the water un-

der the very exceptional conditions < prevailing, with a heavy ground swell j from the eastward as the result of i

the heavy seas running all day oti Sunday. Some time was spent in fit- | ting the Wuitara Rowing Club's old j "Start" for the sea, and then came the I launching. The boat was set in the wafer, and the crew in the boat, which i

was paddled slowly ahead. Then came j two exceptionally heavy rollers, and j the crew carried Hie boat up on the sand and einpi.ed her. Here ended the first attempt. Smooth water right under the shelter of the wall induced a launching there, and the scratch crew, hailing from various par.s of both islands, safely negotiated th|e bay. Hut the "Start" had evidently been out of the water and out of: use for sumo time. She was leaking like a sieve, especially at the bow, and presently the fore part of the long marrow boat was dipping ominously, and numbers one and two had ddli-

culty in manipulating the oars. So the cox turned her head for the shore, | and the experiments ended for the I night. Given a boat well found anil , in good repair, scaworthily watertight, the live members of the committee who manned the "Start" in the first outxiggeif cruise at Moturoii arc; ftiiii'ly well convinced, some of them thoroughly eoii|iincc(a—ithat the irougli water ••'iiogey" is a myth. It is not expected that skill's will operate successfully during easterly weather, but this is oftale occurrence during the summer months. Probably an attempt will be made 'to "caulk" and "tingle" the boat for further tests. Already there, 'are promises of about sixty members, and donations amounting to £2O will be available if the New Plymouth Rowing Ciub is formed.