THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

West Coast Times, Issue 706, 28 December 1867, Page 2

THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS

The glorious weather of yesterday contributed not a little to give an impetus to the success of the various sports, which were continued from the previous day. The town itself was dressed in holiday attire, flags were flying in all directions, the Christmas decorations of greenery had not been removed, and the effect of the whole was really very fine. From an early hour in the morning until long past midnight, the Btreots were thronged with people benfc on taking their fill of pleasure Music, too, wa3 not wanting to add its charms to the attractions of the day. Deimliug's German Baud, which had been engaged by the committee of the Weld street sports, was stationed in the balcony at Temple Chambers ; the Drum and Fife Baud ployod in the upper : room of the Prince of Wales Opera House ; I strains of music might also be hoard proceed- ' ing from many of the hotels ; in short, the whole of the visitors to town seeu _*d to aban- * don themselves for the timo to thorough enjoj'inent. We now proceed to notico the v.trious sports in detail. THE REGATTA. SECOND DAY, The heavy masses of vapor thnt — moving slowly from that rainy quarter N.W. — spread the sky at early dawn yesterday rather betokened a recurrence of Thursday's drenching rain than the glorious sunshine and clear sky that exercised so exhilirating influence yesterday upon the crowds of people who thronged Gibson's Quay and wharf, to participate in the pleasure to be derived from ihe good old English sport of boat-racing. But tin.- sun, gathering power, drove the night nristb from his path, and the breeze at th<* same time, hauling into west, soon cleared tli- 1 sky of the last vestage of storm cloud, leaving sill clear overhead, and giving almost certain pinmiseof that enjoyable breezy weather, lacking wliuh a regatta is divested of half its chams. As the tide made the wind hauk-1 to S.W., and freshened to a fiery breeze, that ruffled the wide ex panse of water between the spils,and was hui'ed with delight by the crews of tnose boats whicl. had been entered for the sailing race. The day's events were confined to two races only — one boir.g a sailing-match, open to all bouts ; the other an amateur four-oared skiff race. Tht suiling-mntrh came off first, and until close upon the finish tiurned out a most uninteresting affair, the boats not being well matched, and, excepting the Emily Florence, were guilty of the most glaring breaches of racing rules — sufficient to disqualify them from any participation in the prizes. Afc the commencement of the race, when the up-river turn was made, the four leading boats ran aground upon the north bank, and oars aud poles were freely used to clear them ; aud at other periods of the contest wo observed that when slack in stays one or two boats were helped round by pulling. The Emily Florence (the Custom House boat) was the most fairly and, we may add, the most cleverly handled, as neither oar or pole was used by her crew, and she ran the race without once touching ground, eventually winning it — less, perhaps, upou her merits, than through the misfortunes of the two boats iv advauce of her. We hare no wish to detract from the merits of the Emily Florence, for, if properly rigged, we believe she is quite able to cope with either the Star of tho West or the Lady of the Lake. As it was, she came to the scratch with not half enough canvas set. Tho Lady of tho Lake was certainly the clipper of the fleet, and once clear of the mess we have alluded to took tho load, and maintained it increasingly until sho led by nearly half a mile ou tho last rouud. She, however, got into difficulties whilst attempting to get round tho island the third time, grounded, fell foul of the Star of the West, and inexplicably enough at last lost power, for after struggling a long timo to turn to windward against the increasiug current from tho lagoon, sho was fain to give up tho attempt and run back to the wharf, without completing tho proscribed distance. The Star of tho West did likewise from the same point, being disabled by the loss of her inizen, iv the foul abovo referred to. She, however, proved^ smart boat. Wa should like to see a fair race between herself, the Lady of the Lake, and tho Emily Florence, although wo canuot hope for proper boatracing in Hokitika until a club is formed, and stringent rules made, and carried out under experienced management.

The amateur pulling-inatch was not so satis, factory as it might have been, a great deal o<" confusion being occasioned by an unentered boat taking part in it, and also from a general foul that took place when tho up-rivor boat was rounded. Moreover, from tho st\le of two or three of the crews, we shrewdly suspect that tho professional element predominated Except by careful and constant training, we defy a crow of landsmen to attaiu the strength and excellence of stroke displayed by the Shamrock's crew. At the same time this could not bo proved agains f them at a meeting of the stewards held last night, to consider certain protests, and they accordingly touched first stakes.

Without further premising, wo will now give tho details of the two events, comraenoing with til© sailing-race, winch, was doelarocl

open to all comers, the entrance-fee being five shillings, tho distance three miles, and the prizes LlO and L 3. Tho freshening breeze induced the stowards afterwards to increase the distance to nearly six miles, with the view of increasing sport — and so defined, tho course lay from a point opposite the end of Revell street rouud the up river boat used on Thursday, and then down the river and round the island by the two channels that carry off the lagoon water. ' The following boats entered for the event, aud are placed in finishing ordor :— NAME. OWNER. COLOB. Emily Florence H.M. Customs White 1 Garabaldi ... Hill Blue 2 Lady of the Lake Custiu ... Red 0 Star of the Wes*; Peters Amber 0 Telegraph ... — R.W.B. 0 The boats were marshalled with furled sails, and on the signal being given spread their canvass right smartly, and got away well together— Telegraph, Lady of the Lake, and Garabaldi being abreast and slightly ahead. Running up tho river dead before the wind, the Telegraph drew ahead and rounded the upper boat first, closely followed by Lady of the Lake, Star of the West, and Garabaldi — Emily Florence being many lengths astern, off the wind evidently not being her best point of sailing. She, however, lost nothing by her position, as the four leading boats each missing stays, after hauling their wind round the beacon, and went ashore in a heap upon the north river bank. They soon got clear again, and commenced, turning to windward down the river, led by the Lady of the Lake, which improved her position on every tack, Star of the West being second, but quite half a cable's length to leeward, and Emily Florence — which proved another boat on a wind — third, and looking up for second place, Garibaldi a bai fourth, and Telegraph a worso fifth. In this order the island was first timo rounded, Lady of the Lake being quite v. qurrter of a mile ahead when she weathered the point, and ran down to and passed'the starting point just as the Star of the West weathered the island, with the Custom House boat ten lengths astern. By a singular omission no one timed the boats when they stirred, so we are unable to give the time of the first round. The second round was commenced as under — Lady of the Lake at 12h. 25m., Star of the West 12h. 29m., Emily Florence 12h. 30in., Garibaldi 12h. 33m., Telegraph 12h. 36m. Very little change toofc place in tho boats' positions during the second round. Tho Lady of the Lake passed the Judge at 12.51, the Star of the West at 12.59, the Emily Florence, at 1 hour 2 minutes, Garabaldi being 7 minutes later, and Telograph nowhere in sight, she having drawn out of the race. That by the knowing ones was considered as virtually decided as Lady of the Lake flew rather than sailed and turned to windward with marvellous celerity, passing the Judge downwards (for the last time) ahead of the others by neai'ly half a mile. Heuco to the island she was oveahauled by tho Star aud tho Emily, but for all that must have won had she not unfortunately grounded on tho point. She soon cleared agaiu and made a board to tho N.W. to fetch a position that would lay her through the channel, but, working sluggishly, missed stays, and then we observed an oar used to pull her round. Tho other two boats gained fast upon her in the meautime, and at last Star of the West took the weather guage, and looked well for the winning boat. Next moment, however, she was foul of the Lady of the Lake, but how the collision was brought about wo cannot say, each boat of course blames tho otW ; sufficient that it threw them out of the race, as tho Star's mizen went in tho sheet cluo, aud rendored her helpless to work against tho wind and current that momentarily increased as the tide ebbed, and also proved to strong to be overcome by her Ladyship under all sail. Bot'i boats gave the race up shortly afterwards and ran back to tho wharf. Turning to windward like a top tho Emily Florence meantime passed them, managed to weather tho island and oiine in a fair winner at thirty-four minutes past one o'clock. The second prize was taken by Garibaldi, which, being unnoticed, became conspicuous by passing the Lady of the Lake and Star, and, after a hard fight with wind and freshet, did succeed in weathering tho island, and reached the goal nearly half an hour after the Emily. The prizes were presented at a later hour, the first prize, however, being very liberally returned by Messrs Grey (coxswain), Bowen, and Carter (who worked the Customs boat) to be run for again by licensed watermen in any manuer the committee might decide upon. The second and last event of the day was a four oared skiff race opeu to amateurs only. Distance two miles. Three boats to start or no race. First prizo LlO, second prize L 2 10s. The following boats entered : — Shamrock ... Gibling ... Blue . 1 Pride of the Lake M'Connel ... White 2 RoyalM. Express M'Michael ... Amber 3 Lady of the Lake Brookes ... White 4 Wasp ... Pringle ... L. Blue 0

A capital start was effected, and until the upper beacon wns rounded the boats kept well together. Lady of tho Lake got round first with Shamrock close in her wake, and then the Express. Almost immediately after Shamrock shot ahead, assuming a lead that was never lost to tha finish. Pride of the Luke secured second prize, which we believe would have fallen to Lady of tho Lake if she had not fouled the moorings of the upper beacon when rounding it the second time, and thus lost all chance of winning. A protest was entered ngninsc Shamrock, on the plea of having fouled, and also as being manned by professional rowers, but was disallowed by the committee, which met lnst night to decide that and other questions. Tho stakes were accordingly handed over. An intimation was received by tho committee from the crows of the boats Royal Mail Expvoas and, Puke of

Edinburgh — which disputed the second prize of the pair-oared skiff race of Thursday — expressive of their willingness to abide by the committee's decision in tho matter. It was therefore agreed that the two boats should pull off for the money to-day, once round tho course ; and also that a sailing race, twice round the course, for watermen's skiffs only, is to take place for the LlO given by tho crew - of the Emily Florence.

-Wo are sorry to say that the whale boat race is not likely to come off, the committee beiug too straitened in fuuds to offer sufficient inducement for entries. At the same time, tho third and last day-s racing to-day promises oxcellent sport, as it comprises four events, including the champion scullers' match.

— Quigley, scratch.