THE LITTLE SHIPS WILL PUT TO SEA NEXT WEEK

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 28, 5 January 1940, Page 38

THE LITTLE SHIPS WILL PUT TO SEA NEXT WEEK

The Craft And Their Crews Reviewed

for the ocean yacht race next week have a waterline length of less than 80 feet. The longest at the waterline, Mandalay, out of Wellington, has 35 feet. The smallest, tiny Senorita and little Gypsy, out of Lyttelton and Bluff, will only use 20 feet of the 180 miles of ocean between the start at Lyttelton Heads on January 13 and the finish at Clyde Quay Wharf in Wellington Harbour. An exacting test of small-boat seamanship, the race will bring out the very best from a fine collection of yachts and yacthsmen. Ordinarily, small boats can sail at will on any ocean, obeying no rules save those imposed by the sea herself; but for the race, the rules of the Royal Ocean. Racing Club have been adapted by the sponsors, the Royal Port Nicholson Yacht Club, to ensure a margin of safety for the entrants without imposing undue’ restriction. They will carry dinghies with buoyancy tanks, life jackets for the full complement, lifelines, etc. Apart from those few accessories, the yachts will sail with only the knowledge and experience of their captains and crews to carry them safely across an often difficult stretch of water. of the twelve craft entered Celebrating the Centennial First of its kind in the country, the race is for the thousands of small boat sailors in New Zealand the peak of their big effort to celebrate the Centennial. It should capture the imagination ef all who have sailed on small ships, or seen them heeling buoyant and graceful to the wind and waves. "All boat" is the yachtsman's description of the modern fashion in hulls.

The long, narrow yachts with large overhangs to slap and strain at choppy seas, have lately been going out. of fashion. Most of the entries in the ocean races are modelled on the new linesbuilt to sit firm in the water, with as much room as possible inside. Many are still gaff-rigged, but some, instead of lifting their mainsails on gaffs (spars that pull up and down the mast), have adopted the Marconi sai] plan: a taller mast, with the sail running up to a high point from booms that are kept, for handiness and safety, entirely inboard. Tucana (Banks Peninsula Cruising Club), is an example of a gaffrigged boat. The Geissler brothers race her from scratch, for her huge sail, running up to a long gaff from a boom that overhangs the stern by several feet, catches a lot of wind. She is a real racing sloop, is manned by a young crew with an old experience of racing in Canterbury waters, and will have to be reckoned with, especially in light weather. Small, But Smart A first-class example of economy in design is W. H. Browne's Senorita (Banks Peninsula). This Bermudian sloop has a waterline of 20 feet, but carries as. much space between her sturdy wooden walls as most yachts of 30 feet and more. Service before the mast in ocean-trading sailers has helped her owner-captain to make himself a reputation for handling her safely in any weather, Once, racing from Lyttelton to New Brighton against a nor’-west gale, Senorifa carried on to win when yachts twice her size were pulling out. In contrast to Tucana’s broad acres of sail, will be the tall Marconi rig of N. Brown's Jawhiri, out of Nelson. The

Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron knows all about her capabilities for speed. Although handicaps are not announced at time of writing, she will probably be well back, No other yacht has equalled Yvonne’s feat at Port Chalmers, Just after the start of a race from there to Oamaru, the yachts were hit by an unexpected and very. severe squall from the south. Some were dismasted. One was blown

out to sea and did not return till some days ater. Yvonne, carrying full sail (she-is a large cutter, registered by the Canterbury Yacht and Motor Boat Club), was heeled right over and became unmanageable. In this position she was washed clean over a rubble wall, which was submerged only 18 inches. A Model Boat Dr, Montgomery Spencer took Mandalay out of Wellington's boat harbour for cruising before Christmas. She is the sort of yacht at which impecunious Takapuna class youngsters gaze with awe, envy and undisguised admiration. If possible, she is better turned out this season than ever-a model of how a boat should be fitted and kept. Her hull, with its 35-foot waterline, carries two masts for a ketch rig. Adventures’ have come ‘the way of Te Hongi, owned by Mr. Lamb, of Johnsonville. She was built at Hokianga, and first became really. well. known when she went ashore on the Ninety Mile Beach some years ago. Her present owner has improved her greatly, with a larger keel and several additional tons of lead to keep her steady. This season she has been completely re-rigged, like many of the other entrants, and given a new set of sails. ; On the Rocks Launched only last season, Raukawa is the pride of C. Livingstone, of Weilington. Her name means Cook Sirait. She is another two-masted ketch, only one foot shorter at the water-line than Mandalay-an ideal type for this race. Searce as rocks may be in Wellington {larbour, yachts still contrive to find them. Off Point Jerningham a beacon marks the safety limit, but small boats can sail inside it if they know where the single upstanding rock lies. At the Heads, all the bad rocks rear above the’ surface, but Maputu (2), owned and

built by M. G. Stallard in Levin, contrived to make their close acquaintance after her first sail from the slips to Wellington. Just Another Jaunt Arawa, from Nelson, belongs with the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron. She is another large cutter, entered by J. Glasgow.. For her the race will be just another jaunt, for she has cruised far afield, and includes in her log the story of a circumnavigation of the South Island. : Another fine sample of the work of George Andrews, Baruna, is a Mareconirigged sloop, with a fine tall mast coming out of a hull six feet on the beam and 382 feet overall, and a waterline length of 24 feet 6 inches. An almost purely racing type, her performance will be interesting, Little Gypsy, 20 feet at the waterJine, was coming to Wellington for the Centennial whether the ocean race was held or not. A stranger to northern waters, ber capabilities are not known, but the determination and enthusiasm of G. CG. Dickson speak for themselves The Crews Like many other yachtsmen sailing as crew for the big keelers, Ian Treleaven, who will pilot Baruna, has raced for the Sanders Cup. He helped sail the famous Belly. He has sailed with Mandalay on most of her trips, sometimes as skipper, and has covered this courss more than any other yachtsman. Dick Hampton, who will sail with Mandalay next week, is also familiar with the course fram experience. Herb. Dickson, who will sail with Nanette, J. GC. Maddever's husky cutter, spent a year on Heartsease sailing round the Pacific, Tucana’s crew were in The Listener office two months ago with the story of their journeyings overseas, No Wellington yachting event is complete without one of the Highet family. Clive Highet will sail with Raukawa,