Nor'West News: June 15, 2023

4
Thursday June 15 2023
Sail-ebrating big milestone
at 125yo model yacht club
One of world’s oldest
model yacht clubs
celebrates its 125th
anniversary this
weekend. Nick Tolerton
reports
THE CHRISTCHURCH Model
Yacht Club, part of the Hagley
Park scene for 125 years, has
battled plenty of obstacles to stay
afloat.
Issues with water weed,
competition from Canada geese,
and especially the February 22,
2011, earthquake, which drained
Lake Victoria like bathwater
going down a plughole, are
among the difficulties the club
has overcome.
However, at 125 the club will
have much to celebrate at its
jubilee on Saturday. With nearly
100 sailors, the membership
is the highest it has ever been
since a group of enthusiasts
established the club during a
meeting at Warner’s Hotel on
June 17, 1898.
It is the second oldest model
yacht club in the world, after
a London club in Kensington
Gardens, founded in 1876.
It’s a small miracle, though,
that the Christchurch club
got on its feet again after the
earthquake. The big shake
ruptured an unknown tile
drain under the lake bed, the
water disappeared, and the lake
became a wilderness of mud,
puddles, weed, and rubbish.
Mayor Phil Mauger gets the
credit for putting it on its feet
again – and can probably be sure
of votes from club members. The
contracting firm he had at the
time was engaged to re-establish
the lake, which had to be reexcavated,
lined with bentonite
clay half a metre thick, topped
with a coating of ground glass,
and to repair the wells which
supplied its water.
Before the quake, the club’s
big issue for many decades had
been weed, which sometimes
grew so thickly it made the lake
JUST CHAMPION: Graham Parratt, a former national trailer
yacht champion, has been the skipper to beat at Lake
Victoria for several years. PHOTOS: RODNEY FORD
unusable. The weed returned
after the quake, along with some
algae in mid-summer, but in
about 2015 the lake stabilised
and it no longer even requires
spraying for weed.
As for the Canada geese
(and ducks and ducklings), the
yachties have to compromise and
share the lake. A flock of geese
taking off when winds are light
literally takes the wind out of
their sails.
The biggest change in the
club’s history came in the 1960s
with the introduction of radiocontrolled
yachts, allowing the
operator to steer the yacht and
adjust the mainsail and jib,
which are on the same winch.
Previously skippers used vane
steering, which meant frantic
sprints around the lake to reset
the sails and vane when the yacht
reached the opposite shore.
Many of the club’s members
have been among Canterbury’s
top yachties in a variety of
‘proper’ sailing classes.
The late Graham Mander, a
Canterbury sailing great and
winner of more than a dozen
New Zealand titles in classes
including the P class, R class, X
class, and trailer yachts, adapted
with ease to the challenge of the
radio-controlled boats and was
the top competitor for many
years.
More recently the No 1
competitor has been Graham
Parratt, winner of multiple
national trailer yacht titles.
Other past or present club
members who have been
prominent in sailing and won
many Canterbury, South Island,
or national titles include Brent
Cowan (trailer yachts), Bob
Auton (trailer yachts), Laurie
Wales (Z class, Javelins, and
FDs), Dayele Hobson (OK
dinghies), Glen Church (NZ
Moths and trailer yachts),
Pete Bradley (Javelins), Keith
May (Javelins), Hugh Hobden
(International Moths), Noel
Vincent (Shearwaters and OKs),
Stan Price (Sunbursts), Bruce
Lang (keelers), and Tony Beasley
(Lasers and Noelexs).
Graham Luxon, the father
of National Party leader
Chris Luxon, well-known
photographer Euan Sarginson,
and Steve Mander, son of
Olympic sailing champion Peter
Mander, are also members.
While the club has many
ancient mariners, women
have also made an impact.
Sue Bowie was the first female
member as a 13-year-old in the
1970s and finished third in a
national junior championship.
Thysje Arthur has had a long
involvement, and the question
of who cooked dinner that night
was resolved on race days when
SUCCESS STORY: Some of
the J class skippers line up.
The class was developed at
the Christchurch club and
is now raced around the
world.
• The Christchurch Model
Yacht Club anniversary
celebration will be at
Lake Victoria on Saturday,
10am to 4pm
• Mass sail past, class by
class – 11am
Club patron Mayor
Phil Mauger to unveils
memorial plaque –
12.30pm
• Races – 1.30pm.
• Visitors can try out
sailing a radio-controlled
yacht all day
she and husband Tom crossed
tacks.
Anzan Zhang, who raced
big boats in China, spotted the
model yachts while walking in
Hagley Park, was offered the
chance to sail one, and is now a
keen member.
A wide variety of classes
have been sailed at the club, but
there is special affection for the
J class, which is now raced in
other centres and even at some
overseas clubs. Designed by Dave
Heanly based on the lines of the
famous America’s Cup yacht,
Ranger, it has a long sweeping
keel that enables it to glide
through the weed which fouled
yachts with deeper keels. Very
handily, it also fits fully rigged in
the back of a car.
So far, at least, 365 J class have
been built, fibreglass hulls from
the same mould, and one club
member, Graeme Raxworthy,
has built or restored more than
40 J class.
At one time in the 1960s,
participant numbers at the club
dropped to only six or seven
boats, and the club looked set
to go the same way as penny
farthing cycle racing which used
to be held around Lake Victoria
when it was just a swamp. How
things have changed – now
the club, which runs races on
Wednesdays and Saturdays,
looks set to flourish for many
years yet – a unique sports
institution in the heart of the
city.
Anyone can provide a piece of advice.
We provide peace of mind.
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