4 Thursday <strong>June</strong> <strong>15</strong> <strong>2023</strong> PROUD TO BE <strong>2023</strong> HORNBY
Thursday <strong>June</strong> <strong>15</strong> <strong>2023</strong> 5 Model yacht club sail-ebration 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 <strong>June</strong> 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 CHAMPION: Graham Parratt, a former national trailer yacht champion, has been the skipper to beat at Lake Victoria for several years. PHOTOS: RODNEY FORD 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 unusable. The weed returned after the quake, along with some algae in mid-summer, but in about 20<strong>15</strong> 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. • 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 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). •Turn to page 6 Now open at the Gallery Free entry A partnership project between Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū and Canterbury Museum George Henry The Black Hat 1904. Collection of Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū, presented by the Canterbury Society of Arts, 1932. Maker unknown Bilas, ceremonial headdress. Papua New Guinea. Collection of Canterbury Museum
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