Tidelines: Collector salvages race drama record

Gordon Eccles, a Browns Bay fisherman, inventor and collector of things historic is looking for a home for a recent acquisition. It is a bound scrapbook recording the 1985 Auckland - Mooloolaba Ocean Race. Sailed out of the Bucklands Beach Yacht Club, the race captured headlines at the time. The Picton yacht Black Sheep took line and handicap honours and set a race record, but the big headlines were reserved for the drama surrounding the event after the fleet struck severe gales. Biggest casualty was Horizon, abandoned after being dismasted and capsized off the Queensland coast. Owner/skipper Warwick Fromm, with a lot of help from Aussie race officials and his BBYC clubmates, managed a salvage operation and eventually shipped the sloop back to Auckland. Eccles is happy to have the scrapbook passed on to someone with an interest in the race, or in Horizon. Email Weekend Marine to make your claim.

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The 20th anniversary September issue of Boating New Zealand reviews some of the high - and low - points of the sail and power sectors of the recreational boating scene over the last two decades.

These include the Big Boat v Dennis Conner Catamaran fiasco; the launch of the compliance plate for powerboat manufacturers; onboard computers; the rise and fall of the America's Cup; some breakthrough yacht racing designs and the emergence of sportsboats.

Water-Watch

Match-racing joins the winter sailing mix this weekend. Main activity includes...

* Today: MRX match-racing (Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron).

* Tomorrow: Mariner winter series (BBYC); winter series (Pt Chevalier SC); keelboat and dinghy spring series (RAYC); winter series - RSX & 420 (Takapuna BC).

* Organisations planning events on or in the Waitemata or Manukau harbours should register in advance with the Auckland Regional Council on (09) 366 2000. The 24-hour response number for the ARC maritime unit is (09) 362 0397.