A fascination with lateen rigs
John Collins, one of the prominent members, advertised her for sale: “Champion Yacht, MASCOTTE, 14 tons, winner of Akaroa, Lyttelton and Wellington Regattas, complete with all new gear, racing sails &c….”
During that winter, Jimmy Sinclair prepared Mascotte for the first New Zealand Championship race to be held at the Wellington Regatta in January 1892. A new club, the Corinthian Yacht Club was formed at Warner’s Hotel in Christchurch as a breakaway from the Canterbury Yacht Club, with the intention of running races to a higher standard of ‘Corinthianism’.
This was ostensibly a reaction to the common practice of ballast-shifting, but clearly a device to exclude Mascotte and Jimmy Sinclair, who wasn’t invited to join. Prof. R.J. Scott, now the owner of the crack Green-built Zephyr, was a leading figure in the new club, which went on to hold a regular series of races – dominated by Pastime of course.
The Akaroa, well ahead of and . On January 1 1892 the main race at the Lyttelton Regatta resulted in an effortless win for , already cheekily flying ‘the New Zealand Champion flag’, with second and third.
