YACHTING IX 1896. 



843 



ordered by the committee was sailed a month later. 

 The "HI lleirie" .-howed herself distinctly better 

 than any of her competitors, but she was no match 

 for the "(ilencairn." which easily won as follows: 

 The first race by forty-seven minutes eleven sec- 

 onds, the second by six minutes twenty-two sec- 

 onds, and the third by five minutes fifty seconds. 

 K.-idi race was on a 12-mile course. Before the con- 

 cluding race was finished a challenge was sent to 

 the representatives of the Canadian Club, and an- 

 other race between boats of this class is arranged 

 for IN'tT. 



The dimensions of the " Glencairn " are 23i feet 

 over all ; 12} feet on the water line ; 6 feet beam ; 

 draught with board down, about 5 feet ; and sail area, 

 300 square feet. Her opponent. " Kl lleirie." was 

 23 feet over all; 14 feet 4 inches on the water line; 

 54- feet beam ; draught with board down, about 

 5 feet. Her sail area was 240 square feet. Both 

 were scarcely better than scows as concerns model ; 

 that is to say. their floors were extremely flat, and 

 their designers and owners can hardly take offense 

 if they are characterized as " freaks " and " racing 

 machines.'' Of the actual races there is nothing to 

 be said except that the Canadian boat completely 

 outclassed the American. 



The other international race took place on Lake 

 Erie, off Toledo, Aug. 24-27. The contestants 

 were the ' Canada." representing the Royal Cana- 

 dian Yacht Club, of Toronto, and the ' Vencedor." 

 from the Lincoln Park Yacht Club, of Chicago. In 

 the preliminary arrangements extraordinary agree- 

 ments were admitted by the owners of the " Vence- 

 dor, who agreed to certain time allowances under 

 conditions that would not have been accepted by 

 any practical yachtsman. It was foreseen by every 

 one who knew the characteristics of the two boats 

 that, given a light wind, which was to be expected 

 at that season, the Canadian boat must certainly 

 win : while in the remote contingency of a high 

 -wind lay the chances of the American. These an- 

 ticipations were realized in every particular, and' 

 the Canadian easily carried away the cup. Another 

 feature, which may be regarded as a most undesir- 

 .able innovation on this side of the ocean, was a 

 purse of $1.500 put up between the contestants. 

 Racing for purses is common among English 

 yachtsmen, and for that reason, no doubt, it seemed 

 unobjectionable to the Canadians : but at best it 

 isavors of professionalism, and ought to be discour- 

 aged among amateurs. 



From the yachtsman's point of view, the great 

 value of this international race must be its stimu- 

 lating effect upon yachting on the Great Lakes. 

 Yacht clubs have existed there since the early part 

 of the century, but so general a comparison never 

 has been possible between the Canadian and Ameri- 

 can fleets as at Toledo during August. The Cana- 

 dians are wise in limiting their classes to boats not 

 exceeding 40 feet in length and devoting themselves 

 to the improvement of model and rig in these 

 classes rather than to introducing a different size 

 of craft every year after the extravagant American 

 fashion. 



The owners of " Yencedor " immediately chal- 

 lenged again, and another international race, or 

 perhaps more than one. is promised for 1897. 



Among the new and popular classes that have 

 come into existence of late is the so-called ''Knock- 

 about " class, very popular in Boston, and gaining 

 in favor all along the coast. These boats are in- 

 tended to be very nearly alike in model and sail 

 power, and are planned to be good seaboats. capable 

 of being handled effectively by one or two men and 



good for any kind of service that they can reason- 

 ably be called upon to perform. The most sue 

 ful have been built by Lawley & Sons, of East Bos- 

 ton: but in spite of their general similarity, and for 

 some inexplicable reason, the "Cock Robin" has 

 carried off nearly all the prizes for which she was 

 entered. Much study has been given during the 

 year by the mathematicians of yacht clubs to the 

 discovery of a formula of measurement for sailing 

 yachts which shall, upon the whole, be fair for all 

 concerned and at the same time render it in 

 sible for '' enterprising designers " to devise craft 

 that will technically comply with the rule but prac- 

 tically gain some unforeseen individual advantage 

 for themselves. Complicated mathematical for- 

 mulas appear to have a certain fascination for some 

 minds, but to the average yachtsman they are an 

 undoubted bugbear. The Yacht-Racing Union of 

 Long Island Sound adopted the following, which 

 worked so well during the season of 1896 that it is 

 to enter unchanged upon its second season : 



L AY L + |/of sail area 

 2 



= racing length. 



In foreign waters the usual series of sailing races 

 began early in the Mediterranean, and followed the 

 English coast as the season advanced, after the sys- 

 tem that has been so completely and advantageous- 

 ly organized in those waters. Upon the whole, the 

 " Britannia " has maintained her supremacy, though 

 her rivals won some races from her and were able, 

 under favorable conditions, to press her so closely 

 that their owners did not altogether lose courage. 

 Her record goes distinctly to the credit of seaman- 

 ship as against models and rig. The only American 

 representative that distinguished herself was Mr. 

 Gould's " Niagara." which won many races on dif- 

 ferent parts of the coast, although she was badly 

 beaten by F. B. Jameson's " Saint." Her record is 

 brilliant for all the races in which she was entered, 

 and it is greatly to be regretted that the English 

 Yacht-Racing Association, in inspecting her with- 

 out permission of her owner, should have so blun- 

 dered as to give just grounds for offense. The 

 " Niagara" was fitted with 2 water tanks, 1 on each 

 side of her little cabin, and these were connected 

 by a pipe so that water could be drawn from both 

 tanks by a single faucet. In this innocent device 

 the regatta committeemen, with Dixon Kemp at 

 their head, thought they had discovered a " Yankee 

 trick," and. visiting the " Niagara " during her 

 owner's absence, wrote to him after their investi- 

 gation to the effect that he must have the tanks 

 disconnected. The absurdity of the suspicion, im- 

 plied or otherwise, must be apparent to every yachts- 

 man ; for the water could not. save by the aid of 

 machinery, be carried up to windward, where alone 

 it could be of advantage in a race. 



The only serious yachting disaster occurred dur- 

 ing the Royal Albert Regatta at Southsea, England, 

 on Aug. 18. All the large cutters were in the race, 

 as were also some of the smaller class, which were 

 started separately: but, owing to the greater speed 

 of the larger craft, the small ones were overtaken, 

 and in manceuvering to keep clear the " Meteor,'' 

 the large racing yacht belonging to the Emperor 

 of Germany, ran at full speed directly against the 

 ' Isolde.'' sweeping part of her crew into the water, 

 killing her owner. Baron von Zedtwitz. and utterly 

 wrecking the yacht. The "Isolde" was built by 

 the Herrschoff Manufacturing Company for Prince 

 Leopold, of Hohenzollern. by whom she was sold to 

 the baron. She was a sister boat to Mr. Gould's 

 " Niagara." 



