SOS 
mou interests of the clubs required it would action be 
taken by the association. The committee meet again 
to-night. 
Thk Nice Regatta. —We have received From the Re¬ 
gatta. Committeo a partial programme of the races to be 
sailed at Nice on March 11th and 12tli under the Presi¬ 
dency of the Prince of Wales. The prizes are so large and 
so v eil worth winning that we shall he surprised if Eng¬ 
lish yachts are not well represented. It is almost useless 
to hope, perhaps, that any American yachts will go over, 
even to sail for a prize worth almost aB much as the 
stakes in the Derby, yet it would be very gratifying if 
they should do so. The first race will be for the Grand 
Prix de Nice, value 35,000 francs, with a work of .art 
offered by the French Yacht Club, for pleasure yachts 
over twenty tons. The Becond is the Prix Fulton, value 
20,000 francs, for steam yachts. The next is the Prix 
de la Baie des Anges, value 10,000 francs, for small 
yachts. There is also a prize of 5,000 francs for four-oared 
boats rowed by amateurs. 
Important prizes and medals will be awarded to those 
yachts which come in second, third and fourth in each 
race. 
The Harbor Masters of Nice and Villefranche, as well 
as the municipality of Nice and the Regatta Committee, 
will render ever service in their power to the owners of 
yachts during their stay in these ports. 
Fog Signals. —Capt. Barker, a practical seaman, has 
devised an ingenious system of fog signals, by which any 
two vessels meeting each other on the high seas might not 
only learn of each other's presence, hut he apprised of the 
course each was steering, and thus be enabled to avoid 
collision. 
Capt. Barker has been for months past engaged in con¬ 
structing a fog horn that will sound any course. Each 
four points of the compass is represented in Barker’s sys¬ 
tem by long and short sounds, as follows : For any course 
between north and north-east, one long sound and two 
short ones; north-east to east, one long sound and three 
short ; east to south-east, one long sound followed by a 
short one and another long one ; south-east to south, one 
long sound, two short ones, and another long one ; south 
to south-west, two short sounds and one long ; south-west 
to west, three short sounds and one long; west to north¬ 
west, one short sound, followed by a long one and another 
short one ; north-west to north, four short sounds. Tims 
every comae signalled from north to south, and having 
any easting in it, begins with a long blast, and every sig¬ 
nal from north to south having any westing in it, begins 
with a short blast. Since in every course there is either 
easting or westing, excepting due north and south, the 
master of a ship may know at once which side of the 
polar line a ship is approaching, and the subsequent 
sounds tell him almost her exact course. 
The apparatus now on exhibition at 153 Centre street 
may he used in sailing vessels. By the turning of a 
crank, compressed ah is forced through a fog horn or 
siren. 
The Race fob the Center Cup.—N ew York, Nov. 
11th.— Editor Forest rmd Stream : — On reading the log 
of the yacht Wave, in the “CentreCup” contest, pub¬ 
lished in your issue of Oct. 30th, I find it stated that on 
'' time allowance" she would have won. At tbe time of 
the race one of the large dailies took occasion to comment 
on the inequality of the contest, owing to the unequal 
size of the boats and to the absence of anytime allowance. 
The result, proves the inaccuracy of tins statement and 
of the wave’s claim. 
In order to establish the facts, I have obtained the nec¬ 
essary data from official sources, and find that with the 
ordinary time allowance of the Seawanhaka Club over 
its New York Bay course, the Mischief, of 1,377 feet, 
would allow Regina, of 790 feet, llm. 6s.; and Wave, of 
601 feet, 17m. 18s. The length of this New York Bay 
course, carefully measured, is thirty-two nautical miles"; 
that of the Cape May course is 303 nautical miles : con¬ 
sequently, increasing the time allowance in tbe ratio of 
303 to 32, we have as the actual allowance over the longer 
distance. Mischief, of 1,277 feet, allows Regina, 790 feet, 
lb. 9m. 58s., and Wave, 60). feet, lh. 49m. 8s.. and that 
Regina allows Wave 39m. 10s. The Mischief rounded 
the Sandy Hook light-ship at 31i. 2m., the Regina at 7h. 
30m., the Wave at I Oh., a. m. Consequently the Mischief 
beats Regina 4h. 28m., or 3 8-10 times the allowance; 
the Wave Oh. 58m., or 3 8-10 times the allowance *, and 
the Regina heats Wave 3h. 30m., or 3 9-10 times the allow¬ 
ance. 
These figures speak for themselves and show the Mis¬ 
chiefs superiority on this occasion at least, It must also 
be conceded that the remarkably light weather was highly 
favorable to the smaller vessels. Robert Center. 
The Minerva and An RBVorra .—Bristol Pa., Nov. ItJi —Fditur 
Forest and St/ream -—I have seen in your issue, Oet. 80th, an an¬ 
swer to a correspondent, “Minerva," in which you say that the 
judges did hot show consistency in their action. lam not aware 
In which light the question has been put to you, but the facts in 
1 he ease are these: The course was altered, and all tbe captains, 
with the exception of the. All Rtvolr's, understood It. The condi¬ 
tions were also understood, and were as follows: That no outrig¬ 
ger, paddles or poles, or any weight outside the hull were to he 
used. The Minerva was the first boat home by a half a minute, 
the Av Renoir second, she having sailed a wrong course—the or¬ 
iginal one. Bofore the race was concluded, one of the judges, 
On.pt. Kennemore, being rather unwell, returned home over the 
river. On the question being put to tbe Minerva, she acknowl¬ 
edged dropping ber anchor to keep her from drifting, which vir¬ 
tually ruled her out; and the Au Retotr having sailed a wrong 
course we decided to sail it over again ; and that is where I think 
the consistency of the decision comes in, with ail due respect to 
the Mineral, F. Thobnber, one of the Judges. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
YACHT DESIGN. 
(CONTINUED.) 
Here let me say that where nearly all critics and ex¬ 
pounders in this line are stranded is because they base all 
them calculations, or nearly all, upon the vessel’s perform¬ 
ances while-she is standing still, forgetting that the rela¬ 
tions to nearly every principle governing sailing vessels 
are changed when the sail is filled with wind and the 
vessel in motion. Mr. A. C. Smith, in one of his lec¬ 
tures, says: “It is found that lateral resistance decreases 
as you go aft when the vessel is in motion.” This appa¬ 
rently is correct, yet it is not. It is not that lateral re¬ 
sistance decreases as you go aft,; that is impossible, but 
that it increases as you go forward, and this is caused by 
the pressure of the canvass and the motion through the 
wa ter. The increase of this lateral resistance is shown in 
the heeling of the vessel. The stronger the pressure of 
wind, the greater the lateral resistance—hence the more 
the heels. That the center of lateral resistance moves 
forward when the vessel is in motion, is shown by her 
tendency to luff; the greater the speed, the greater this 
tendency ; and on account of this lateral resistance for¬ 
ward it is difficult to keep a-vessel on her course when 
driven with great speed, and particularly so with wide 
boats, i The pressure is the greatest on her leeward bow. 
because the sail not only presses her forward, hut to lee¬ 
ward also, and the water strikes her there with its great¬ 
est, force because it strikes her there first; hence the 
increase of lateral resistance forwards when the vessel is 
hi motion. If this principle were not true a well-bal¬ 
anced vessel would not steer harder at one time than at 
another. So, too, if a vessel could he held from going 
ahead, there would he no more griping at one time than 
another. There is still one more principle affecting ves¬ 
sels with a tendency to make them luff when being 
driven with sails. It does hot affect narrow, deep boats 
so much, but it does affect shoaler and wider boats very 
much, especially those with flaring sides. It is this : Let 
a boat stand straight hr the water and the configuration 
of her water line is the same on both sides. But now let 
her heel, and her bilge is lifted out of water, perhaps 
half way down to her keel; hence the water line on that 
side is much stvaighter than it was. The other bilge is 
forced further Under water : hence the water line on that 
side is more convex than it was, making of course in that 
position a crooked boat with the straightest side to wind¬ 
ward. Now start her ahead, and of course she will de¬ 
scribe a curved line, and can only be kept straight by 
turning the redder in opposition to the curve. In rela¬ 
tion to forefoot, the idea that gripe is necessary to make 
a vessel hold on is of course absurd. Gripe, or fore¬ 
foot. has nothing to do with it. If the vessel has suffi¬ 
cient lateral resistance, and tbe sails are placed on her in 
such a position that she will handle well, she will hold on 
with or without much forefoot. Also, a vessel with fore¬ 
foot well cut away and drawing much the most water aft 
will undoubtedly make the best sea boat. As Mr. A. C. 
Smith says, you can have a shorter bow-sprit, which is 
one advantage, But the main advantage is in the action 
of the sea upon the vessel, 
Waves run before the sea with great velocity and 
power. Let a vessel take the ground where she cannot 
give to leeward when they strike her, and note the effect. 
Now these waves, moving before the wind with such ve¬ 
locity and power, strike the vessel forward first and carry 
her bow round with it with almost resistless power, and 
that is all there is about it. A vessel with small fore-foot 
and deep drag aft has less surface forward for the sea to 
get hold of, and more surface aft to hold her in position 
and keep her steady, than the opposite type. Hence she 
does not fall off so much, and, other things being equal, 
must make a better sea boat. Every vessel should have 
a certain amount of drag, according to her build ; the 
sharper forward, the. more drag. It should he sufficient, 
and no more, than to make the water strike the bottom 
with equal force, as near as can he, along its whole 
length. If on even keel it strikes too heavy forward, she 
will not work well. If too much drag, she has to push 
her way through the water bottom first, and she will uot 
go. The keel only should run down in vessels of great 
drag, and not the bottom. Even then she has to push the 
bottom of her keel through the water, and, as it is not 
sharp, must decrease her speed. All the advantage there 
is in a long fore-foot is in the way of speed ; you can get 
better and sharper lines, and the" boat ought to go faster 
in ordinary sailing. 
In the Forest and Stream of April 17tli I notice an 
article from Martin Gale. He proposes to “look into the 
matter of centre-board vs. keel, in an unprejudiced man¬ 
ner, and carefully weigh the merits of each,” instead of 
which he views the whole tiling from a single standpoint; 
or at least can see but one thing from any standpoint he 
may take, and that appears to he a deep, narrow keel- 
boat that will outsail a shoaler and wider one. That is, 
he is trying to see it, but I apprehend that Ids sight will 
grow dim before he succeeds. I am not an “inveterate 
centre-boarder.” Keel boats have some good qualities, 
but speed is not one of them. Yet I do not admit that 
“two boats, having the same initial stability, immersed 
surface, sail area and displacement, the one having the 
greater beam will meet with more resistance, and nence 
he a slower boat than the other.’’ I say I do not admit 
any of this, unless the draft of water is the same. I have 
treated this whole subject in a former part of this article, 
bul. as Martin Gale goes on to demonstrate this theory 
and to “reason out what might he,” perhaps I may be 
able to show him where his reasoning is at fault. He 
begins by chopping off the sides of a wide boat and putting 
what he chops off into her bottom, and here is the diffi¬ 
culty. If ho only chopped off her sides she would go 
through the water easier than before, hut of course would 
not have the same power; but when he adds to her bot¬ 
tom what he takes off her sides, it is impossible for her 
to pass through the water as easily as before. Can he 
suppose there is no resistance to motion through the wa¬ 
ter save on her sides 't A boat has at least three absolute 
curved lines, fore and aft; one on each side and one un¬ 
der her bottom. No w he chops off her sides and so takes 
some of the curve off of each of the side lines, hut what 
he takes off both the side lines he adds to the curve of 
the bottom line, thus adding to that curve what he takes 
off both side curves. Consequently there is more resist¬ 
ance to her passage through the water than before, be¬ 
cause of the greater curve of,her bottom fore and aft. 
To this add the extra power required in a moving body 
to displace water at a distance below the surface, beyond 
what is required to displace it at the surface (see former 
part of this article on displacement) and yon will by no 
means, with the same power, have as fast a boat ns before 
he chopped her sides off. David Kirby. 
Rye, Westchester Co., N. Y. 
¥e take pleasure in laying before the public the views 
of one of the most experienced yacht builders, whose 
successes in the Arrow, Windward, etc., entitle his views 
to full consideration. Though we do not subscribe to ail 
of them, Mr. Kirby’s letter contains much of interest, 
and can be read to advantage by all. The chief issue 
upon'whieh we differ from the above is Mr. Kirby’s state¬ 
ment that it is more difficult to pierce water at a depth 
than nearer the surface. This is an error. Water, being 
incompressible, cannot be any denser or thicker below 
than near the surface, and offers no more resistance to 
passage through it than anywhere else. A vessel at rest 
already displaces her weight in water, and when put in 
motion the fluid flows around her sides into the wake by 
the lines offering the least obstruction, be they water lines, 
diagonals, sectional or normals, hence the mere fact of a 
vessel drawing more water than another is no detriment 
to her speed. Resistance is due to friction and form, and 
depends therefore upon limiting the “ wet” surface to the 
smallest area consistent with enough lateral resistence, 
and so arranging the form that it will go through the 
water in the most insinuating manner ; in other words, 
commencing with no bulk at' the stem, then gradually 
enlarging upon the amount until the largest section has 
been driven through, when the bulk passing through 
should again be gradually diminished to nothing at the 
stern post, the water being left in as perfect a state of 
rest as possible. This arrangement of bulk is best effected 
by adopting cross areas in the design, which correspond 
in the amount of their areas to the lengths of the ordin¬ 
ates of a cycloidal curve, situated at corresponding dis¬ 
tances on a base line of same length as the load water 
line of the design, In other words, the cross areas of 
the most economical designs should correspond to what 
is known as “wave line areas.” Then give the whole fair 
easy lines all around, and the problem has been put in 
the best shape. As to the cardinal dimensions or propor¬ 
tions to be adopted at the outset, they must always re¬ 
main open to the builder’s choice, and must he settled 
upon by experience and the purposes in view. Once fixed, 
however, the design, to be most favorable to speed, must 
be given areas of a wave line nature, with no abrupt an¬ 
gles, and the wet surface must be restricted to the least 
necessary for the lateral resistance required. 
An examination of the numerous fast yachts has in¬ 
variably shown that, with or without the builder’s 
knowledge, a wave line form haB been closely approxi¬ 
mated, while, on the contrary, notably slow yachts are 
deficient in one or both of the above requirements. To 
the first class belong America, Sappho, Comet, Elephant, 
Idler, Arrow, and Windward, built by our correspond¬ 
ent as well—all of them successful, and all of them 
very close approximations to “ wave-line” construction. 
Friction is kept low in the deep cutters by raking post, 
roundnp fore-foot and rocker keel. In many examples 
this type of yacht has actually less skin, even including 
keel, than the centre-board sloop. From our own ex¬ 
perience in both types we unhesitatingly pronounce the 
cutter much superior to the shallow sloop in all that is 
essential to a safe, able and satisfactory yacht of moder¬ 
ate tonnage. The cutter is handier, easier of motion, 
easier on her helm, safer, abler, dryer and cooler below 
than the sloop, impressions arising from a want of ex¬ 
perience in them to the contrary notwithstanding. The 
sloop is no cheaper, if as well and fully equipped as is the 
custom with cutters, and the most successful sloops carry 
as much lead. Their only claim to superiority over the 
cutter lies in a slightly more moderate angle of heel and 
in lighter draft, when the hoard is lifted and they are 
sliding to leeward like a crab, or are sailing free. The 
first will interest consumptive individuals and highly 
nervous parties who prefer a few degrees less heel cou¬ 
pled with a continuous liability to capsize; the latter 
can only attract those who prefer sailing on a mud flat 
to open water more than waist deep. 
With these two classes a sailor has little sympathy, and 
to him that vessel which can be driven without upsetting, 
whose spars and canvas are under the fullest control, and 
which offers most deck room and can buck the seas most 
successfully in any weather ; which can he steered with¬ 
out gymnastics; which will not broach to and yaw wildly, 
that vessel is the one most likely to attract him. With 
the gradual development of seamanship and a preference 
for open water sailing, we confidently look forward to a 
period when the sloop will he consigned to the nursery as 
a toy, and the cutter become the recognized craft for 
cruising as well as racing, for there is no reason why the 
cutter cannot be made as fast as the sloop on an average; 
certainly when in her own element, plenty of sea room 
and a long sweep to the wind. We reserve a more sys¬ 
tematic review of the question for the future, hut may 
add that our correspondent, Mr. Kirby, has brought for¬ 
ward many ideas of his own accord which closely resem¬ 
ble the dicta of naval science, for which he deserves a 
full share of credit. 
