
THE ‘‘OWASCO,”’ OF SEATTLE, A PUGET SOUND SLOOP 
craft with some pretensions to beauty. 
Our early boats were sadly deficient in this 
respect; but as. they were the progenitors 
of the beautiful fleets now yearly afloat in 
our waters, they are entitled to a measure of 
consideration. When the time could be 
spared, these oldtimers were matched for 
money prizes; and no doubt there were 
many exciting finishes, even as exciting as 
we witness nowadays with our modern- 
built fliers. At least, our old skippers never 
grow weary of telling of such; and undoubt- 
edly they were so to them. They did not 
know the racing machine, however, the 
result of years of marine architectural ex- 
periments to produce the speediest craft’ 

propelled with sails. Lines were a minor 
consideration or were not considered at all. 
If a boat were fortunate in having a clean 
entrance forward and an easy run aft, its 
owner risking the canvas to the fullest ex- 
tent, it was natural that such a boat would 
win. Most everything, though, hinged on 
the skipper’s ability and nerve. Of course, 
these go to make up a big percentage in the 
winning of a race to-day; but our boats are 
now built to get the greatest driving power 
with the least possible amount of resistance. 
It is now really the brains of the naval 
architect plus the brains of the skipper. 
It was some thirteen years ago that a 
number of enthusiastic yachtsmen hap- 
