April 8, 1886.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



£i5 



AMERICAN CENTER BOARD SLOOP ATLANTIC. 



[From a Photograph by Miller.J 



THE COLLAPSE OF THE CUTTER BOOM. 



SOME wicked person has evidently imposed successfully on the 

 credulity of the London Field and has magnified a petty differ- 

 ence in a yacht club into a general uprising of the leading American 

 clubs against the cutter men and a complete extinction of the type 

 in America. Under the title of "Topics of Interest." the Field of 

 March 20 speaks as follows anent the present status of sloops and cut- 

 ters in America. " ■ The centerboard type' of yacht is jus: now exciting 

 a greatdeal of justifiable admiration in America. A year or two ago 

 was some chance that the type would succumb under the advocacy 

 there and introduction of the British type of yacht in Ameriea. But 

 we saw all along that this was not likely to be the case, and predicted 

 exactly what would happen in the way of a compromise. Well, the 

 undoubted success of the Puritan has stifled the ^'cutter boom.' 

 and the British type of yacht will have a struggling existence for 

 some years to come in America. The members of the New York Y. 

 C, Seawanhaka Y. C, and Atlantic Y. C. have turned out of office all 

 officers with cutter proclivities, and even'thing, it appears, will be 

 done to give the American type at least a fair chance. We, on this 

 side of the Atlantic, wouli have thought such nursing of the national 

 type entirely unnecessary; but there is more in the maneuvre than 

 appears on the surface. That yachts like Puritan, Priscilla, and the 

 new vessels building will be a most formidable type for deep keelers 

 to tackle there is no doubt, and, supposing that they are actually no 

 better for match sailing purposes than the narrow, deep yachts, there 

 is still every inducement for most Americans to prefer them, because 

 they are better suited to the coast." 



This statement was denied in the Field of Mar. 27 by Mr. E. M. Padel- 

 ford, now in England, and New York yachtsmen also will knowhowfar 

 from the truth it is concerning the three clubs mentioned above, but 

 iest it should carry some weight with those at a distance, we hasten 

 to deny it in toto. It has originated in the disputes that have vexed 

 both the New York and Seawanhaka clubs this winter, disputes which 

 have no connection in any way with the cutter question. 



In the New York Y. C. a difference arose between two parties in the 

 club, the principal issue being over the question of the rex>resentation 

 of non-owners in the meetings. The result was the election of a new 

 board of officers, and the removal of the old. every one of the latter 

 being strong ceuterboard men. Not a member of the old or new 

 board is a cutter man. so the occurrence has no importance whatever 

 except within the club. 



In the Seawanhaka Corinthian Y. C trouble has also arisen this 

 winter over a purely business matter, between the trustees of the 

 club on the one hand, and several members who have heretofor been 

 most active in forwarding the interests of the club, and who have 

 been chiefly instrumental in providing a clubhouse and anchorage. 

 ■It happens that these gentlemen are nearly all cutter advocates, and as 

 they have resigned from the club it has given some color to various 

 rumors, but the new ly elected commodore is a cutter man, other cutter 

 men are still in the club, and the difficulty is entirely a personal one, 

 the question of sloop versus cutter being in no way involved. 



The third club mentioned, the Atlantic, has been almost to a man, 

 resolutely opposed to the cutter, or even to keel boats during the 

 whole of the long controversy. Until a very recent period there has 

 not been a cutter in the fleet, and every officer of the club for many 

 years has been a staunch upholder of the shoal centerboard type, 

 the same being true of the officers lately elected. The only action 

 which the club has taken that bears at all on the question of cutter 

 and sloop, is the adoption of a rule which makes it possible for cut- 

 ters to enter the club races with some chance of success, from which 

 heretofore they have been as completely excluded by an ancient and 

 illogical measurement rule as centerboards are by the Y. R. A. 



These facts reduce the reported expulsion of --all officers with cut- 

 ter proclivities," and the -'nursing of the national type" to their 

 proper place as silly canards, which should not have imposed on 

 such an authority as the Field. 



Looking at the prospects of the cutters for the coming year it is not 

 encouraging to know that Wenonah and Ileen will probably lay up 

 all the season, and only Bedouin in the large class will be afloat; but 

 on the other hand all this is more than offset by the almost com- 

 plete disappearance of their antagonists, the first class sloops; a 

 class that was once the pride of American yachting, and that this 

 season will have but one representative afloat. Mischief will not 

 fit out, Hildegarde and Fanny have dropped 8J1 racing, Vision will be 

 in commission but will not race. Arrow will not show up at the line. 

 Pocahontas is rotting in Manning's Basin, and Grade, the sole sur- 

 vivor, is even now undergoing an extensive modernizing. The cutters 

 of the large class are few in number and built here as experiments, 

 and one at least has won a reputation that will last for some seasons, 

 though she does not win another race. The sloops are the outgrowth 

 of over three decades of American yachting, supposed but five years 



since to be the best that we could produce, and consequently far 

 superior to the yachts of any other nation. To-day they have "prac- 

 tically retired from racing, leaving the field either to the genuine Eng- 

 lish cutter or to a mongrel proiuction whose salient features are as 

 much English as American. 



Last year it seemed probable that a win for Qenesta would turn the 

 tide entirely in favor of the modern cutter. We have previously 

 discussed the issue between the two large boats and shown that the 

 main point in dispute was beam, moderate or extremely narrow; 

 and that with that decided the question of board was only one of 

 adaptability to special purposes. All the other points of rig and 

 ballast have been conceded in the general adoption of the details of 

 the English cutters. Everyone knows how the question, trembling in 

 the balance, was turned by Puritan's victory in favor of the wider 

 boats, and also of the centerboard. How little it took to effect this 

 change is shown by the fact that the great race was won by a min- 

 ute and a half. A little difference the other way and almost every 

 boat built this seaon would have had a keel, and we should soon have 

 outstripped the English in the matter of narrow beam, draft and 

 lead. 



This year it is extremely probable that with four boats to choose 

 from on this side, and such weather as we are apt to have, the new 

 type will be again successful against a still narrower adversary than 

 Genesta, though it is not such a dead certanity as most Americans 

 consider it. The result will be to foster the developement of the 

 new type and a very good type it is for certain purposes. Fast, able, 

 comparatively safe, well sparred, and with a draft that is certainly 

 of great advantage in many places, it is incomparably superior to 

 the yachts it has displaced so effectually. Along our coast and 

 for our uses it may prove superior to the modern cutter, especially in 

 the sizes under 50 or 60 feet. When it comes to bolder and more 

 dangerous offshore work, which, judging by the increasing interest- 

 in yachting and the fleet which found its way south this winter must 

 soon become general; the new type has not been tried. 



How the combination of beam and lead will affect not the comfort 

 but the strength of a centerboard in a coutinued hammering in a 

 seaway is a question not yet settled, and some of the new weight 

 carriers if caught in a long blow may solve it in a far from satisfac- 

 tory manner. The form of the keel cutter of narrow or moderate 

 beam is one allowing of great structural strength, while the wider 

 flatter hull of the centerboard boat, with its strength reduced where 

 most needed, and tbe weak place attacked by the strain of the board, 

 offers a serious problem to the builder. We know that centerboard 

 yachts can be and have been proved seaworthy : but the new type, 

 with heavy and low ballast and high bilge, has yet to be tried. Of 

 •course such boats can be built strongly enough for coasting, cruising 

 and summer racing; but we must look forward to a time not far dis- 

 tant when our yachtsmen will not be contented with this, but will 

 eagerly push further afield to the West Indies and Mediterranean, and 

 for this purpose will come to tbe keel boat of medium or narrow pro- 

 portions. 



The "stifling of the cutter boom" to which the Field alludes, 

 implies a total failure of efforts made by a comparative few 

 to introduce this type in America, but has such been the case? The 

 races of 1886 have not yet beeudecided, and it is not yet fully settled 

 that Galatea will prove the failure that many so confidently expect. 

 Supposing that she is beaten by Puritan or her fellows, does it prove 

 conclusively that the keel is inferior to the centerboard, or is it not 

 rather probable that the vise-like compression of an unreasonable and 

 arbitrary rule has compelled the British yachtsman to handicap him- 

 self with less beam than is absolutely essential? It rests with the Brit- 

 ish yachting world to win the Cup soon if they would re- 

 gain their prestige, and should Lieut.Henn's plucky attempt fail 

 it will be time for them to drop the present cramping rule 

 and build a cutter especially for the contest. In the 70ft. class 

 Bedouin is likely to be able to take care of all comers if she is 

 up to her oldform, andtogivea good account of herself. Theinterest 

 this year, outside the Cup races, will depend entirely on the 50ft. 

 class, and though there will be at least- one new boat of the "national 

 type," besides Athlon, Qaviota, Daphne. Isis, and several others, 

 Oriva if in commission has a good show for a high place, while little 

 Clara promises to be ahead of the leaders. What the result may be 

 no one can tell, but supposing that every cutter from Galatea to 

 Delvin is beaten, and that Bedouin. Ileen, Wenonah, Oriva and Clara 

 are left next year to rot on the shore while people build "comprom- 

 ises," is any one prepared to say that the "cutter boom" has been a 

 failure? To it alone is due the extinction of a false standard of 

 yachting, a dangerous and undesirable type of yacht that unfortun- 

 ately was really "national." and from it have been drawn the com- 

 ponents of the new type. Rig, ballast, methods of construction, and 

 numberless details of the new boats are thoroughly English, adopted, 

 not adapted, from the cutter. Beam we have retained, though even I 



that has been lessened ; while our boats are far deeper than of old ex- 

 treme depth we have rejected from local considerations; while for 

 the same reasons the centerboard is retained. With these innova- 

 tions we have thrown aside old rules that compelled the construction 

 of certain types, and with a foresight and a comprehension of the 

 entire question of the developement of yachting which the British 

 yachtsman has not seen fit as yet to follow, we have enacted fair and 

 just regulations that bear as equally as any rules can on all types. 

 This has been done here since the inauguration of the "cutter boom" 

 and largely by tbe "cutter fiends" and "cutter cranks," who have 

 been so heartily abused. The results are plain and palpable in the 

 present state of American yachting, and no better evidence can be 

 bad than the common verdict which hails as an American sloop, a 

 vessel that only a couple of years since would have been ridiculed by 

 all as an English cutter. Now let our Biitish confreres profit 

 by our example with benefit to themselves, while they can still 

 do it gracefully; for another victory for the American yacht will 

 probably put a quietus to the present measurement rule of the Y. R. 

 A., and the advent of a thoroughly well built yacht of the Puritan 

 type in English waters, after a successful passage across the Atlan- 

 tic, will compel a recognition of centerboard yachts in spite of the 

 scolding of that irascible old lady, the Saturday Review. 



YACHTING NOTES. — Mr. Mumm launched last week a new open 



catboat, the Phiyne, for ex Com. J. R. Maxwell Norseman, 



schooner, Mr. Ogden Goelet, is now at Tebo's Pier, all ready for her 

 voyage to Europe. Her owner will cross at once by steamer. The 



Norseman bas received a suit of heavy canvas The South Boston 



Y. C, have finished the rebuilding of their house and are now in very 



convenient quarters Lagonda, steam yacht, will undergo general 



repairs at Wilmington, Del Radha, steam yacht, has returned 



from Norfolk and is at Twenty-fourth street, East River, repairing 

 the damage received by collision... Indolent, sloop, has been our- 

 chased by Mr. Frederick Grinnell, of Providence, from Com. Rhodes, 



of New Bedford, and has chanaed her name to Lydia Gaviota, Mr. 



Edwards's iron sloop, will this year have a larger rig. Her center- 

 board trunk will be removed and board dispensed wilh Wm. MeKie, 



of East Boston, has nearly completed the steam yacht he is building 

 from Mr. Burgess* designs for Mr. Ford. She will be reaay for the 



water by May 1 Wood Bros, have tne engines in Mr Pickman's 



new steam launch and will soon put her afloat. The Adelaide will be 

 rigged on the stocks and launched all complete... Elfin, schooner, 

 formerly Latona. has been sold to Mr. C. P. Huntington, who will use 



her about the west end of Long Island Souno Montauk, schooner, 



will have anew set of racing sails by Sawyer, all made from hard 

 cotton duck, specially woven in narrow breadths. The rig will in- 

 clude an extra boom foresail and double hea-1 sails Atalanta, 



schooner, will be overhauled for the season at City Island. 



Grayling, schoener, has gone from Gowanus Creek to 



Mimra's yard to fit out Decoy, sharpie, has been launched 



uu Mumm's and is cruising after ducks in Great South Bay Ele- 

 phant, sloop, has been taken to Twenty-fourth streef, Brooklyn, to 



tit out. She has wintered at New London Wallin & Gorman 



launched last week a racing sloop for Mi-. Theodore Roosevelt, which 

 will be sailed in Oyster Bay this season Varuna, schooner, has ar- 

 rived at Mumm's Basin, from Newark, where she has wintered 



Mr. W W. Scott, the mechanical engineer, has been busy with yacht 

 engines this winter. Besides the pair of compounds which be de- 

 signed for the Reva. he has designed one for the Sappho, Dr. Webb. 

 This engine is 10 and 18 by lg'n, , inverted compound. Mr. Scott has 

 charge also of the alterations in the machinery of the Edith, and J. 



W. Sullfvan is doing the work Bedouin, cutter, will soon be afloat, 



as Capt. Pettuck and his crew of ten have lately arrived from Eng- 

 land. A new and stiller stick will be shipped at once, as the new 

 mast, put iu last year, was a failure. . . . Coronet, schooner, has been 

 on the screw dock for a suit of metal, and is now nearly ready for 

 sea.... Venture, sloop, lately put overboard at Mumm'si settled on 

 her anchor and stove a hole in her planking. No serious damage re- 

 sulted Puritan will be out early in May, with Com. Forbes in com- 

 mand Lawley & Son will run out their dock at the new yard this 



summer, and will dredge out the basin, offering every facility to large 

 yachts, either to haul out or to take aboard or unload stores and sear 

 at the dock. They have planked tbe Harvard launch, and will soon 

 put in the engine. Mr. Fay's sloop is all ready to be framed 

 together. The little Baltimore sloop is nearly finished. A 

 lead keel has been added to the sloop Echo A new cruiser, build- 

 ing at Milbay. Eng., is 32ft. waterline, 8ft. beam, 6ft. 6in draft, and 



6ft. clear headroom, with a 6-ton iron keel Galatea is having new 



spars made by Payne, of Southampton . . .May, 40 ton cutter, will go 



in tbe C Class this year, of course with reduced rig Vanessa, the 



ever famous, is being modernized to the extent of a reduction of her 

 prominent forefoot, and will also sail in the C Class Messrs. Simp- 

 son & Dennison have lately built a little launch, for use in warm 

 Eastern countries, entirely of Delta metal. The hull is 24x5ft., and 

 "planked" with longitudinal strips of the metal, and very handsomely 

 fitted up with teak and nickle-plate. Her machinery includes a small 



set of Kingdon engines Cythera, yawl, Mi-. W. A. W. Stewart, was 



at Southampton on March 10, going on tbe patent slip at Day & Sum- 

 mers's. After a clearing and examination she sailed for Gibraltar, 



leaving Yarmouth on March 23 Sylvia, keel cutter, 10 tons, has 



been sold by Vice Commodore Pike, Bay of Quinte Y. C. to Mr. H, E, 



Parrish, Buffalo Y. C Shona. 5 ton cutter and rival of Delvin in 



British waters, has been sold to a Boston yachtsman, and will be 



shipped on tbe deck of a Boston steamer Magnolia, steam yacht, 



sailed on April 4 from St. Augustine for the North Ambassadress, 



schooner, arrived at St, Thomas from Martinique on March 9, and 



sailed on March 13 for Jamaica Vega, schooner, arrived at St, 



Thomas from Fernandina on March 22. 



SOUTH BOSTON MOSQUITO FLEET. — The regatta of the mos- 

 quito fleet will be sailed on Fast Day, starting at 11 A. M. from the 

 house of the South Boston Y. C. The boats will be in two classes- 

 open boats, 13 to 15ft., in the first, and under 13ft. in the second. Two 

 prizes, $10 and .$5, will be given in each class. Entries cau be made 

 to James Bertram, 803 Fourth street, South Boston. 



PHOTOS OF THE ATLANTIC.— Yachtsmen at a distance who are 

 interested in the new Atlantic, can form an excellent idea of the 

 boat's shape from the photos made by Chas. Miller, 62 Nassau street, 

 N. Y. Five views have been taken, one of the bow, one from astern, 

 one from the high ground above, showing the deck frame, and two 

 broadside views. 



OUR LIST OF FIXTURES has run to such a length already that a 

 more compact arrangement has become necessary to obtain space. 

 There are still many clubs not represented, and some of tbe dates in 

 the table are not official. We ask tbe aid of club secretaries and 

 others in completing and correcting the above list. 



SAN FRANCISCO.— Lurline, Chispa. Aggie, Nellie, sloop, are all in 

 commission, and the season has begun. A movement is on foot in 

 San Francisco to organize a club for small yachts under 40ft. A 

 meeting has been held and a preliminary organization effected. 



GENESTA. — We learn from private advices that Sir Richard Sutton 



ill not race Genesta this season owing to family matters, and she 

 will be offered for sale. 



HUDSON RIVER Y. C— This club wiU hold a union regatta, open 

 to yachts of all clubs, on June 7. The steamer Columbia will accom- 

 pany the fleet. 



$moeittg. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



May 

 May 

 May 

 May 

 May 

 June 

 July 

 Aug. 

 Aug. 

 Sept. 

 Sept. 

 Sept. 



FIXTURES. 



1— Brooklyn C. C , Challenge Cup and Paddling Race. 

 15— Brooklyn C. C, Sailing Race. 

 22— Knickerbocker C. C. Spring Regatta. 

 29— Connecticut Meet, Calla Shasta Grove. 

 29, 30, 31.— Hudson River Meet, Esopus Island. 

 12— Brooklyn C. C. Paddling Race. 

 10— Brooklyn C.C., Paddling Race. 



7— Brooklyn C. C„ Paddling Race. 

 15-29— A. C. A. Meet. Grindstone Island. 



4— Rrooklyn C. C, Paddling Race. 

 IS— Brooklyn C. C, Sailing Races. 

 25— Brooklyn C. O, Challenge Cup. 



CANOE CLUB IN PATERSON.— Editor Forest and Stream: A 

 canoe club was organized on Saturday, March 27, under the name of 

 Paterson C. C. The following officers were elected: Commodore, 

 A. S. Pennington; Secretary -Treasurer, Charles K. Berdan.— Chas. K. 

 Berdan, Secretary. 



WISCONSIN RIVERS.— .Editor Forest and Stream: Will any of 



A. L. A. — The following names have been proposed for member- 

 ship: Messrs. Edward A. Moseley, Boston; Chas. K. Cobb, Boston; 

 Chas. K. Berdan, Paterson, N. J.; H. V. Kent, Halifax, N. S.; J. A, 

 Seely, Ogdensburg, N. Y. ; George Brown, Ottawa, Can., and Hanuer 

 I. Denny, Pittsburgh, Pa, 



