374 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Dec. 2, 1886. 



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A LENGTH AND SAIL AREA CUTTER. 



THE long war of the various types in American waters has left 

 the yachting interests in a most unsettled state for two or 

 three years past, while the impartial observer finds it hard to 

 predict the outcome of it in the future. The racing of 1885 left 

 matters almost where they -were, and all parties loolied forward 

 to the pi-esent year to settle the question definitely, aud to indicate 

 ^vhat would be the coming type. But now in December, with the 

 racing over, the situation is practically the same as it was when 

 sails were first stretched in May. The season has brought more 

 than the usual allowance of races and an increased number of 

 boats, but like the preceding year it has convinced nobody. 



The Eastern man, rejoicing over Mayflower, Puritan, Sachem 

 and Thetis, is firm In the belief that the problem has been solved 

 in the new beamy keel-centerboard type, and that further search 

 is useless, the happy mean has been found. The undaunted cutter 

 man on the contrary comes up smiling, with no visible traces of a 

 hard season, and points to a long string of aggregate wins, headed 

 by the redoubtable Clara, and argues as strongly as ever for the 

 six-beam boat. 



The only ones, perhaps, who have reached a final conclusion are 

 the owners of tlie late American sloops, who find that their occu- 

 pation is gone, that there are no prizes left for them, and that a 

 new and radical departure is imperative. 



The question of the coming type is important to all, but 

 especially to those whose boats have been out-classed and who 

 must build if they would win mugs. Building and testing a yacht 

 of any size means an expenditure of a large sum of money and 

 with a considerable risk involved, and yachtsmen to-day are little 

 likely to order blindly of some builder who chances to be in fashion 

 through the success, real or fictitious, of some one yacht. Before 

 signing contracts the yachtsman is apt to study pretty closely the 

 boats he is trying to beat and also the boats which may soon be 

 built to beat him,~and the possibilities and probabilities of each 

 type are thoroughly weighed. Just now the subject of the coming 

 yacht is of special interest; the old type has been proved useless, 

 the new Boston boats have not yet received that thorough test 

 necessary to their general adoption by American yachtsmen, 

 ■while the extreme cutter is not accepted by the majority as the 

 coming boat for American waters. Of this latter boat it must be 

 said to its credit that built under a peculiar rule and for certain 

 waters it has thus far succeeded well under a totally different 

 rule and in foreign waters, holding its own under conditions it was 

 not intended for and with boats specially built to meet those con- 

 ditions. 



T' ore exists in England a very good reason why a 6 beam boat 

 should beat one of 4 beams, and "to this reason is due the introduc- 

 tion of the type as well as its maintenance there; but in this coun- 

 try, under vastly different conditions the narrow boat can depend 

 on no such fictitious advantages, but must stand or fall on its 

 merits as a practical vessel. Thus far it has done so and won a 

 place beside the native tyi;ef, but '''^ continuance is simply a ques- 



BODY PLAN. 



tlon of the survival of the fittest. Should the cutter of 6 beams 

 fail here, however, it by no means proves the unfitness of the gen- 

 eral type, but simply that built for one rule it cannot compete 

 under a very different one. Between Genesta, Galatea, Madge, 

 Clara and Ulidia on the one hand and Mayflower, Puritan and 

 Cinderella on the other, there is a wide gap, and it may be that 

 the happy mean is to be found between them: that the cutter built 

 to race under American rules may far outstrip the same boat built 

 under British rules. 



This opens up a field that is as yet practically unexplored; the 

 visiting cutters from Madge to Galatea have all been extremely 

 narrow boats and the few real cutters built here in which beam 

 has not been limited, argue well for the possibilities of the type. 

 Of this small class the leaders, Bedouin and Oriva, have attained 

 a degree of success which should induce further researches in the 

 same direction. 



Through the kindness of Mr. Wm. Fife, Jr., of Fairlie, Scotland, 

 so well known here as Clara's designer, we are enabled to give the 

 design of a similar yacht to compete in the third class under the 

 New York Y. C. rule. The design, in its beauty and fairness, 

 speaks for itself, but for a more thorough understanding of its 

 features a comparison of its elements with those of the leading 

 representatives of the opposing types, Clara and Cinderella, is 

 appended as follows: 



Clara. Design. Cinderella. 

 Ft. In. Ft. In. Ft. In. 



Length over all 6.5 00 67 00 63 00 



Length L.W.L -....5.3 00 52 03 53 00 



Beam, extreme 9 01 11 04 16 06 



Beam, L. W. L 11 00 15 08 



Draft, extreme 10 CO 9 06 6 07* 



Tons. Tons. Tons. 



Displacement, long tons 87.5 39.5 42. 



Ballast on keel, lead 21 . 23 . 13 . 



Ballast, Inside lead None. None. 5. 



Ballast, total 21. 23 17 



Pt. In. Ft. In. Ft. In. 



Mast, deck to hounds 37 00 8.8 00 43 08 



Masthead 7 06 7 09 7 06 



Mast, from fore end L. AY. L 20 08 19 09 18 06 



Topmast, fid to sheave 31 00 31 00 .S3 03 



Bowsprit, outside of gammon.... 33 09 2o 00 37 06 



Bowsprit beyond end L.W.L... 24 03 28 00 SO 00 



Main"boom 47 08 49 03 53 00 



Gak 33 03 33 CO 80 00 



Spinnaker boom 48 09 . . . . 47 00 



.-, 1 * 28 03 39 00 41 06 



Topsail yards gg 98 00 



Sq. Ft. Sq. Ft. Sq. Ft. 



Sail area, N. Y. Y. C. rule . 3483 



Area mainsail 17;"S — 



Area jib — 513 — 



Area staysail 401 — 



.Area, total 2067 



Length N. Y. Y. G. rule 54.38ft. 55.00ft. 5.-). 48ft. 



Allowance 10 miles Im. 243. oos. -Allows. 



♦Including board, lift. 



The most striking features of the new boat are her increased 

 beam and the clipper stem, as in these two points she is a wido 

 departure from the imported cutters. While we have strenuously 

 opnosed the great beam of American heats and have shown the 

 fallacy of the claim that beam in itself gives increased room, wo 

 are not prepared to say just where the mean is reached, but are 

 open to conviction. The question of intericl- accommodation wul 

 be considered in connection v^ith the interior plans, but we may 

 safelv assume that in the matter of comfort and convenience on 

 ' deck the extra beam wo^ld show a gain over Giara) eotfl ia ft 



