192 FOREST AND STREAM 



[Sept. 29, 1887. 



STEEL SLOOP "VOLUNTEER." General C. J. Paine, E. Y. C. Designed by Edward Burgess and built by Pusey & Jones, Wilmington, Del. 



IANTHE CANOE OLUB REGATTA.— On Saturday, Sept. 24, 

 the Ian the O. C. held a most successful regatta, on the Passaic, 

 fully 300 of their friends were present. Dr. Wm. B. Graves, New 

 York C. Cm acted as judge, and Dr. O. F. Coe, of the Hudson C. C, 

 was time keeper. Members of the Brooklyn, Paterson, Ruther- 

 ford, Musceta of Bergen Point, and Arlington Canoe Clubs were 

 present and participated in the races. Class B, sailing, was called 

 at 3:15, with the following starters: M. V. Brokaw (Brooklyn), 

 canoe Minx; L. B. Palmer (Ianthe). Atlantic: J. L. Douglass,' Jr. 

 (Ianthe). Tdlemere; G.,P. Douglass (ianthe), Old Ironsides; W. R. 

 Burling (Ianthe). Nilo: W. Smilie; I. V. Dorlaud (Arlington), 

 Ignace; C. V. Schuyler (Arlington). Regina. This race was twice 

 over a triangular course, the strong northwest wind made much 

 excitement. M. V. Brokaw finally won by 2ft., the others finish- 

 ing in order named, Regina capsizing. Class L. paddling, was 

 easily won by W. R. Burling, canoe Mabel, I. V. Dorland' sec- 

 ond, C. V. Schuyler, J. V. L. Pierson. "Man overboard," G. P. 

 Douglass first, J. L. Douglass, Jr., second, W. Smilie third. 

 Paddling, Class IV., C. V. Schuyler, L. B. Palmer, W. R. 

 Burling, M. V. Brokaw and G. P. Douglass entered. C. 

 V. Schuyler won by half a length. Burling a close third. 

 Standing Paddling.— G. P. Douglass first, beating W. R. Burling, 

 C. V. Schuyler and J. L. Douglass, Jr. Tandem Paddling.— There 

 were four crews in this race: Palmer and Burling (Ianthe), Bro- 

 kaw and Blake (Brooklyn), Magie and R. McLees (Rutherford), 

 Schuyler and Rowland (Arlington). The Brooklyn crew led until 

 close to the finish, when they were passed by the Ianthes, who won 

 by less than one foot; the Rutherf ords and Arlingtons, just be- 

 hind, fought hard for third place. The Hurry-Scurry Race was 

 won by H. S. Farmer, With L. B. Palmer and Win. P. Dodge 

 second and third. After the races suitable prizes were presented 

 to the winners, after which refreshments were furnished to the 

 visiting canoeists and the evening pleasantly passed with dancing 

 and music. The visiting canoeists from a distance remained in the 

 club house over night, cruising home the next day. On Thursday 

 evening the 29th 1 he Ianthe C. C. will have a parade, the canoes 

 will be dressed with Chinese lanterns, and several of the canoe 

 clubs will pari icipate. Friends of the club are invited to view the. 

 parade from the club house. 



Address all communications to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co 



FIXTURES. 



September. 

 29. America's Cup Match, N. Y. 



October. 

 1. America's Cup Match, N. Y. 



NEW CUTTERS.— Mr. C. P. Kunhardt has finished some hand- 

 some plans of a cutter of the beamv type for gentlemen in King- 

 ston, Ont. She is 30ft. loadline, 42ft; over all, including a 7ft, 

 fantail and a fashionable clipper stem, with billet head of 5ft. 

 Beam at waterline is 10ft.; draft, 5ft. 4iu. Displacement, 11^ tons, 

 with 59i tons ballast, a large portion of which will be on the keel. 

 Least freeboard to planksheer is 2ft. Mast, deck to hounds, 27ft. 

 6in.; boom, 32ft.; gaff, 23ft.; topmast, cap to shoulder, 16ft.; bow- 

 sprit beyond forward perpendicular, 16ft.; lower sail area, l,000sq. 

 ft. Mr. K. has also in hand another cutter for the lakes of about 

 the same size, but somewhat narrower and deeper, She will also 

 have a clipper stem. 



THE INTERNATIONAL RACES. 



NEVER since the days of Father JEsop has the fable of the 

 mountain and the mouse been better exemplified than it has 

 in the great mystery that has vexed the yachting world for the 

 past six months and that was only solved last week. The moun- 

 tain of doubt, conjecture and anticipation that has grown since 

 the keel of the Thistle was first laid reached its culmination on 

 Wednesday last as the water slowly subsided in the. great dry 

 dock of the Erie Basin, and disclosed to the gaze of the hundred's 

 of eager watchers— a mouse. Only a plain gray mouse, handsomer 

 and decidedly plumper than its fellows that the same spectators 

 had seen in previous years, but none the less a mouse on that 

 account, and by no means a rat, a cat or a, tortoise. As foot by foi > i 

 Thistle rose from the water, there was seen nothing but the plain 

 ordinary surface of a steel cutter's bottom, until at last she stood 

 revealed, without fins, screw, centerboard or abnormal and un- 

 usual proportions, a beautiful and shapely cutter, differing in de- 

 fail from the cutters that have of late preceded her, but not a 

 whit less entitled to the name than they. 



Early on Wednesday morning she towed to the Basin with Mr. 

 and Mrs. Bell and Mr. Watson on board. The keel blocks had 

 been very carefully prepared under Mr. Watson's special super- 

 vision, and they alone gave a very good idea of her sheer plan be- 

 low. For nearly two hours the crowd increased in volume as the 

 dock filled from the waters outside, until at 11 A. M. when the 

 huge caisson was floated out. leaving a clear entrance for the 

 yacht, there was gathered a very large number of yachtsmen, 

 with an addition of a good many idle spectators who took no 

 special interest in the form of the yacht. A watchman was on 

 duty at the yard gate as usual, but visitors generally were admitted 

 freely, though in a number of eases without apparent reason ad- 

 mittance was refused without a pass from the New York office of 

 the dock owner or the Anchor Line. This was effectual in send- 

 ing some back at once to New York for a pass, but those who 

 waited near the gate were admitted after a few minutes, unless in 

 the meanwhile they had gone through the adjoining property and 

 found a way in through a rear gate. The exact object of this 

 maneuver or who was responsible for it wasnot apparent, as every 

 one who desired to saw the Thistle out of water, though some were 

 put to much unnecessary trouble. 



After the yacht was warped into the dock tackles were made 

 fast to hows and quarters by which she was very carefully ad- 

 justed over the blocks. Meanwhile Mr. John Hyslop, measurer 

 of the New York Y. C, was at work in the dinghy, in company with 

 Mr. Watson, who accompanied him at his request, taking the 

 measurement of the yacht by the New York Y. C. rule, under 

 which she must race. Some adverse comment has been made on 

 the fact that the jib was removed from the bowsprit before the 

 yacht was measured, but in any case this would make little dif- 

 ference; in the present instance the two anchors were on the 

 hows, where they would not be in racing, and the capstan in 

 place, and so far as any impropriety or attempted evasion, the 

 jib is seldom on the bowsprit when a yacht is measured, unless it 

 is permanently hanked to the stay. As soon as the waterline 

 was measured the pumps were started, and slowly at first, then 

 faster, the water fell, disclosing the fair and pleasing proportions 

 of the yacht for the first time in public. From 23ft. on the caisson 

 the water fell to about 15ft. before the yacht took the blocks, and 

 as the latter were about 2ft. high her draft was seen to be very 

 near to the figures already given or 13ft., probably 3 or 4in. more. 

 As she ceased to be waterborne, long shores were adjusted from 

 the steps of the dock to her sides, so as to hold her upright, the 

 pumps were stopped for a short time until the adjustment directly 

 over the blocks was made perfect by a final pull on the tackles 

 and then the pumps started up again, never stopping until 2:15 

 P. M., when the dock was dry. The condition of the bottom was 

 a matter of considerable importance to those who sought some 

 guide for placing money on the boats, but contrary to expectation I 

 it was very good, there being no barnacles and only a little scum I 



of soft dirt, quickly washed off with a powerful stream of water 

 from a hose. The dark red paint that covered the bottom up to 



the "copper line" was hard, smooth and comparatively clean, 1 lie 



only reaUy bad places being near or above the waterline, wnere 

 the cement was knocked off in spots. 



A single look at the yacht as she lay fuUy exposed to view was 

 enough to settle at once the charge of copying that, has been made 

 at random here since it was known that Thistle was wider than 

 her immediate predecessors, and to show at once the wide gulf 

 between her and the sloop family. Differing from Irex, Genesta 

 and Galatea on the one hand, she is totally unlike the Burgess 

 boats on the other, while in all her features she shows a close 

 relationship to the older Watson boats from Wendur, Vanduara 

 and Marjorie, down to Shona and Doris. Naturally the designers 

 of both Thistle and Volunteer have declined to furnish the lines or 

 anything more than the most scanty details for publication, but 

 the accompanying sketches will serve to illustrate the leading 

 points of difference and resemblance with a sufficient degree of 

 ace ii racy for all practical purposes. The upper outline represents 

 Thistle in sheer plan and section, the dotted line showing the 

 general proportions of Vanduara enlarged to the length of Thistle. 

 The lower dra wing shows Volunteer, the dotted outline repre- 

 senting the general proportions of the old centerboard sloop. 



Looking at Thistle the first idea that strikes one is that she is in 

 every sense a cutter, then the beam shows out in contrast to the 

 Cup racers of previous years, the reduction of the forefoot is apt 

 to create some astonishment from the degree to which it is carried, 

 but above all one is struck with the harmony of proportions and 

 extreme beauty of form everywhere visible. It is on the question 

 of beam that the claims of relationship to the sloop have been 

 chiefly based, and this demands the first attention. Undoubtedly 

 Thistle is wider than any cutter built for a long time for solely 

 racing purposes, but the reasoning which compares her beam of 

 20ft. with Galatea's 15ft. on the same length, and hurriedly pro- 

 claims Thistle a sloop is entirely false. To compare her fairly one 

 must take the other efforts of her designer, who in yachts above 20 

 tons has never gone to the extreme limit of narrow beam. The pre- 

 vious Watson boats run as follows in proportion of length to beam: 

 Vanduara, 5 beams; Lenore, Marjorie, Wendur, % May, 5J& Of 

 course this is widely different from Thistle's proportion of nearly 

 m beams, but the only deduction that can be drawn from the 

 hitter's increased breadth is, not that the cutter is a failure, but 

 that under a waterline length rule, with practically unlimited 

 sail area, the extreme narrow' boats in the larger sizes cannot race 

 with the new compromise type. The recent change of the rule in 

 England, the international races of 1885 and 1886, and the readiness 

 with which every English designer now expresses himself in favor 

 of more beam if he can have it untaxed, all stand in evidence of 

 the fact that the old rule has gone too far in narrowing the yachts; 

 but the mere fact that a wider boat than usual has been built for 

 a special purpose counts for very little. Suppose for a moment 

 that depth was so heavily taxed by the New York Y. C. that no 

 cutter could compete for the Cup; the fact that British yachts- 

 men were obliged to build a shoal boat in order to compete for it 

 would in no way prove that the national type of deep boat was to 

 be abandoned for a skimming dish. So with beam. Thistle was 

 built for a specific purpose, her dimensions were chosen to meet 

 certain conditions and rules, but this of itself proves little as to 

 the proportions of the coming generation of British yachts. Be- 

 yond doubt the extreme narrow boats have had their day, the 

 value of more beam is now generally admitted, but where the 

 limit will be for the next few years no one now can say. Next 

 season will see several new racers afloat on the other side, with 

 probably about 4J^ beams to length; but it is very certain that 

 nothing will ever induce the British yachtsmen to adopt the pro- 

 portions of beam and depth, as well as the other distinguishing 

 features, which have always been associated with the term sloop. 



In sheer plan Thistle is much the same as her older sisters, with 

 the exception of the cutting away of the forefoot and keel for- 

 ward, which is carried to a greater length than usual. The out , 



