Jan. 81, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



87 



RAIL PLAN OF VKLMA. 



buryport. We went, close to the point and between Avery's Ledge 

 Red Buov and Straitsmorath Island Light, and keeping outside of 

 Thatcher's Island, we passed inside the Londoner at 12:15. After 

 passing the Londoner we set spinaker for a while, and the wind 

 fe'l quite light. We sailed around among the dory fishermen, 

 and went into Gloucester harbor, where we -anchored among the 

 yachts near the beacon in the inner channel at 3 P. M. Distance 

 sailed, 26V6 miles. 



We left Tuesday at 11 o'clock and starting some distance astern 

 of a fleet of six "fishing schooners, one schooner yacht and two 

 22ft. sloop yachts, the cutter showed her fine light weather 

 qualities by drifting steadily through the fleet with scarcely a 

 breath of air, and catching a light breeze outside was nearly a 

 mile awav before the next boat left the harbor. We passed Ket- 

 tle Island to starboard, Baker's Island to port, then Eagle Island 

 on starboard. The schooner yacht was then seen mating Mar- 

 blehead Harbor ahead of us, she had got out of Gloucester and 

 standing outside of t he Islands, bad caught a good wind and with 

 light sails aloft had made good time. We went up to the head of 

 the harbor and dropped anchor at 4 P. M., distance sailed 11 

 miles. We left Marblehead, Wednesday at 9:33 with light wind 

 and heavy chop sea. A heavy fog bank was seen well to the east 

 so we steered about S.S.W. to clear the breakers outside of Pig 

 Rocks, as we expected the fog to shut in at any minute. The 

 weather kept clear and we passed around the weir at Bass 

 Point and anchored at 12:15. The fog soon shut in very thick and 

 lifted again in the afternoon, and the tide being about half in 

 we went up Lynn Harbor and picked up our inooriug at 4:30 

 P. M., having sailed 13 miles by ourcourse. This was the first fog 

 seen in the two weeks we were out. 



The boat's deck and all above water was newly painted, and 

 while waiting for it to dry the skipper took a run up country for 

 a few days, returning in company with Mr. H. E. Feineman of 

 Rochester, N. PL The boat was again provisioned for a short 

 cruise, leasing the yacht club wharf on Wednesday, July 25, at 

 2:30 P. M. We carried a light breeze to near the whistling buoy 

 off the Graves, and then losing it we drifted awhile, and finally 

 headed for South Boston. The tide was against us, and we had 

 very little wind, but at last got to t he South Boston flats off City 

 Point, and dropped anchor at© P. M. and went below. Nextmorn- 

 ing we had breakfast early, which went well with the exception 

 of the coffee, which had a taste that troubled the skipper, as he 

 had taken lessons at home on coffee making, and felt that he was 

 quite an expert. On making inquiries it was found that the 

 water was dipped from the sea. as there was more there than in 

 the keg. We drank milk instead of coffee that morning, and at 

 10:30, hoisting our sails, went down the back way between Thomp- 

 son's and Ward's Islands. 



At Peddock's Island the wind was very light, and the. tide run- 

 ning in strong, but after passing Boston Light we had a good 

 breeze, and headed for Marblehead, passing close to the whistler 

 off the Graves, The wind held until we were past Tom Moore's 

 Rock Spindle, then we towed the yacht a short distance, then get- 

 ting a light wind entered the harbor. We passed between Volun- 

 teer and schooner Miranda, and anchored well up the harbor at 

 6:30 P. M. Next day It ruined and we went ashore, and at 2:30 P. 

 M. went out to fish, the rain baring ceased. The sea was a little 

 rough, but we anchored on the fishing grounds, and fished some 

 time, having fair luck. We lost one palm from the anchor which 

 was caught on the ledge, not having stopped the cable so as to 

 trip the anchor. We went back into the harbor and anchored for 

 the uight. In the morning it was blowing hard from the north- 

 east, giving the cable more, scope we rode all right. We were 

 ashore nearly all day and going aboard toward evening the har- 

 bor was so rough that the skipper paid tribute to Neptune for the 

 first time in twelve years. 



Next taorning was bright and clear, and leaving Marblehead at 

 5:30 A. M. we found a good north wind and a heaving old sea out- 

 side. We headed south for the Gurnet Lights near Plymouth, and 

 had a fine run before the wind. We would rise on a big wave 

 and then drop into the trough, and could see nothing nut the 

 waves around us. The swell was very heavy. We passed a long 

 way outside of Boston Light and Minot's Ledge, and at length 

 sighted Manomet Point, and then the Gurnet. The excursion 

 steamer Shrewsbury passed us near High Pine Ledge, whore the 

 Pavonia struck some time ago. Jibing- the mainsail at the Whist- 

 ling Buoy, we soon passed the Bug Light on the. Roxbury Pier, and 

 followed the channel to the wharves and dropped anchor at 2:30 

 P. M., having sailed 40 miles from our last anchorage. We 

 slicked up and went ashore, had a good dinner, and then went 

 about town. The next day we went through Pilgrim Hall, and 

 looked over the old burial ground and the new monument. Prom 

 the Cemetery Hill we could seethe sandhills at Provincetown at 

 the end of Cape Cod. 



Tuesday morning we left Plymouth at 5 o'clock, and after pass- 

 ing the Gurnet headed up the coast with agood rail breeze abeam. 

 Off Scituate cliffs we dropped mainsail and sailed on our course 

 under the jibs, reefing the mainsail at leisure. We set i t double, 

 reefed and passed Scituate at 8:20 A. M.. and Minot's Light st 9:10 

 A. M., then hauling on the wind for the Graves we passed between 

 the Graves and Roaring Bulls at 11 A. M. Shaking out the reefs 

 we soon passed Old Crotch Buoy, and going up the channel ran 

 the boat in the mud as near our moorings as we could get at 13:10 

 P. M., having sailed 36 knots since 5 A. M. Furling t he sails and 

 putting out an anchor we took our traps ashore, well pleased with 

 our trip. Vklma. 



DORCHESTER Y. C.-On Feb. 8 Commander Eaton, U. S. N., 

 will deliver a lecture on charts before the Dorchester Y. C. The 

 annual dinner of the club will be held on Feb. 21 at. Young's 

 Hotel. 



YONKERS CORINTHIAN Y. C.-A new club by this name has 

 been organized in Yonkers, the officers being: A. J. Prime, Com.; 

 A. T. Rose, Sec, and H. Skinner, Treas. The other officers will be 

 elected next month. 



THE REGULATION AND DIRECTION OF YACHT 

 RACING. 



WHILE it is as yet too early to forecast definitely the racing of 

 the coming season, its leading features arc outlined with 

 sufficient clearness to snow that it will open under radically 

 different conditions from any past year. The fight that began 

 with the first agitation in favor of the cutter in 1878 may be said 

 to have ended in 1887. if not really sooner, and though, it is impos- 

 sible to say in detail just what the yacht of the future will be, 

 there can be no room for doubt as to her leading features. In 

 general appearance she will not differ greatly from such craft as 

 Sea Fox, Katrina and Baboon: she will in all cases be provided 

 with a heavy lead keel, in some cases with a centerboard added, 

 and in rig she will be a cutter, but with the laced mainsail, semi- 

 housing bowsprit, and many minor changes that have been made 

 from the conventional British rig. As to beam, the question is 

 still onen, but the limits are smaller in at least one extreme than 

 in i he past. As we hope to show, the maximum limit is a matter 

 of uncertainty, and under existing conditions it may run to 

 much more than one-third of the length; but as a minimum, we 

 are not likely to see on either side of the Atlantic anything 

 approaching the extremes of the past; in fact, the minimum here 

 is not likely to be less than Bedouin, about -U4 beams to length. 

 The furious battle of the sloop and cutter is a thing of the past, 

 and for a time at least, there are no great matters of princ iple 

 under discussion, hut yachtsmen generally have settled down to 

 a fairly unanimous understanding on the leading points once in 

 dispute. Last season was in itself peculiarly barren of results or 

 of grounds for any definite conclusions, but at the same time it 

 served a good purpose as a period of rest and reflection after the 

 three great international battles of '85, '8t5 and '87, in which the 

 losses and gains on all sides might be carefully considered. 



As a result of the long struggle many old ideas have been rooted 

 up and new ones planted, yachting has been more thoroughly 

 nationalized in America than ever before, and in addition it has 

 been newly founded on safe and correct principles, so that the 

 end of last season left the whole yachting system in a peculiarly 

 plastic state, in which it may be permanently moulded lor good 

 or ill, according to the immediate ac tion of the leading clubs and 

 yachtsmen. While the interest in yacht racing is keen in all 

 parts of the country, the. fleet of modern yachts that are really 

 good enough for racing is very small, and now is the time when 

 action or inaction will exert the greatest possible influence on the 

 fleet that will cover the sea coast, the great lakes, and even the 

 smaller inland, watei s, within the next five years. What we have 

 to say applies to the country at large, to every club and every 

 yachtsman, though we will confine ourselves only to the great, 

 center of American yachting, the coast from New York to Boston. 

 What is true of it is true of the entire country, so it is not neces- 

 sary to speak in detail of other localities. 



The racing fleet of this section to-day contains but three classes, 

 the 90ft. schooners-with less than half a dozen modern boats. Gray 

 ling. Sachem, Sea Fox and the new Forbes schooner. I he 70ft, 

 class of singlestickers fias four. Bedouin, Shamrock, Titania and 

 Katrina; while below this class is practically nothing until the 

 40ft. class is reached. In this class there will be over a. dozen 

 racing craft, with plenty of sport for this season, at least, though 

 no man can tell what, the future, may bring forth. The 30ft. class 

 also promises to be very well filled by the opening of the season, 

 while the smaller classes that are patronized by the great number 

 of clubs will be well looked after. The three classes first named, 

 however, include all that enter in other than local races, so we 

 will confine our comments to them. 



In the 93ft. and 70ft. classes the general features of design are 

 fixed within satisfactory limits in most respects, some purely keel 

 craft, and some with board as well: and though the tendency to 

 overs par exists with them, there is little prospect of any radical 

 departure from the general type exemplified by the boats men- 

 tioned. It is to the 40ft. class that we must look for the most 

 emphatic illustration of the present evils, as well as for the still 

 greater evils that are imminent in the near future. The class is 

 at present the direct offspring of a length rule, modified some- 

 what in some clubs by a nominal tax on sail area, hut in no 

 case to an appreciable extent. In the Larchniont and Atlantic 

 clubs the length only is measured; in the New York the merest 

 shadow of a tax is placed on sail area; while even in the Seawan- 

 hakaand Eastern clubs the penalty on sail is hardly enough to 

 he evident in the yachts themselves under canvas. All the evil 

 tendencies of the old length rule, or of any rule which taxes one 

 dimension only, are evidently at work to-day, and the results are 

 nowhere better seen than in th- 40-footers. Power, through its 

 functions of beam, draft, lead and canvas, is at a premium, while 

 the refinements of design are neglected to a most disastrous ex- 

 tent. The vital quest ion of bow much power can be applied to a 

 length of 40ft. and with the best results to yacht racing at large, 

 as well as the pockets of owner, is entirely lost sight of in the 

 hurry to secure the utmost possible speed the class will admit 

 of, regardless of all other considerations. 



Under wise and far-seeing legislation the 40-footers should be 

 the ideal class of American yachting; large enough to make the 

 passages required for general racing and to afford a good cabin 

 and an owner's stateroom besides; small enough to be built and 

 run by the class which must be looked to as the main support of 

 yachting, the younger men, of limited time and means, but un- 

 bounded enthusiasm, whose love of the sport, fostered by early 

 experience in small craft, will take them step by step into larger 

 vessels and keep them from the turf, the tennis court or the 

 steam yacht. Though in the boats now built and building the 

 extreme has by no means been reached, the latest of them fall far 

 below this ideal, and worse still, show plainly what their suc- 

 cessors are likely to be. Up to date wo have readied a first cost 

 of $8,000 for a plainly finished boat, a draft of anything' under 

 10ft., an amount of beam and low lead that cannot fail to make a. 

 very bad sea boat; limited accommodation below for the cost and 

 drait; and a sail area that is extravagant in first cost and in crew } 



that Is unfit for cruising, and that with the lend keel is destruc- 

 tive to tne boat. Those extremes have been reached already, but 

 It is within the possibilities of the next three months that we may 

 see even thpm exceeded. Already a 40-fonte-r with a draft of lift, 

 has been discussed, while ft is more than likely that one of the 

 new boats will be nothing more than a racing shell, nothing in- 

 side at all. The "lengthers" of Southampton Water are generally 

 recognized as an undesirable type, but it has remained for Yankee 

 enterprise to outdo them in two short seasons. 



Jjj may be that all is true that was once urged against the nar- 

 row cutter, excessive cost, too great draft, bad sea boa s, little 

 accommodation; but It would be hard to show how the extreme 

 development of the present type will be much better. For the 

 same length of waterltne the wide boat will cost more to build and 

 much more to run with a racing crow, she will draw more water, 

 be far weaker in construction, and where the cutter will sail 

 under water the wide boat will toss the crew off the deck if 

 thev attempt to go to sea in her. The advantage of deck room 

 and space below are on the side of the modern boat, but against 

 the comparatively small rig of the narrow one must be offset her 

 towering spars. 



It looks now as if, by next season, we will only have to search 

 the files of our contemporaries, from the day when, in the old 

 Aquatic. Monthly, "Big Topmast" first sounded the war cry against 

 "lead mines" and "half-tide rocks," to find plenty of abuse that 

 will almost exactly fit the coming craft. 



It is by no means certain that the extreme boat will be the 

 fastest, but even though she should, it is hardly necessary to re- 

 mind thoughtful and intelligent yachtsmen that extreme speed, 

 unhampered by any other requirements, is not the sole end and 

 aim of yacht racing. The matter involves several curious para- 

 doxes which have never, so far as we know, received the atten- 

 tion they are entitled to. First, as to the duties of a yacht club, 

 they are to promote yachting, and yacht racing, not in the form 

 of one specially fast craft against which no other can compete, 

 but to keep alive a general competition between all the racing 

 members of the club. So long as this is done, the club will pros- 

 per, even though its fleet be composed of interior vessels; but as 

 soon as one boat attains a practically unassailable position, no 

 mat ter how much improvement may be embodied in her, the re- 

 sult is disastrous to the club. Tho same rule applies to unions of 

 clubs, and is well illustrated by the continued success of Irex 

 and the simultaneous decay of yacht racing in the Y. R. A. Of 

 course in this case some other factors were at work, but the 

 main facts are that the rule which has undoubtedly produced a 

 very fast vessel in Hex, has at the same time kilLd yacht racing 

 in Great Britain for an indefinite period. While then the clubs 

 must encourage racing, it must be done wisely and carefully, and 

 with the most careful study of every rule and its tendencies. 



As to the owner, like tiilbert'tt Lord Chancellor, who pleads his 

 own cause before himself, arguing both sides and giving what he 

 calls an impartial decision, he occupies a totally different posi- 

 tion as one of the members of a club irom that which he holds as 

 an individual owner of a racing yacht. In the former capacity it 

 is to his interest to place such restrictions on the sport as shall 

 insure its general prosperity and prevent him and many more 

 like him from being driven out by a man who will spend unlim- 

 ited time and money simply to win prizes. Once the rules are 

 made, however, and he starts to build his yacht under them, it 

 is to his interest to push to the very limit of the rules, builaing as 

 powerful and speedy a craft as they will admit of. 



The designer, too, is similarly placed. He must do the most pos- 

 sible for his client, his boats must win or his reputation suffers; 

 but. let htm once succeed in evading the spirit and letter of the 

 rule and he opens the. way for others to follow, and even though 

 he may be more successful than they, his success of itself serves 

 to kill all competition. The present revival of the interest in the 

 smaller classes promises to bear fruit soon in increased racing in 

 the larger boats; but even now there are some careful observers 

 who prophesy that the 40ft. class will exhaust itself within the 

 present season. The result of a racing shell of unlimited draft, 

 with nothing but a light floor below— a build that would stand but 

 two or three seasons' service— and with a large and Well-trained 

 racing crew aboard through the season, is easily seen. She would 

 stand a good chance of sweeping the coast, capturing every prize, 

 killing the young class, and roboing the owners of their spoit and 

 the designers of a harvest which they may reasonably expect in 

 the future. 



The evils which threaten the class now, as well as other classes 

 in the future, are two: size, which includes draft; and very light 

 build, which includes the necessity of stripping the average boat 

 for every race. While the former is the more serious, the latter 

 is by no means trifling, iuvolving as it does the life of the boat 

 and its use to the owner for every purpose but a few races. The 

 average racing owner desires a strong and staunch craft under 

 him, nor does he care to sacrifice strength to a Utile speed ,but if one 

 or two are xllowed to go to the extreme the others must either drop 

 out entirely or follow the example. In the same way, most men 

 who would own a 40-footer wish to live aboard for a great part of 

 the time, as the owners of Baboon and Pappoose, or to use t he boat 

 for general sailing as well as racing, for wuieh purpose Chiquita 

 is admirably lifted up. 



As a rule the fitting up of the new boats is not specially elabo- 

 rate or heavy, but we have seen one handsome cabin converted 

 into a dreary wreck by dint of a hard day's work before a race. 

 How long it took to restore it we have never heard. The whole, 

 interior of the yacht was gutted completely, every shelf, every 

 little door that could be removed by means of a screwdriver, was 

 sent ashore: no companion ladder, hardly floor enough to stand 

 on, every lid removed lrom the transom lockers, a pair of blan- 

 keLS on one locker for a man to sleep on, and the boa looking as 

 it she was hardly half completed inside, Such a job as this is 

 distasteful to almost all owners, but even now the feeling is that 

 it is essential to success, and that in racing against, good boats, not 

 mere shells. 



The necessity for some regulation of the sport has been recog- 

 nized for so no time by the more thoughtful men among the 

 leaders of yachting, but no united and comprehensive action has 

 yet been proposed. The matter of draft has received more atten- 

 tion than any other detail, especially in Boston, where rumois of 

 deeper craft are rife; and a proposal to tax diaft directly has 

 been made by the Boston Globe. A curve of maximum draft is 

 given, the limits being as follows: 



Length.. 10ft. Draft.. 2.6ft. 



Length.. 20ft. Draft. 5.0ft. 



Length.. aoft. Draft.. 7.1ft. 



Length 40ft. Draft.. 9.0it. 



Length.. 50ft. Draft. -10.7ft. 



We must say that there is nothing small or mean about the 

 limits laid down, the r a rowest cutter fiend could hardly quaritl 

 with them, giving as they do 1ft. more draft to Sonna and Delvin. 

 overltt. to Ulidia and Queen Majbj a foot more to tiara, the 

 same to Ileen; 3ft. to Bedouin, a foot to Genesta, and a full Ifitft. 

 to Thistle. It. would seem alongside of the modern American 

 "keel sloop" that the poor British cutter was only a shcal, half- 

 way sort of an affair at best. As far as practice gots the limits 

 are certainly generous enough, but we objt ct to them in that they 

 do not reach the case at all; they an- unnecessary; and farther, 

 draft or depth should be the very last elements to be taxed in any 

 case. The natural limits on excessive draft are sufficn-nt now, 

 and there is no reason for artificial ones while other and safer 

 remedies are at hand. 



To apply the table to the 40ft. class, the maximum draft is 9ft, 

 more than has ever yet been tried. Under existing rules 

 but within this limit of draft, it is possible to go oven further than 

 the new Lawton boat, to lighten the hull by the omission of all 

 interior work, to give increased power by more beam near the 

 surface, and with a still heavier keel to crowd on sail to the very 

 limit of engineering skill in holding the sticks upright. Such a 

 craft would be an embodiement of all the evils we have spoken 

 of , and yet would be possible under the limit proposed by the 

 Qloht . Until the means now at hand have been thoroughly tested 

 there is no excuse for hunting up other methods, and those who 

 really wish to further a material reform in the fleet will find an 

 instrument ready at hand in the length and sail area rule. 



While nominally such a rule is now in use, it is a recognized 

 fact, that in the New York Y. C. the rule is but a farce so far as it 

 restricts sail, and even in its more stringent form, in the Seawan- 

 haka and Eastern clubs, it bears far too lightly to afford any 

 test of its value as a rule of measurement. Volunteer was built 

 to race under the New York Y. C. rules, yet she was unable, from 

 merely physical reasons, to use that amount of sail which she 

 could easily have paid for by the rule, so that actually her sail 

 was untaxed. The larger and newer maiusail, with its 87tt. 

 boom, was tried and rejected because the boom, a perfect stick of 

 Oregon pine, could not be made to stand satisfactorily. Though 

 it is six years since the ler gth and sail area rule was first adopted 

 by the New York and Seawanhaka clubs, the proportion of sail, 

 even in the latter, was too small to afford a thorough test of the 

 value of the rule for building purposes, nor has such a test ever 

 been made. As we have before stated, the rule has amounted in 

 practice to little more than a length rule with a small correction 

 for sail area, and under even the Seawanhaka rule the yachts 

 have been wide and deep for their length, and with abnormal 

 spars and canvas. 



There is every reason to believe that a decidedly heavier tax 

 on sail area would work a great change for the better throughout 



Length.. 6ift. Draft.. 12. lft. 



Length.. 70fc. Draft.. 13.2ft. 



bength .80ft. Draft.. 14.2ft. 



Length.. 90ft. Draft, ,15.0ft. 



