Oct. 24, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



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DIAGRAM SHOWING RATIO OF SAIL TO LENGTH IN THE RACING FLEET. 



The vertical lines indicate the present limits of classes by waterline length; the inclined lines indicate the limits of classes by corrected length. The relative position 

 of each yacht in its class, near the upper or lower limit, is shown by its proximity to lines indicating the class limits. 



The operation of the former system is familiar to all, yachts are 

 built to the utmost limit of waterline allowed for their class, the 

 leading feature of the design being the power which is obtained 

 from beam, draft and ballast; and then sail is piled on according 

 to the judgment, or often the lack of judgment, of the designer. 

 Under this system both waterline ai;d sail may be considered as 

 constant for each class, in spite of the fact that the latter has 

 steadily and rapidly increased of late with the improvement in 

 mechanical features, such as build and ballast; but under the 

 other system both are variable, increasing and decreasing in in- 

 verse ratio according to the particular formula in use. Thus, as 

 length is increased the sail is decreased, leaving the designer at 

 liberty to. select his dimensions freely for any given class. Under 

 such a rule 1 he present forties would come, for instance, in a class 

 whose maximum limit would be 48ft. corrected length by Seawan- 



haka rule, or — ~- = 18. 



If we substitute. 40 for the length (L) in this formula the corres- 

 ponding sail area (8) will be 3,186sq. ft.; and if a length of 45ft. be 

 taken the corresponding sail area will be but 2,601. In the 40ft. 

 boat a beam of 13ft. 6in. and a draft of 8ft. 6in. would probably be 

 taken; in the 41ft. both would be reduced a little, while in the 

 45ft. craft, if such a length should be desh-ed. the beam would be 

 about 10ft., with 9ft. draft. In theory the three yachts would he 

 of the same size, and would race on even terms with no time 

 allosvance from one to another, and whether or 110 such a result is 

 reached in piactice depends on the proportions of length and sail 

 in the rule. It is easily seen that the desiguer or owner cannot 

 eat his cake and have it too; if he prefers the comparatively wide 

 model with large sails, such as the forty, he is at liberty to build 

 it; if he wishes less extreme dimensions, more fore and aft accom- 

 modation and 3 small rig, he can just as well have that; but what 

 he cannot do is to take the length, 45ft., and with it the proportion- 

 ate beam and sail of the 40ft. boat in order to beat the latter 

 through mere size. 



Such is briefly the theory of that "classification by corrected 

 length" that has been so much talked of for a couple of years or 

 more. In order to consider its practical application to the Ameri- 

 can fleet it is necessary to know something of the elements of the 

 yachts, to which end we have prepared table A. As the most con- 

 venient and accurate basis for the comparison of the sail areas we 

 have taken the ratio of the square root of the sail area to the 

 waterline, as given in the fifth column. 



The rather nebulous and indefinite unit, "corrected length" is 

 in the various forms of what is called the "length and sail area" 

 rule, made up of the waterline and some function of the sail 

 area, in varying proportions; by adding twice the waterline to 

 the square root of the sail area and dividing the sum by three; 

 by adding the waterline and square root of the sail area together 

 and dividing by two; or else the measurements of the principal 

 spars are combined in such a way as to avoid that terrible bug- 

 bear, the square root, the sum being used in connection with the 

 waterline to make up the "corrected length." 



In the actual measurement of the sails by New York and S. C. 

 Y. C. rules the sail plan is considered as a triangle whose base is 

 the distance from the intersection of the luff of the jib with the 

 bowsprit to the end of the main boom, with 34 of the gaff added; 

 and whose perpendicular is the distance from the upper side of 

 main boom to the topsail block or sheave in topmast. The merits 

 and demerits of this method of measuring sail offer in themselves 

 a wide field for discussion, but without going into it now we shall 

 assume that the measurement is as fair to one yacht as another, 

 and shall use it in all our inv tstigations, as it is the only one ob- 

 tainable. The figures which we give are compiled from the racing 

 measurements in the various club books. By the English method 

 of measuring the actual area of mainsail and topsail is taken, the 

 latter being sometimes a club and sometimes a sprit topsail, 

 consequently the measurement is a little larger than by the 

 American rules, and in cases where the measurements of British 

 yachts are given in the following tables a correction has been 

 made in the official Y. R. A. measurement to bring the figures 

 down to an American basis in connection with table A. 



The accompanying diagram shows very plainly the decrease of 

 sail with the increase of length, and at the same time the great 

 extreme to which some of the latest yachts have gone in the mat- 

 ter of sail and power. The horizontal scale represents the lengths 

 of waterline in feet from 25 to 100, while the vertical scale shows 

 the ratio of the square root of the sail area to the corresponding 

 waterline; thus in the case of Pappoose, the waterline is 36.90ft., 

 the sail area is 2,334sq. ft., the square root being 48.31ft., conse- 

 quently 48.31 =1< g li Qr lgi as plotted on the vertieal scale at the 



point equal to 36.90 on the horizontal. 



Besides much that pertains to the immediate subject in hand 

 there is a text for a very interesting discourse in the diagram and 

 figures, showing as they do the great increase of sail in the new 

 yachts, Litis and Kathleen, for instance, overtopping everything 

 with a ratio of 151 per cent., while in the schooners the new Quick- 

 Step shows a proportion of 115 per cent, compared with 98 per 

 cent, of the old racer Clio, of nearly the same length. The main 

 purpose of the diagram at present is to illustrate the law 

 by which the proportion of sail to length decreases as the 

 yachts increase in size; for instance, in Pappoose of 

 36.90ft. waterline, the ratio is 1.31, while in Volunteer 

 of 85.88 waterline, the ratio is but 1.12. The line BB 

 shows very nearly the average of the existing fleet up to the last 

 two seasons, the ratio being nearly as in Table B for each of the 

 established classes. A point well worthy of notice is the varying 

 degree of development of the different classes, in the past as 

 well as at present; for instance, the highest point to-day is 

 reached in the 30 and 40ft. classes, the 46 and 53ft. classes as yet 

 having comparatively small iigs. Further on the old Mischief, 

 81ft., shows up with a very large rig, far above the average of her 

 day in either of the adjoining classes, but she is now overtopped 

 by Titania in the 70ft. class, to say nothing of the still bigger rig 

 of Katrina. In the schooner division the new boats Quickstep, 

 CEnone, Marguerite and Merlin stand far above the older, or even 

 the comparatively modern boats of their classes. In making a 

 comparison it is necessary to bear in mind that theoretically the 

 greatest ratio would be found on the. smallest yachts (about 130 per 

 cent, for 25ft.), decreasing from this down to nearly 110 in the 



ELEMENTS OF MEASUREMENT AND CLASSIFICATION OF RACING 

 YACHTS. 



Schooners. 



S. 



So. feet. 



Dauntless 11,016 



Kamona 10 653 



i 'aimer 10,798 



Gitana 8,546 



Fortuna 8,494 



Montauk 8,553 



Merlin 9.410- 



Sea Fox 8,718 



Alert 8,303 



Phantom 7,879 



Sachem 8,773 



Mayflower.... 8,849 



Miranda 7,186 



Elma 8,-166 



Grayling 7,855 



Iroquois 7,081 



Magic 6,350 



Marguerite... 8,139 



Halcyon 7,042 



(Enone 7,440 



Olio 4,469 



Harbinger.... 4,538 

 Quickstep .. 5,611 

 Azalea 4,180 



Galatea 7,505 



Thistle 8,967 



Volunteer ... 9,271 

 Mayflower.... 8,634 

 Priscilla ., 

 Atlantic . 



Irex 



Genesta. . . 



Puritan 



Bedouin 5,796 



Titania 6,844 



Valkyrie 6,400 



Katrina 7,082 



tirade 6,U07 



Shamrock. . . . 6,2<:8 



Fanny 5,715 



Y arana •-; 200 



Stranger ... . 5,100 



lleen 4,503 



Thetis 4,69g 



Huron 5,190 



Vision 5.203 



Mohawk 3,890 



Mischief 5,403 



Hildegarde... 4,837 



Wenonah 4,720 



Whileaway... 3.380 



Athlon 3,900 



Clara 3,220 



Cinderella ... 3,900 



Isis 3,363 



Lenore 3,400 



Oriva 3,364 



Bertie 3,400 



Regina 3,188 



Daphne 3,218 



Adelaide 3,043 



Vreda 2,550 



Fan it a 3,324 



Bavadere 2,601 



Vixen 3,180 



■ vie 2,620 



Uli'iia 2,190 



Minerva 2.724 



Banshee 3,800 



Gorilla 3,257 



Maraquita. . . . 3,173 



7,353 

 8.2=0 

 6,800 

 7,887 



2.CO0 

 2,986 

 3,603 



3:333 

 2,930 



Nymph 



Lotowana. . 



Litis 



Chiquita. . . 

 Tomahawk 



Verena 



Helen 



Alice 



Baboon 



Xara 



Madge 2,315 



Wave 

 Rival 



... 2,187 

 . 2,520 

 . 2,334 

 2,380 



Pappoose 

 Schemer. 



Peri 



Hera 



Shadow.. 



Iseult 



Beatiice. 

 Elephant 

 Volusia. . 



Shona 



Saracen .... 



Kathleen 2,045 



Tomboy 1,721 



Gael 1,102 



Yolande 1,161 



Bantam 1,091 



Daisy 1,249 



.... 2,024 

 .... 2,400 



1,800 



1.922 



. ... 3,020 



i.753 

 1,300 



VK 

 Feet. 

 105.10 

 103.21 

 103.91 

 92.44 

 92.15 

 93.48 

 97.00 

 93.36 

 91.10 

 88.59 

 93.66 

 94.06 

 84.77 

 92.01 

 88.63 

 84.14 

 79.68 

 90.21 

 83.92 

 86.25 

 66.85 

 67.36 

 74.91 

 64.65 



L. 



Feet. 

 116.70 

 111.05 

 104.30 

 99.00 

 96.30 

 98.26 

 89.90 

 89.50 

 89.00 

 87.00 

 86.88 

 86.58 

 86.30 

 85.90 

 83.50 

 80.55 

 80.50 

 79.95 

 79.63 

 75.00 

 68.00 

 66.24 

 65.10 

 60.85 



Corrected Length. 



VS . ' . 



L. New TTorlf. Seaxvanh. 



Singlestick ers. 



86.63 

 94.69 

 98.80 

 92.92 

 85.50 

 90.83 

 82.46 

 85.94 

 89.34 

 76.13 

 82.73 

 80.00 

 84.15 

 77.50 

 79.36 

 75.60 

 73.10 

 71.43 

 67.10 

 68.50 

 71.93 

 72.12 

 62.38 

 73 50 

 69.55 

 68.70 

 58.16 

 63.02 

 56.75 

 62.44 

 57.96 

 58.24 

 58.00 

 58.24 

 56.46 

 56.73 

 55.17 

 50.50 

 57.65 

 51.00 

 56.14 

 51.18 

 46.79 

 52.19 

 52.91 

 57.07 

 56.33 

 53.85 

 54.64 

 60.03 

 54.06 

 57.72 



87.00 

 86.46 

 85.88 

 85.54 

 85 30 

 84.05 

 83.54 

 81.08 

 81.01 

 70.17 

 70.08 

 69.64 

 69.38 

 69.28 

 68.10 

 66.75 

 66.08 

 65.15 

 65.12 

 64.00 

 63.50 

 62.95 

 61.21 

 61.00 

 60.85 

 60.75 

 57.17 

 53.10 

 53.05 

 52.00 

 51.56 

 50.81 

 50.75 

 49.00 

 46.96 

 46.25 

 46.17 

 45.74 

 45.40 

 45.00 

 44.83 

 44.42 

 42.50 

 39.98 

 39.95 

 39 92 

 39.92 

 89. SO 

 39.75 

 39.70 

 39.70 

 39.65 



1.08 

 1.10 

 1.08 

 1.18 

 1.14 

 1.21 

 1.12 

 1.17 

 1.13 

 1.09 

 1.09 

 1.03 

 1.07 

 1.13 

 1.14 

 1.02 

 1.20 

 1.14 

 1.13 

 1.02 

 1.18 

 1.07 

 1.20 

 1.12 

 1 14 

 1.14 

 1.19 

 1.17 

 1.22 

 1.20 

 1.10 

 1.27 

 1.13 

 1.26 

 1.15 

 1.10 

 1.300 

 1.33 

 1.43 

 1.41 

 1.35 

 1.39 

 1.51 

 1.36 

 1 45 



Feet. 

 112.83 

 108.44 

 104.17 

 96.81 

 95.35 

 95.33 

 92.37 

 90.78 

 89.70 

 87.53 

 86.14 

 89.08 

 85.79 

 87.94 

 85.21 

 81.74 

 80.23 

 83.37 

 81.08 

 78.75 

 67.63 

 66.61 

 68.37 

 63.11 



86.87 

 89.20 

 89.35 

 88 00 

 85.37 

 86 15 

 83.18 

 83.68 

 83.85 

 73.16 

 74.30 

 73.09 

 73.85 

 71.94 

 71.85 

 69.70 

 68.08 

 67.57 

 65.78 

 65.50 

 66.31 

 66.00 

 61.60 

 65.17 

 63.75 

 63.40 

 57.50 

 56.40 

 54.38 

 55.58 

 53.69 

 53.28 

 53.17 

 52.08 

 50.13 

 49.74 

 49.17 

 47.33 

 49.48 

 47.00 

 48.60 

 46.67 

 43.93 

 44.04 

 44.27 

 45.64 

 45.39 

 44.55 

 44.71 

 46.47 

 44.49 

 45.67 



48.12 



39.40 



1.22 



42.31 



46.76 



38.66 



1.21 



41.36 



50.20 



38.25 



1.31 



42.57 



48.31 



36.90 



1.31 



40.70 



47.71 



38.83 



1.29 



40.46 



44.98 



36.28 



1.24 



39.18 



48.96 



34.92 



1.37 



39.60 



42.40 



34.17 



1.24 



36.91 



43.84 



33.42 



1.31 



36.78 



38,86 



33.25 



1.17 



35 12 



41 ! 87 



32]80 



i!28 



35.82 



36.05 



32.45 



1.11 



33.65 



45!22 



29.90 



L51 



35.00 



41.48 



29.82 



1.39 



33.70 



33.19 



28.06 



1.18 



29.77 



34.06 



27.50 



1.24 



29.68 



33.03 



26.80 



1.23 



28.88 



S5.33 



25.33 



1.40 



28.66 



Feet. 

 110.90 

 107.13 

 104.01 

 95.72 

 94.22 

 94.37 

 93.45 

 91.43 

 90.05 

 87.79 

 90.27 

 90.32 

 85.54 

 88.95 

 86.06 

 82.34 

 80.09 

 85.08 

 81.79 

 80.63 

 67.42 

 66.80 

 70.00 

 62.75 



86.82 

 90.07 

 91.09 

 89 23 

 85.40 

 87.88 

 83.00 

 83.50 

 85 17 

 73.15 

 78.40 

 74.82 

 76.76 

 73.39 

 73.73 

 71.17 

 69.09 

 68.28 

 66.12 

 66.25 

 67.71 

 67.54 

 61.80 

 67.25 

 65.41 

 64.22 

 57.66 

 58.06 

 54.90 

 57.22 

 54.74 

 54.52 

 54.37 

 53.63 

 51.91 

 51.49 

 50.67 

 48.13 

 51 52 

 48.00 

 50.48 

 47.80 

 44.64 

 46.07 

 46.43 

 48.50 

 48.12 

 46.87 

 47.19 

 49.86 

 ' 46.88 

 48.68 

 47.00 

 46.50 

 47.00 

 46.80 

 46.40 

 43.76 

 42.71 

 44.22 

 42.60 

 42.27 

 40.63 

 41.94 

 38.28 

 38.63 

 36.05 

 35.75 

 37. 80 

 34.25 

 36.10 

 37.56 

 34.90 

 30.63 

 30.78 

 29.91 

 30.33 



largest, or 86ft.; and similarly in the schooners. Instead of this 

 gradual incline the line jura ps up at 30 and 40ft., falls at 40 and 53ft., 

 and rises at 70ft., showing that the development is by no means 

 even, depending largely on the fashion for certain classes. It is 

 worthy of note that the Daisy, with the very high percentage of 

 140, is an imported Itchen boat, the prototype of the modern thir- 

 ties and forties with their enormous rigs. 



In order to change from a classification by waterline to one by 

 corrected length it is necessary to determine first a starting point, 

 common to the two systems; second, the desirable class limits 

 under the new system, and tnird, the proper formula on which 

 the corrected length is to be based. If, as some believe, it is de- 

 sirable to tax sail more heavily than is now done, it would be an 

 easy matter to lay down arbitrary limits for each class and work 

 out a rule to correspond, having no regard to existing boats, but 

 such a sweeping measure is unnecessary and undesirable; instead 

 of taxing sail a similar end may be reached in a much more satis- 

 factory manner by takiug a part of the tax off of length; and it is 

 in every way desirable that if a change be made it should be ac- 

 companied with the least possible friction and disturbance to 

 existing interests. The following table, B, giving the average 

 ratio of sail area to length in each of the existing classes, has been 

 Compiled from the diagram, the average being a high one and in- 

 cluding all but half a dozen of the singlestick fleet. 



Table B. 



ELEMENTS OF MEASUREMENT AND CLASSIFICATION IN EXISTING 

 CLASSES. 



Corrected Length. 

 S. 2 L+ V'S~. l+^s: 



L. 



v& 



vs. 





L. 





25ft. 



1.37 



35ft. 



30ft. 



1.40 



42ft. 



35ft. 



1.40 



49ft. 



40ft. 



1.40 



56ft. 



46 ft. 



1.30 



60ft. 



53ft. 



1.22 



65ft. 



61ft. 



1.20 



73ft. 



70ft. 



1.186 



83ft. 



80ft. 



1.12 



90ft. 



90ft. 



1.10 



100ft. 



1225sq. ft. 



28ft. 



30ft. 



1765sq. ft. 



34 ft. 



36ft. 



2401sq. ft. 



40ft. 



42ft. 





45ft. 



48ft. 



3600sq. ft. 



51ft. 



53ft. 



4225sq. ft. 



57ft. 



59ft. 

 67ft. 



' 1 XI 



65ft. 



88S9sq. ft. 



74.3ft. 



76.5ft. 



8l00sq. ft. 



83ft. 



85 ft. 



lOOOOsq. ft. 



93ft. 



95ft. 



The first column, L, contains the waterline length, the second 

 the ratio of square root of sail area to this length, the third con- 

 tains the square root of the sail, the fourth the actual allowance 

 of sail, and the last two columns the corresponding corrected 

 length by the formulas now in general use. Fractions have 

 been omitted as far as possible in order to give an even number 

 for the class limit, the only exception being in the 70ft. cla*s. 

 » ri h on e point in each class fixed upon, it is a simple matter to 

 work out the allowances for the whole class on the basis of cor- 

 rected length. For instance, in ihe 40ft. class, by the New York 



rule, the calculation would be gJj 4~*° =45, and by substitut- 

 ing different figures in turn for the length we get the correspond- 

 ing allowance of sail. With the starting point for each class 

 fixed, as in the above table, the present fleet with their large ri°-s 

 would be left practically undisturbed, the allowances between 

 them under any given rule would be the same as now exist, while 

 each boat would be as firmly fixed in its new class as it now is in 

 the old one. The important question would be to determine the 

 allowance of sail to the new boats to be built under the rule, in 

 which the length, instead of being fixed, as now, would vary at 

 the will of the designer. Under a system of classification by cor- 

 rected length almost any tax maybe placed on sail with the'same 

 rule, as shown 111 Table C, which gives the various classes possi- 

 ble under either formula that should include the present forties. 



Table C. 



COMPARISON OF POSSIBLE CLASSES BT CORRECTED LENGTH AP- 

 PLIED TO PRESENT 40FT. CLASS. 



2L+ VS. L+Vs~. 



3 



Waterline 

 length. 



hhft. 

 Class. 



33 ft 8136 



39ft 2916 



40ft 3704 



41ft 2500 



42ft 2304 



43ft 2116 



44ft 1936 



45ft 1764 



46ft 1600 



47ft 1444 



48ft 1296 



hoft. heft. ItSfL h6ft. hSft. 

 Class. Class. Class. Class. Class. 



Sail allowed for each length. 



3844 4624 2916 3364 

 4356 2809 

 4096 



3481 

 3249 

 3025 

 2809 

 2601 

 2401 

 2209 

 2025 

 1849 

 1681 

 1521 



3364 

 3136 

 2916 

 2704 

 2500 

 2304 

 2116 

 1936 

 1764 



3136 

 ^916 

 2704 

 2500 

 2304 



2704 

 2601 

 2500 

 2401 

 2304 

 320i) 

 2116 

 2035 

 1936 



3249 

 3136 

 3025 

 2916 



2704 

 2601 

 2500 

 2401 

 2304 



50ft. 

 Class. 



3844 

 3731 

 3600 

 3481 

 3364 

 3249 

 3136 

 3025 

 2916 

 2809 

 2704 



From this table, if we take a class limit of 44ft. corrected length 

 by the first rule the allowance of sail for a forty would be but 

 3,i04tt ., or less than Minerva, while any longer boat would be still 

 more restricted. If, on the other hand, a limit of 48ft. be taken 

 for the class, the normal boat, the present forty, would be allowed 

 the ridiculous amount of 1,096ft. Similarly under the second 

 rule tor a class of 48ft. corrected length, only 2,704ft. would be 

 alowecl, while for a 50ft. class a forty might have 3,600ft., the sail 

 plan of Liris. An inspection of the table will quickly show that 

 the practicable classes would be 45 or 46ft. if the first formula is 

 followed, and 48ft. under the second. 



Assuming that the starting point in each class would be about 

 the amount of sail now carried by the existing boats that would 

 go 111 the new class, of from 3,000 to 3,200 for a forty, the next 

 thing is to determine the form of rule and the particular class 

 under it which is likely to produce the most wholesome type of 

 boat in the future. The 40ft. class will set ve very well as a basis 

 tor calculation, as it would occupy too much space to carry out 

 the comparison for all the different classes. Referring to table C 



