Dec. 12, 1889.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



418 



"DECIMA" 10-Rating Cutter, Designed by Me. Arthur E. Payne, 



Length, 35ft. 8in. Beam, 10ft. Draft, 8ft. 



THE RIGHT TIME TO TACK. 



THE first rule of racing, as all yachtsmen know, is "Never 

 leave your opponent when you are beating him." If this is 

 true m sailing a race, it is no less true when applied to rules and 

 methode, and no better guide can be had in the question now be- 

 fore the clubs. The continual contest which must always exist 

 between the two great yachting nations, and which is but a race 

 on a large scale, has resulted very decidedly of late years in the 

 favor of America. Convinced that the tack 1hey were on was a 

 wrong one, Brinish yachtsmen went about in 1887 and started on a 

 new and very different course, under a rule that is by far the 

 most perfect in theory of any yet tried. Not only have the 

 immediate results in the way of a revival of building and racing 

 been most satisfactory, but the new yachts are in themselves of a 

 moderate and healthy type, and, most of all, designers are given 

 a greater opportunity than ever in the past. Thus far there is 

 but one verdict from both designers and racing men, that the 

 new rule is a success; and while time will probably show some 

 defects, there is no doubt that the rule is the best thus far known. 



Meanwhile, in spite of the complaints against existing rules in 

 America and the huge rigs which they have produced, there are 

 some who propose that the same state of affairs shall be con- 

 tinued, or if any change be made, it shall be so small as to have 

 no practical effect. 



Just now American yachtsmen are carried away with their late 

 victories, perhaps to a point of over-confidence, and are giving 



little thought to the different directions in which they and their 

 opponents are going. The whole force of the rules here tends to 

 the development of big rigs on a limited length; and, though the 

 yachts thus far built have proved successful, there is no guaran- 

 tee as to the future fleet. The British rules, on the contrary, have 

 produced boats of moderate proportions in hull and sail, giving 

 good accommodations and requiring small crews; and while de- 

 signers are trying various proportions, the one fact that is most 

 unmistakable is, that a reasonable amount of beam is essential to 

 speed under the rule. 



At present there is a cessation of international racing, and no 

 one can say how the yachts of the two nations which have been 

 built since the Volunteer-Thistle race will compare; but with one 

 side running in a very deep rut and the other branching out in 

 every direction in which progress is promised, there is a strong 

 chance that when the two meet again in tacking, the positions of 

 '85, '86 and '87 may be reversed, and that Britain may be to wind- 

 ward instead of to leeward. 



The recommendation of the measurement committee is briefly 

 that American yachtsmen shall tack with their opponents and 

 follow them in a modification of the British rule to American 

 conditions. The opponents of this course bring forward no argu- 

 ments, offer no facts or figures, but rest their case on the bare as- 

 sertion that the proposed change will bring in very narrow boats; 

 an assertion with nothing to support it and everything in the 

 actual fleet built abroad to contradict it. 



If those yachtsmen whose votes decide the fate of the rule will 



consider the question on its merits, weighing such facts as are 

 advanced on each side, there is little doubt that the decision will 

 be that now is the time to tack, before the other craft is so far 

 away m the course of progress that she cannot be overtaken. 



SEAWANHAKA COR. Y. C— The following programme of 

 lectures and entertainments has been announced: Dec. 14, 8:30 

 P. M., musical entertainment; Jan. 18, Cruising Yachts and Yacht 

 Cruising, by Vice-Corn. Robert Center; Feb. 1, annual dinner; 

 Feb. 8, an Account of the Hurricane at Samoa, by Lieut. R. G. M. 

 Brown, U. S. N. Navigating Officer of the U. S. Flagship Trenton, 

 one of the lost vessels; March 15, Tides and Ocean Currents. The 

 lectures on Yacht Construction by Mr. Cary Smith will begin 

 early in January on alternate Tuesdays. The weekly mess din- 

 ners on Thursday evening have become a popular feature in the 

 club. 



A POSSIBLE CHALLENGER.— The time for a challenge for 

 1890 has about expired and none is forthcoming, but there is a re- 

 port that Sir Roderick Cameron, a member of the New York Y 

 C. and owner of the schooner Lady Evelyn, will build a 90-footer 

 trom Fife designs and challenge for the Cup. 



YACHT BUILDING ABROAD. — Messrs. Forrest & Sons, of 

 Wyvenhoe, will build a 40 rater from Mr. Watson's design for 

 Col. Bagot, owner of the Clayton 40, Mohawk. Fay & Co. have 

 east the keel of Mr. Jameson's new cutter. 



