460 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



P)EC. U, 1891. 



VALDA. 



THE yachtsman who has plenty of water to sail in, and is near at 

 hand to competent designers and builders, with a fleet of good 

 boats from which to form an idea of what will best suit him, can 

 hardly appreciate the difficulty under which yachting is carried 

 on in less favored and more remote localities, or the trials of 

 those in particular who are energetic and progressive, and de- 

 sirous of something better than the general run of local craft. 

 The St. Lawrence River at Montreal was evidently planned with 

 no idea that it was ever to become the home of a yacht club, its 

 reefs and shoals forbidding a working draft of over three feet, 

 while the broad waters of "Lac St. Pierre" and "Lac Two Mount- 

 ings" at times show a short, steep sea that calls for a particularly 

 able craft, however small she may be. 



In spite of the natural disadvantages, Montreal ihas, as our 

 readers know, an active and gx'owing yacht club, the St. Law- 

 rence; the races being reported regularly through the season. 

 The fleet has been made up of craft from all quarters, the only 

 point of uniformity being in the matter of draft. The old New 

 York sandbagger has always been well represented,with Cuthbert 

 boats from Lake Ontario; home-built craft by local builders, and 

 various odd models from remote Canadian waters. Starting with 

 shifting ballast, unlimited crews, a mixed fleet of all sizes, and 

 with the majority of the racing men opposed to any rules which 

 bore heaviiy on their craft, the work of introducing better rules 

 and of bringing the racing up to more modern ideas has been a 

 very heavy task. It has been so far successful, however, that the 

 races of the club are now sailed under the rules of the Lake Y. 

 R. A., with a corrected length classification; shifting ballast and 

 unlimited crews have been abolished, and several fixed classes 

 have been established, to which the older boats have accommo- 

 dated themselves, and to which new ones are also being built. 



The little craft whose lines are here given has played such an 

 important part in the racing of the past two seasons, and has 

 done so much to give a practical demonstration of what is possi- 

 ble under the new rules and conditions, that at our request her 

 owner, designer and skipper has given us a tracing of his original 

 design. The yacht is in every way the work of an amateur, hav- 

 ing been designed and almost built by her owner, Mr. G-. H. Dug- 

 gan, a mechanical engineer connected with the Dominion Bridge 

 Company, of Lachine, near Montreal. Though a skillful drafts- 

 man, Mr. Duggan's experience as a designer has been very lim- 

 ited, Valda being his first yacht. The builder, St. Onge, an old 

 French Canadian, has a local reputation for his skiflfs and for 

 neat and honest work; but is utterly innocent of any knowledge 

 of building from moulds, all of his boats being built by eye alone. 

 Under such circumstances the building from a design was doubly 

 difficult, and the designer was obliged to lay down the boat and 

 get out the moulds, laying off all the narts, and closely superin- 

 tending the entire construction. The builder was familiar only 

 with lapstrake work, so the boat was built in this manner. In 

 ppite of these difficulties the work has proved very sa.ti8factory,the 

 boat being fair and smoothly and strongly built. 



Valda was designed for the 21ft. l.w.l. class, a length rule being 

 In force in 1890, but being a believer in corrected length, and 

 anticipating the adoption of the new classification, Mr. Duggan 

 kept the design within moderate limits. When the rule was 

 changed last winter he determined to race Valda in the new 29ft. 

 c.L class, her corrected length being 34ft. lin. Her racing in 1890 was 

 done with a crew of six and with 7001bs. iron on the Keel, but in 

 the past season she has carried but five men, her ballast being in- 

 creased to l,7201bs. of lead. 



She has been started in every race but two that has been open 

 to her during the two seasons, her owner steering her on every 

 occasion, and she has bes'des been constantly used for sailing and 

 short cruising. Her best work has been in light winds and to 

 windward or free, the poorest point of sailing being reaching. 

 She has contended very successfully with yachts of much greater 

 size, though on one occasion she was beaten by the fastest of the 

 local skiffs, Thora, a boat with 19ft. l.w.l., 5ft. beam, andl9.4£t. c.l. 

 Valda's dimensions are: Length over all, S7ft. lin.; l.w.l., 20ft. 

 lOi^in.; beam, extreme, 7ft. llln.; l.w.l., 6ft. llin.; draft, 3ft. J^in. 

 The draft was limited to this small figure as the water is specially 

 shoal at Lachine, the home of her owner. Valda's racing record 

 up to the present date is as follows: 



BBCOBD OP TALDA, 20PT. lOJ^TN., li.W.L., SAILING IN 31FT. 

 L.W.L. CLASS, 1890. 



June 21.— St. Lawrence Y. C— 21ft. and 26ft. classes. Wind light. 

 Ten starters. Valda led fleet by 3m. 45s. elapsed time. Lulu of 

 39ft, 5in. c.l. second. This race was declared off by the sailing 

 committee, the customary time limit having been exceeded, 

 although none had been set before the race. 



July 1.— St. Lawrence Y. C— All classes. Wind light, freshening 

 at finish. Nine starters, Valda won from her class by 2m. 21s., 

 and was second in fleet. 



July 5.— St. Lawrence Y. C— All classes. Wind good, topsail 

 breeze. Six starters. Valda first in her class by 9m. 16s. and was 

 only beaten by Lulu of 37ft. l.w.l. by 16s. 



July 36.— Valois Annual.— Special handicap. Wind fresh. Four 

 starters. Valda scratch, but won first from Mabel 31ft. although 

 allowing her Sm. handicap. 



Aug. 3.— Pointe Claire Annual.— Wind light but freshening. 

 Thi'ee starters. Lulu 37ft. l.w.l., Minnie A. 35ft. 5in. and Valda 

 21ft. Valda first on elapsed time. 



Aug. 30.— St. Lawrence Y. C— All classes. Wind fresh, doable 

 reef. Three starters. Classes did not flU and Chaperone 86ft. Sin., 

 Minnie A. 85ft. Sin. and Valda 31ft. sailed together. Valda won by 

 3m. 25s. corrected time. 



1891. 



The club classification was changed this year to 21ft., 24ft. and 

 29ft. C.I., the new classes keeping the boats as they had been un- 

 der former l.w.L classes. Valda measuring 33ft. Sin. c.l. had her 

 spar plan altered to make her measure 34ft.lin., thus bringing her 

 into the 39ft. class with Chaperone, a Jarvis compromise with 

 Lapthorne sails of 39ft. 9in. c.l , Mollie Bawn by Burgess of 36ft. 

 C.I., Frolic by Mumm of 38ft. Sin , and Breeze by Cuthbert of 26ft. 



May 25.— Special unclassified sweepstakes. Wind fresh but 

 shifting. Four starters. Dream of 32ft. Sin. c.l. first, beating 

 Valda, second, of 24ft. lin. c.l. by 3m. 248, This race was nomi- 

 nally eight miles, but four miles was a thrash to windward in a 

 two-mile current, the race occupying in a fresh breeze two hours. 



June 13.— St. Lawrence Y. C.— ^f t. class. Topsail breeze. Four 

 staiters. Valda first by 6m. 34s. corrected time. 



Jxme 8?.— St, Lawrence Y. C— All elasaes. Single reef breeze. 

 Twelve starters. Valda first in class bySm. ^.corrected time. 



July 1.— St, Lawrence Y. C— AH elassea. Topsail hieeaxi. Ten 

 tsctrars. YaldafiEstin hecelass by9im.53.andma^ui%tbe taeat 

 i time o¥ee the eerase 1^ In Ste. 



?/1 



OPEN RACING BOAT -VALDA.'' 



Designeb by G. H, DuaGAK, 1890. 



