Forest and stream 
[April 25, 1896. 
being independent of horses and thus of the great ex 
pense attached to keeping a stable. From it the lovers of 
the smaller hounds may gather some valuable ideas for 
practical application. 
Mr. Joe Lewis informs us that he has in charge a number 
of pheasants ready to turn loose soon on Dr. Fowler s 
estate at Moodus, Conn. 
We learn that Mr. Thos. Hallam has accepted an] en- 
gagement as assistant handler of dogs with the Pacific 
Coast Kennels, at Smithville Flats, N. Y. 
The Monongahela Valley Game and Fish 
Protective Association. 
Entry blanks for the second annual field trials of the 
Monongahela Valley Game and Fish Protective Associa- 
tion are now ready for distribution. Entries close Aug. 1. 
Messrs. W. S. Bell and S. C. Bradley have consented to 
judge the trials. S- B. Cummings. 
tzchting. 
The Yacht Racing Union. 
The Yacht Racing Union of Long Island Sound has within a year 
of its organization become a very important factor in yachting about 
New York, and the races sailed under its direction will include nearly 
all the important events of the Bay and the Sound. The following offi- 
cial announcements have been made during the past week: 
RACING EVENTS. 
The Council announces that, with the consent of the clubs con- 
cerned, the following changes have been made in the schedule of 
racing events for the coming season since the last general meeting of 
the Union: - 
Huntington Y. C. annual on Aug. 29 instead of Sept. 5. 
Stamford Y. 0. annual on Sept. 5 instead of Aug. 15, and special races 
Corinthian Fleet annual on Aug. 15 instead of July 1. Special races 
on July 1 instead of Aug. 1. 
Norwalk Y. C. annual on Sept. 7 instead of Aug. 12. 
American Y. 0. annual on July 6 instead of July 3. 
New Rochelle Y. 0. annual on July 3 Instead of June 27. 
The following additional races have been scheduled: 
Yale Corinthian Y. C. annual June 6. 
Waterside Y. C. special race Aug. 1. , • „ 
You are requested to inform the Council before May 1 whether the 
annual regatta of your club will be for all classes or a limited number 
of classes; and, if your club are to have any special races, just what 
classes the races will be given for, as the complete schedule should be 
issued early in May. 
RACING RULES. 
You are informed that the racing rules adopted at the last meeting 
-were printed in full in the Forest and Stream of April 4, and will 
also be issued in pamphlet form by the Rudder Publishing Co., 155 
Broadway, N. Y., from whom they can be obtained in quantity. 
FACING NUMBERS. 
The Council desire to call attention to the necessity of having the 
yacht owners of your club who intend to enter their yachts in any 
races on the Sound obtain the racing numbers that will be allotted 
to them before the first race of the season. Arrangements have 
been made with Rehm & Co., 157 Fulton street, N. Y., to furnish the 
official class letters and designating numbers at 25 cents per set. 
They will also allot the numbers in order of application. Where it is 
impracticable for clubs to furnish to the Council lists of yachts as 
called for in report, applications for numbers can be made directly 
to Rehm & Co. by individual owners. 
It is suggested that notices be sent at once to all the yacht owners 
of your club with reference to this matter. The allotment of letters 
and numbers can not be properly made unless owners give informa- 
tion as to the racing length of yacht, if measured, and if not, the 
yacht's class. 
REPORTS. 
Enclosed are reports made by the Council at the last meeting of the 
Union, which were adoped. Frank Bowne Jones, 
Sec'y of the Council, 
38 Park Row, New York. 
PERMANENT RACING NUMBERS. 
In pursuance of the resolution adopted at the last general meeting 
of the Union that the Council formulate rules for the allotment of 
permanent racing numbers to yachts enrolled in clubs represented in 
the Union, the Council submits the following plan: 
That on or before May 1 each club furnish to the Council a list of 
yachts enrolled in the club to wh'ch racing numbers are to be 
assigned, giving information as to the name of yacht, name and 
address of owner, racing length, rig of yacht, and whether yacht is 
cabin or open. The Council will then advise each owner as to the 
number allotted the yacht and the letter designating the yacht's 
class, and also where such number and letter can be obtained. 
The Council propose to allot numbers and letters upon the follow- 
ing plan: _ 
Schooners— First class, A; 95ft., B; 85ft., C; 75ft., D; 85ft., E. 
Single-Masted Vessels and Yawls— First class, F; 80ft., H; 70ft., J; 
60ft., K; 51ft., L; 43ft., M; 36ft., N; 30ft., O; 25ft., P; 20ft., R; 15ft., S. 
Numbers will be allotted consecutively from 1 up in each class. A 
certain proportion of numbers in the 36ft., 25 ft. and 15ft. classes will 
be reserved for the special 34ft. class, the 30-footers, the 21-footers, 
and the special 15ft. class. 
The Council desire to call the attention of regatta committees to the 
necessity of providing temporary numbers for yachts entered for 
regattas from clubs not represented in the Union. Such numbers 
should run from 100 up. 
DEFINITION OF A CABIN YACHT, 
A vessel to be considered a cabin yacht must have substantial 
cabin accommodations, forming a part of the permanent structure of 
the yacht. 
CORINTHIANISM. 
Corinthianism in yachting is that attribute which represents par- 
ticipation for sport as distinct from gain, and which also involves the 
acquirement of nautical experience through the love of sport rather 
than through necessity or the hope of gain. It is consistent with the 
motive, higher than mercenary, found in the ranks of officers of the 
navy and naval architects, notwithstanding the remuneration they 
receive; while it is inconsistent with the trade of the shipwright and 
the fisherman, even though one following such a trade has never 
been a paid sailor. In this respect the following general definition 
is given: 
No person who follows the sea as a means of livelihood, or who is 
by occupation a shipwright, sailmaker or rigger, or who has accepted 
remuneration for services rendered in handling or serving on a yacht, 
or who is a professional in any sport, shall be considered a Corinthian 
yachtsman. 
CIRCULARS AND ENTRY BLANKS. 
The Council wishes to suggest to regatta committees that in 
issuing notices of races the circular give the following information : 
First— Date of race. 
Second— Time of start. 
Third— Under what rules race is to be sailed. 
Fourth— Whether race is for all classes or a limited number of 
classes. 
Fifth— Instructions as to the start. 
Sixth— Time and place of closing of entries. 
Seventh— Directions as to courses to be sailed. 
Eighth— Whether race is open to all clubs or certain clubs. 
If a chart of the courses is to be provided, it should be reproduced 
on the circular or be mailed to an owner on receipt of entry. 
Entry blanks should call for 
First— The name of yacht. 
Second— Rig. 
Third— Racing length. 
Fourth— Racing number. 
Fifth— Whether yacht is cabin or open. 
Sixth— Club yacht is enrolled in; and 
Seventh— Name and address of owner. 
If there are both fixed and shiftable ballasts classes for open yachts 
it should be stated on the entry of such yachts in which class they are 
to be entered. 
If these suggestions are followed it is believed that there will be 
greater conformity in the management of races, that the labors of 
regatta committees will be lessened, and with the adoption of the per- 
manent .number plan it.willbe unnecessary for a yacht to report at 
MODERN KNOCKABOUT SAIL PLAN. 
the club house previous to the start of a race, and the printing of 
entry lists can be dispensed with. 
The Eastern Knockabout. 
On the New England coast there is a type of boat which is working 
its way steadily into favor, and by its good qualities proving itself the 
one long sought for by those who want to spend their leisure hours 
on the water in the pleasure of sailing a small boat which can be 
handled easily alone if necessary, but at the same time is large enough 
to give comfortable berthing space for two or three on a cruise. This 
little vessel is called a knockabout, and the name is probably the most 
concise description of the boat that could be given. The idea, in 
the minds of those who} fostered the type in the beginning 
and have since been its steady promoters, is a boat compac t 
in form, built strongly enough to be taken out in any sort of weatner, 
ready at all times to "go" for a friendly rival in a scrap around the 
harbor or out at sea; the sails to be small enough to stand a blow 
from any quarter, and sufficient ballast on the keel to make her abso- 
lutely safe even for the man who knows "all about sailing a boat." 
Along the deep water coast near Boston, at the "north shore," and 
among the islands of Maine, the knockabout is seen in every harbor. 
Many of the yachting men who have made the fame of far larger craft 
own these small boats and find the pleasure of sailing them a relief 
from the dreary monotony of mug-hunting on their big races, and the 
ennui inspired by their autocratic skippers. The knockabout is the 
ideal boat of the man who wants to get out on the sea by himself and 
cruise to his heart's content wherever the winds and waters will carry 
him. 
To the man who objects to the gymnastic performances of sailing a 
canoe or skimming dish there is solid satisfaction in one of these 
able little sea boats that will stand up to its work at all times, and will 
not be damaged seriously if he happens to "find" unfamiliar ground 
on a foreign shore. Roomy enough for two or three with comfort, 
the knockabout is very easily handled and will slip along from port to 
port surprisingly fast in light airs, while the overhanging forward 
and after ends insure good seaworthiness in the strong winds that 
usually blow on tbis coast. A boat of this type draws only 4 or 5ft. of 
water, so that good anchorage is readily found in any harbor, and 
having no bowsprit she can be worked in and out of a crowded space 
where a boat with a forward spar would be running amuck. 
But it is not in cruising only that the greatest sport is to be had 
with these boats. Classes for knockabouts in the club races have 
lately become most popular. With twenty and thirty starters at the 
line, and all so nearly alike, the competition between them is very 
keen. The sailing qualities of any one boat are so closely equal to 
the average of all tbat the races are intensely interesting, and each 
one has a fair chance of winning. The earliest boats were not built 
under the strict limitations now in force, and it was quickly seen that 
unless arbitrary rules were formulated to guard against it, the boats 
would soon degenerate into racing machines, and the type would lose 
its most valuable characteristics. 
It seems practically impossible to construct a rule that cannot be 
evaded in one way or another by those who are not in sympathy with 
the spirit of the restriction, and it is only by a general consensus of 
opinion and agreement as to the object sought that th« desired qual- 
ities in any given type can be preserved. Each year the rules have 
had to be amended in order to counteract the tendency shown by one 
designer or another to depart from the original idea in taking advan- 
tage of some looseness in wording the regulations, and branching out 
on uncesirable lines in the effort to gain every little point of advan- 
tage to speed at a sacrifice of the general utility of the type. 
According to the rules adopted by the Knockabout Association for 
this year of grace 1896, "a knockabout boat is a seaworthy keel boat 
(not to include fin-keel), decked or half decked, of fair accommcda- 
MODERN KNOCKABOUTS. 
