year, was an in novation' 'upon the customsTof the club, and'we feel 
that a certain short period, say two minutes, must* he allowed for 
crossing the line'after the starting signal, the exact time of any yacht 
crossing during that period to be taken as her start, and the end of 
the period as that of any crossing after its expiration. Tbe feeling on 
this point is very strong, as well as the opinion that our practice pro- 
duces a more satisfactory race. 
"The conditions of the last match, as to not exceeding the load 
waterline length specified by more than two per cent., would, of 
course, in no case permit either vessel to exceed the limits fixed by 
the deed, a contingency possible as the upper limit is approached. 
"Ten months must, of course, intervene between the receipt of the 
challenge and the date of the first race. 
"We have written you at this length in order to provide you with 
the data for a challenge and the terms of a match, which, in our 
opinion, would at once be accepted. 
"With the hope that such a challenge may be soon received, and 
with renewed offers of any assistance it may be in our power to 
render, we have the honor to remain, 
"Yours very respectfully, 
"James D. Smith, Chairman. 
"A. Cass Canfield, Secretary. 
"For the Committee. 
"The Earl of Dunraven, No. 27 Norfolk street, Park lane west, 
London." 
The portion of the Vigilant-^ Valkyrie report referred to above is as 
follows: 
"If either yacht by alteration of trim or immersion, by dead weight, 
increase her load waterline length, or in any way increase her spar 
measurements, as officially taken, she must obtain a remeasurement 
by special appointment before the next race, or failing this, must 
report the alteration to the measurer at the club house at 10 o'clock 
P. M. of the day before the race following such alteration, and must 
arrange with him for remeasurement, and, if required, be in the Erie 
Basin by 7 o'clock A. M. of the day of said race, and there remain 
until 8 o'clock A. M. if necessary for purpose of remeasurement." 
A Fast Model Yacht, 
We are indebted for the accompanying design to Mr. Chas. A. 
Cooley, Sec'y-Treas. of the Manchester (Mass.) Y. C, and a student 
of the Boston School of Naval Architecture, the design having secured 
the highest mark given in that institution. The design has been used 
by Mr. Cooley for sailing in open water, Hinghain Bay, and she has 
fully realized her owner's idea of a boat that could car,ry full sail in 
any weather in which it would be comfortable to follow her in a row- 
boat. With sheets in and a good breeze it requires hard and steady 
work at the oars to catch her. The dimensions are: 
Length over all , , 49in. 
l.w.1 35.5in. 
Beam lOin. 
Draft lOin. 
Sail area, sq. in •- 1,836 
Weight of hull, etc 7.51bs. 
fin and bulb 151bs. 
This weight of bulb brings the model somewhat below the designed 
waterline, but the result in regard to speed and stability was so satis- 
factory on the first trial that no reduction of ballast to bring her to 
the designed line was deemed advisable. 
The model is built on the "bread and butter" plan described on page 
413, Nov. 10, the sides being about }^in. thick, with three coats of var- 
nish inside and the outside painted black above the waterline and cop- 
per bronzed below. The deck is of mahogany, bitts of oak, and the 
mast is stepped in a brass tube. The fore edge of the fin is raked 
sharply on account of eelgrass on the sailing ground, but this feature 
is undoubtedly a good one in all respects, with the supplementary fin 
for the rudder tending to make a fin-keel steadier on her course. The 
rudder is weighted with lead, but has no tiller— it is only used when off 
the wind. The sheets, halyards and shrouds are set up with wire hooks 
and loops similar to the euphroe of a tent line. The shrouds, from 
the rail to a point about half way up the mast, are of wire, and for 
the rest of the distance the hounds are of cord set up in this way. 
The displacement curve shows a good distribution of bulk, and the 
diagonals are very fair and easy for such a powerful boat. 
The Small British Racing- Craft. 
Mb. William Willard Howard, the American canoeist and journal- 
ist, contributes a long and interesting article to the New York Sun of 
Nov. 18, on the small British racing yachts. There is much in the 
article that we fully agree with; not until Americans begin to under- 
stand the extent to which racing is carried in England, and the unlim- 
ited sport to be had from systematic and continued racing in the 
smallest classes as well as the larger, can we hope to realize possibili- 
ties for racing which exist in the splendid waters about New York 
and Boston, or to have a satifactory racing fleet, comprising a 
number of well supported classes. 
There are some points however in which we must take issue with 
Mr. Howard. So far as being a comparison between the small boats 
of the two countries, the article is rather anomalous, as there are no 
small racing boats on this side to be compared with the Solent and 
Thames fleets. Mr. Howard mentions such small craft as Scarecrow 
in comparison with Pique, Sorceress and Spruce III. but he must 
know that while the latter were designed and built solely for speed, 
the American craft were designed to no existing class, and with no 
thought of racing, but only for afternoon sailing and cruising; their 
construction being quite heavy owing to the high cost of a lighter con- 
struction that would be of no advantage to them for the ue e proposed. 
While dealing only with small yachts, Mr. Howard mentions 
Vigilant and Britannia in an assertion that the former is superior in 
actual speed through the water and in racing on open-sea courses, 
Britannia's advantage being that she is faster in stays and her skipper 
an expert in local knowledge. This very one-sided estimate ignores 
entirely the important points that, while the great number of Bri- 
tannia's victories over Vigilant prove her at the very least almost as 
fast under any fair conditions, she is at the same time a ship and a 
sailor's home, and not a mere empty shell; and also that while Vigi- 
lant has been kept out of many races by disasters to spars, gear and 
centerboard, Britannia has sailed some fifty races this year with 
hardly an interruption. 
The following quotation is one that American yachtsmen should lay 
to heart: "The fact that in England a small boat may be raced almost 
every month in the year, whereas in'the United States the racing sea- 
son begins in June and ends in September, has an important bearing 
on the constant racing competition and the building of boats. In New 
York a yachtsman no sooner gets his craft tuned up to racing pitch 
than he must haul up for the winter. In England he may race all 
through the winter months, as they do at that active and progressive 
hotbed of half -raters, the Oxford University Sailing Club. Constant 
racing is more potent in improving the form of boats than anything 
else that may be named; and, therefore, under the circumstances, it is 
not at all surprising that at the close of the summer season of 1894 
England should have better boats." Of course the peculiar climate of 
England makes sailing practicable for a much longer season than in 
the latitude of New York; but the trouble here is the great delay in 
ordering and fitting out, trial trips beiDg'made after instead of long 
before the June regattas. 
The following is but too true: "In America there is an unfortunate 
belief that a man owns a small yacht because he cannot afford to own 
a large one; whereas. in'Great Britain, many of the keenest smallboat 
sailors are dukes and lords, and men of title and position generally. 
In America a man too often gets the largest boat that he can for his 
money; in England he aims to get the best boat of a certain size that 
money will procure. The result is plain, tbe American boat is heavy 
and cheaply put together, while the English boat of the same class is 
light, carefully built, and highly finished." 
Mr. Howard condemns the lug rig in tbe various forms on the small 
raters; and also states that the American hollow spar is an impossi- 
bility there on account of the continued wet weather. He says: "Not 
only are the English rigs for small craft inferior in shape, but in con- 
struction they are far from being equal to the best American produc- 
tions. Nothing in England this year can compare with the Scarecrow 
in point of neatness, extreme lightnt ss, strength and general handi- 
ness." It would only be fair to Mr. C. J. Stevens, by the way an Eng- 
lishman, to state that there is nothing in this country, as well as in 
England, which equal or approach the very light and beautiful rig 
that he has devised and made for the original Scarecrow, a part of the 
credit being also due to Mr. L. K. Young, who made the spars, blocks, 
and some of the brass fittings. On the same subject Mr. Howard says: 
"In the matter of blocks and fittings, Great Britain is nearly on a par 
with the United States; although the style and finish of American fit- 
tings are much superior to the English." This is undoubtedly true as 
concerns "canoe jewelry;" but if English yachtsmen are as badly off 
as Americans for fittings for the next larger size of craft, we are sorry 
for them. Apart from the special set of blocks made for Scarecrow, 
we do not know of a block, either wood or metal, which is fit to put on 
a 20ft. boat. The smallest size of yacht blocks, 3in„ are far too large 
nd clumsy; the boxwood canoe blocks, imported from England, as 
well as the small metal blocks made here, are very badly designed and 
fitted, even if large enough, and there is nothing more needed just now 
than a neat, light and shipshape block to take lines from J4 to %in. 
diameter. In concluding the article Mr. Howard make* the very 
truthful remark that: "When it is possible for a 16ft. yacht to get 65 
races in America during the season, we shall see whether American 
designers and builders do not turn out the fastest craft in the world." 
