March 23, 1895. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
237 
BAOING DINGHY— DESIGNED FOR DOUGLASTON Y. C. BY V. D. BACON, 1893. 
The wonderful success of the new Fife cutter Ailsa in her first 
races lends special interest to the question of her dimensions, 
which, the draft in particular, are still in doubt. Her 1. w. 1, is, of 
course, but little under 90ft., and her extreme beam about 26ft., 
hut whether this is carried down to the waterline or is merely due 
to a flaring side, is not definitely stated. The draft is positively 
stated as 16ft. 3 in., but in view of the other dimensions and of the 
large sail plan, there is good reason to mistrust these figures. Mr. 
Will Fife has already obtained fame from the manner in which 
he has set at defiance the "laws of Nature" in Minerva; but this 
is nothing to the feat he must have accomplished, if reports be 
true, in building a yacht of 90ft. 1. w, 1. and of high power, which 
will not only carry her huge sail plan well, but which has the 
lateral plane for good windward work on a draft of only 16ft. or a 
few inches more. Certainly this has never been done before, nor 
is there anything in the performance of older keel boats to indi- 
cate its practicability, and we shall eagerly await further and 
more authentic figures. 
Those who are interested in the new Herreshoff boat may take 
their choice of various dimensions as published in different pa- 
pers, with all extremes of beam and draft. As a matter of fact, 
the beam and draft of the new boat are as yet unknown save to 
the few immediately interested; at a guess, we should say about 
35ft. for the beam and 18ft. for the draft. 
It is hardly likely that the owner of the French yacht Nike If. is 
a reader of the New York Sun, and we hope, for his own sake, 
that he will be spared the pain of reading in that journal of the 
"Mike II." The mistake was probably due to the proximity of 
St. Patrick's Day. 
The decision of the associated Eastern clubs in the matter of 
measurement is better than we had anticipated, but by no means 
as good as it might have been. We are strongly opposed to any 
attempts to measure the overhangs, as not only harmful but in 
every way unnecessary; but if any measurement other than the 
ioad waterline is to be taken, the best is that devised by the At- 
lantic Y. C. some years since; just as the very worst is that so 
tenaciously retained by the New York Yacht Racing Association, 
the so-called "mean-length. By the Atlantic method, the length 
for measurement is taken parallel to and a fixed distance above 
the acuial waterline, thus including as nearly as possible that 
gain in length which comes fromTadded immersion. This meas- 
urement is difficult to obtain, but at the same time it does tax the 
part of the overhang which is in or adjacent to the water. 
The "mean-length' rule, with 1-2, 1-3 or 1-5 of the overhang, is 
open to the very serious objection that it does not necessarily tax 
that part of the overhangs which make length in sailing; but it 
does tax very heavily the portions which give beauty, grace and 
deck room, producing the sawn-off craft as nearly like a shoe-box 
as is possible. 
No organization is strong enough to-day to put a prohibitive tax 
on long ends; the decrees of fashijn, to say nothing of real utility, 
are too powerful. The Atlantic method is in no way unfair to 
modern as opposed to the old craft, but the adoption of a rule tax 
ing any fraction of the overall length must inevitably have oper- 
ated against the club which upheld it. 
The one proper measurement of length for use in any formula is 
that of the measurement of l.w.c. with crew aboard; or, what is bet- 
ter, the English plan, of the owner placing his marks where he 
pleases and ballasting his boat so that they are never immersed 
when at rest in smooth water with crew aboard; the [number of 
crew being otherwise unlimited. Sooner or later this method will 
be adopted in America, to the benefit of yacht racing. Under it 
the designer is free to take any reasonable amount of overhang, 
forward or aft, with the certainty of a natural penalty if his greed 
outweighs his judgment. 
There is just one valid plea for the measurement of overhangs, 
that of vested interests as represented in the older boats. How- 
ever strong this may be, there is the other side, that men about to 
build will have the newest models, and that if one club taxes the 
new in favor of the old, the new boats will go to some more liberal 
club. In such a case as that in the East, where the old boats 
demand, and rightfully, a certain degree of consideration, we 
would advise a medium course that would be as fair as possible 
for all parties. This would include the measurement of the water- 
line, with crew aboard, with an allowance of a certain per cent, to 
the older boats with plumb stems, such allowance to apply only to 
boats now in existence.. The amount of this allowance could be 
determined'quite as accurately, as the value of the overhang would 
be measured under the "mean-length" rule; for instance, in boats 
with long overhangs at each end, the actual waterline would be 
measured; in boats with counters and plumb stems a deduction of 
15 per cent, would be made from the measured waterline, and in 
boats with both ends plumb a deduction of 33 per cent. Some- 
thing of this kind might be arranged to give all fair protection to 
existing boats, and yet to allow full liberty of design to the 
owners of new craft. It would be quite as fair and equitable as 
an absolute tax on overhang, and would produce far better results 
in the end. 
In the course of a few years, the square-ended boats are certain 
to disappear in anv case, and the boats built in the meanwhile will 
not have suffered out of deference to them. 
m every line. She was built by Wm. Petersen, of Little Neck, L 
I., who has three other boats for the same class in frame. 
One great beauty of this type of boat is the extremely cheap 
construction, enabling even the poorest yachtsman— who are gen 
We quote from the Yachtsman of March 7: In the last issue of 
the Forest and Stream to hand we read: "The report of the com- 
mittee on revision of the classification and racing rules was dis- 
cussed at length, but the proposed amendments were finally car 
ried, with two exceptions; that limiting the crew to the number 
on board when the yacht is measured, and the following: If an 
overlap exists between two yachts when both of them, without 
tacking, are about to pass a mark on the required side, then the 
outside yacht must, as far as possible, short of tacking, give the 
inside yacht room to pass clear of the mark." The exception 
mentioned above strikes us as being peculiar. It was lately re- 
ported that the New York Y. C. had decided to measure with 
crews aboard, and the refusal to adopt the latter proposition 
(which is dealt with by Rule 19 of the British Y. R. A.) strikes us 
as being so unreasonable that we are inclined to doubt the accur- 
acy of our contemporary's report. 
We can assure the Yachtsman that our report was correct, 
and further, that the New York Y. C. has now on its books a rule 
identical with Rule 19 of the Y. R. A., and consequently quite dif- 
ferent from the proposed rule, as above. 
Capt. Charles Barr has been engaged to bring Vigilant across, 
sailing from New York this week to fit her out at Southampton, 
where some work will be done on her, as already ordered by cable. 
Capt. Barr will also sail her this season. The boat rill be in good 
hands, as Capt. Barr has long since won a place as one of the 
ablest racing skippers on this side. 
A New Racing Dinghy Class. 
Editor Foiest and Stream: 
Acting on the article in the Forest and Stream of Jan. 5, the 
Douglaston Y. C. has started an almost identical class, with the 
exception that it is limited in length over all to 12ft., thereby mak- 
ing a size that small cruising yachts may carry on the davits or 
tow astern, and making a good all-round vacht tender and small 
racer combined. The design was furnished by V. D. Bacon, of 
tne Cape Cod Yacht Agency, and is both novel and cheap; the 
writer's boat is just finished, at a cost of §50, and is one of the pret- 
tiest small boats he has ever seen, showing both speed and stability 
SAIL PLAN OF RACING DINGHY. 
erally the most enthusiastic— to build from a new design every 
year. „The writer's boat is lift. 71-2in. overall, and has comfortable 
seating room for six people; she is fitted with a spritsail with 
boom, and as one of the restrictions of the class is that all spar 
must stow inside the boat, each boat will car^' about the same 
amount of canvas, thereby putting a premium on handling. As 
other clubs beside the Douglaston Y. C. are offering prizes for thi 
class, it is expected that there will be a fleet of 20 boats by June 1 
The restrictions are as follows: Length over all not to exceed 12tt. 
draft, without board, not to exceed 1ft.; weight of centerboard no 
to exceed 50 lbs ; all spars must stow inside the boat, no telescop 
ing spars allowed: boats, wlien racing, to carry only two people 
no shifting ballast. — N. 
The Steam Yacht Giralda. 
We are indebted to Engineering for the accompanying illustra- 
tions of the twin screw engines of the new steam yacht Giralda 
the boat which has attracted so much attention already on this 
side of the Atlantic. 
The twin screw yacht Giralda, which the Fairfield Shipbuilding 
and Engineering Company, Glasgow, have recently completed for 
Mr. Hugh McCalmont. is away on a cruise on the Mediterranean. 
The yacht is remarkable in several respects, combining the prin- 
cipal features of a pleasure craft and an armed cruiser 
the 
av- 
j the 
high-speed type, and it is interesting to note that no"t"only'hafTMr 
Laing designed, and the Fairfield Company constructed the fast- 
est merchant steamer, but also the fastest pleasure craft for the 
Giralda on trial on the Clyde made 20.9 knots, the power developed 
being S.oOO indicated horse-power, with the engines running at 220 
revolutions. 
The propelling machinery illustrated consists of two sets of 
triple-expansion engines, each set having four cylinders working 
on tour cranks. Each set has one high-pressure cylinder 25 in in 
diameter, one intermediate-pressure cylinder 40 in. in diameter 
and two low-pressure cylinders 45 in. in diameter, all adapted fo 
a strokeof 2 ft. 3 in. The high-nressure cylinders are each fitted 
with a piston valve, and the intermediate aud low-pressure cylin- 
ders with a flat slide valve, all being worked by the ordinary double 
eccentric aud link motion valve gear. The cylinder covers and 
pistons are of cast steel, made by Sir Joseph Whit worth. & Co 
The reversing gear is of the all-round type, with worm and whee" 
gear worked by a small steam engine. 4 ^ 9 
