SgXt. 13, 1896.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
"Wb notice witli regret an attempt on tlie part of various 
American papers to depreciate the victory of Canada by mis- 
leading headings, such phrases as "Actually Beaten, but 
Won on Time Allowance," "Outsailed, t)ut a Winner," 
"Won on a Muke." etc, It is also made to appear that the 
match was an unfair one from the start, that the cunning 
and rapacious Canadian had taken an unfair advantage of 
the innocent and imsuspecting American. As far as the 
terms of the race are concerned, they are most unsatisfac- 
tory and unusual, but this is due to the fact that the con- 
struction of the challenger was begun before any overtures 
for a match were made. Comments on this matter were 
quite in order four months ago, but they are entirely out of 
place at this late day as an excuse for defeat. It has been 
evident for a long time that the match would be an unequal 
one, that while Canada stood a good chance in moderate 
weather, she would be greatly overpowered in the event of 
bard weather. 
Without attributing to some of these biased writers any 
too much knowledge of yacht racing, it is safe to say that 
even they know that there is notlung discreditable in a 
smaller yacht receiving time from a larger one, and that the 
attempt to mislead the average newspaper reader into the 
belief that the Canadian yacht won by unfair means and 
fictitious advantages is not due to mere ignorance, but to de- 
liberate dishonesty. Fortunately there are many American 
papers which have indorsed the opinions of all yachtsmen 
who are familiar with the two yachts and their crews; that 
the Canadians were decidedly superior in skill and discipline, 
and thai their competitors can learn from them much that 
is worth knowing. 
We omitted to state last week that the handsome photos 
of Canada and Vencedor were by C. E. Bolles, the yacht 
photographer of Brooklyn, who made a trip to Cleveland 
specially to catch these yachts, and who incidentally secured 
photos of a number of other Western yachts; both of the 
photos are copyrighted by Mr. Bolles. 
THE 
SEAWANHAKA INTERNATIONAL 
CUP. 
CoNTEART to some positive statements recently published, 
the Seawanhaka C. Y. C. has not selected the 30ft. class in 
which to challenge next year, nor in fact has it vet taken 
any action in the matter. While it is most desirable that 
everything should be arranged before the racing season is 
over, it has not been possible to get a meeting of the club 
during August, and such a meeting is necessary to confirm 
the challenge and to decide on the class. The feeling thus 
far on the part of yachtsmen within and without the club 
has been in favor of the 20ft. class, and it is probable that it 
will finally be selected. Messrs. Cromwell and Sherman, of 
the race committee, will go this week to Montreal to talk 
over the matter informally with the Royal St. Lawrence Y. 
C. and to inspect the club sailing ground on Lake St. Louis, 
as the possible depth of water is in this case a very important 
factor. 
The question of the selection of the class is an important 
one; there is much to be said on different points, but all that 
we have read and beard thus far has failed to satisfy us in 
either premises or deductions. 
The first point in discussing the question of size— one, by 
the way, that is usually ignored or misstated— is that the 
yaehts built for these races must be of extreme machine type. 
There is no use of talking about family boats or a sailing- 
boat for one's "best girl," or even of a wholesome and service- 
able small yacht; but we must recognize the racing machine, 
and that only. If it be decided to impose special restrictions, 
that is a different matter; in this way it would be possible to 
produce any type of boat down to the safe and comfortable 
cruising tub. Thus far, however, the class, as in all other 
classes for international racing, has been left to the club rule 
alone, unhampered by special restrictions; the extreme in di- 
mensions, design and construction has had full sway. Un- 
der the rule as it stands, all that can be looked for is a racing 
machine sailed by the most expert sailormen, and almost use- 
less save for these special races. These machines mav be 
built in one of three classes: loft., 20ft, and 25ft. racinff 
length. 
The 15ft. cla.ss is now well known; yachtsmen are perfectly 
familiar with its merits and defects— especially the latter, of 
which it has some serious ones. The winning boats of the 
cup and trial races this year show what may be looked for in 
the event of the. retention of the class for 1897— the evidence 
of Glencairn, that a peculiar modification of the scow form 
must replace the old conventional V form, is corroborated by 
El Heirie; and as between these two, closely equal in many 
respects, the victory of Glencairn in the cup races demon- 
strates that in this class and under existing conditions 
extreme power pays. The class if retained for next year will 
be composed of boats of 13ft. l.w.l, SOOsq. ft. of sail, of aform 
requiring extreme skill in handling, both to obtain speed and 
to avoid a capsize; and further, involving a risk of capsize 
that would be fatal to the winning of a race. In construc- 
tion the. boat will be strong enougn to hold together through 
a racing season and perhaps for subsequent use. Thus far 
there has been no evidence of weakness in the light construc- 
tion followed so far as strains are concerned; the great source 
of weakness lies in the very thin skin and light deck, liable 
to be holed by a sligbt mishap. 
Those who oppose the 15-f ooters urge that they are too 
small for comfort and a useless type, both of which charges 
are perfectly true. On the other hand, tbe class is now es- 
tablished and a great deal has been learned which will aid 
in its further perfection and the elucidation of some most 
interesting problems, while this information will be of no 
use if applied to a larger class. The work of this year and 
last has left the hull problem still unsettled, but it has taught 
us how to build these little boats and how to rig them with a 
maximum of strength and a minimum of weight; this leaves 
the field clear next season for some experiments in dimen- 
sions, type and model that must be valuable and instructive 
There are now a number of yachts in the class, the best of 
which, after a season's trial, will still have a fighting chance 
in the early races of next season, and which will materially 
strengthen the interest in the racing and mcrease the value of 
the results. Important as it is, the knowledge derived from 
Glencairn and El Heirie is still very incomplete; another 
year of the class wUl add to it immensely ; but if the class be 
set aside for a new one, in which this knowledge appears 
only to a limited extent, all of the experiments must begin 
anew. 
One strong argument for the 15ft. class is the cost, from 
$450, the cost of Glencau-n, to $650, 
The main argument we have thus far heard in favor of the 
30-footer is to us an exceedingly weak one; it is said, in sub- 
stance: "Look at Glencairn or El Heirie, the crack 15- 
footers, cramped and uncomfortable racing machines with 
big sail plans, capsizeable and useless save for racing, and then 
look at the 20 footers Eos and Bogie, fast, comfortable, non- 
capsizeable, with room for four or even five persons, good for 
both racing and cruising, in short an excellsnt type of boat." 
All this is very alluring on the surface, but has absolutely 
nothing to do with the case. The 20-footers are new and 
thoroughly modern boats, it is true, only recently launched, 
and all that their admirers claim for them; but so far as in- 
ternational racing for the Scawanhaka cup goes, they would 
never have a show after the first new boat had been built. 
They are both of a type that, in these classes, Glencairn has 
made obsolete; not only have they too much length and too 
little sail, but they have not the compressed waterline that is 
the radical and distinguishing feature of the two crack 15- 
footers, and without which they cannot win in the 20ft. 
class. 
It is only a waste of time to consider these existing boats 
in comparison with the existing 15-footers; the true com- 
parison demands that we should assume a 20-footer such as 
would be built to-day for international racing in summer. 
That such a boat could not be a tin-keel we are not prepared 
to say positively, but on the evidence thus far we see little 
to indicate that the fin would sail with the centerboard. The 
ratio of crew to displacement is not quite as extreme as in 
the 15-footers, but it is great enough to warrant the belief 
that live ballast would pay better than dead. We have very 
little doubt that the new 20 footers would be closely modeled 
after Glencairn, quite as useless save for racing, carrying 
one more hand, it is true, but costing at least double to 
build and more than double to transport and to race 
properly, being more dilflcult to handle in docking, etc., and 
greatly mcreasing the incidental expenses of racing. One 
designer who has been figuring closely on the probable boat 
for the class tells us that he would go very nearly to 15ft. 
l.w.l. and 600ft. of sail; in the course of his speculations he 
took a model at hand of a three-year-old racing sloop of 30ft. 
over all, 22ft. l.w.l. and 8ft. beam, and started to whittle it 
down to the waterline of a racing 20 footer, but was com- 
pelled to threw it aside, as the deck plan was already too 
small. Whether it is to be 500, 550 or 600sq. ft. of sail in 
the proposed class, it is absolutely certain that the existing 
20-footers or 19ft. l.w.l. can have no place in it, and that the 
new boats will have all the disadvantages of the 15-footers, 
except room in cockpit, and still be as far from the ideal 
wholesome racing and sailing boat. 
So far as actual data go, the 20ft. class involves an en- 
tirely new course of experiment. The knowledge of scantling, 
spars, rigging, etc., derived from the 15-footers will be of 
comparatively little use; the hull experiment, the most use- 
ful one of all, will again be hampered by defects of experi- 
ments in scan. ling and rig; the class, instead of being ready 
in the middle of May, as the 15ft. will be, will follow the 
course of all absolutely new classes, the boats being but half 
completed for the trial races. As to the number of new boats, 
the added expense will deter many, and yet the class is not 
large enough to attract that class of wealthy yachtsmen who 
have created the 21ft. and 30ft. classes. In condemning the 
15ft. class, it must not be . forgotten that it has brought out 
more amateur talent in designing and sailing than any 
class yet known, and it may be expected to do the same next 
year. 
_ In discussing the 25ft. class we encounter some considera- 
tions that do not appear so prominently in the other two, 
though they are quite important. In the first place, the 
mention of the 25ft. class in the notice of challenge was a 
serious mistake, the committee evidently overlooking the 
provisions of Article IX. of the declaration of trust, under 
which the holding club, and not the challenger, has the right 
to name the class for the following season. On this point 
the Royal St. Lawrence Y.'C. has taken a very generous 
stand, waiving its rights in the matter, which are iucontest- 
ible, and announcing its readiness to accept a challenge in 
any class. As far as the 25ft. class is concerned, it is beyond 
discussion in the present case, for the reason that the waters 
about Montreal will not admit of a fln.keel 25-footer ; it would 
not be possible for the' defending club to create a class of 
such yachts, even centerboard craft, for its trial races, and it 
would be most unsportsmanlike to force the club to build a 
few boats solely to defend the cup, and to transfer the races 
far from its home waters in order to obtain depth to sail 
them, thus losing all opportunity for the development of a 
strong class and the working up of a defender. The fin-keel 
problem in this class in a doubtful one; it is quite likely that 
the fin would sail on even terms with the centerboard, though 
we should favor the latter type with a crew of five men. 
Much the same consideratioES apply in the 20ft. class; the 
fin must be at least recognized; and this the limited depth of 
water about Montreal makes impracticable; deep water 
courses may be laid out for a series of special races, but 
they would not be convenient to the club station ; and the 
construction of a fin-keel fleet, or even the trial of the type, 
would be impossible, owing to the shoals in the lake, numer- 
ous and of great area, the very shoal water at the anchorage, 
and the absence of facilities for hauling up such deep craft. 
On this point a suggestion has already been made by the 
Royal St. Lawrence Y. C, to the effect that if the S. C Y. C. 
should decide on the 20ft. class, an arbitrary limit be placed 
on the sail area and a limit of 6ft on the extreme draft. 
This would tend to produce a much better type of boat; but 
it is a question whether arbitrary limits are desirable in 
international racing. 
The feeling at the present time in the Royal St. Lawrence 
Y. C. is in lavor of the 15ft. class for next year; and we 
believe that this is the best possible course. Too much has 
been done in this class to be thrown away, as must be the 
case to a great extent if the racing is transfejTed to another, 
while if it be retained in the class some very interesting ex- 
periments will be made. The interest now centers in tbe 
class; with the announcement of its selection for next year 
the work of improving the old boats and designing new ones 
will go on without interruption, whereas if the attempt be 
made to create a new class there will be nothing to begin on, 
there will be no existing boats to lend life to the early racing,' 
arid the result will be a fleet of half-completed boats for the 
trial races. As to the general usefulness of one class over 
the other, there is, as we I'jave shown, but little to choose; 
and that, in the matter of cost, is entirely on the side of the 
15-footer and against the 20-fooler. The man who builds in 
either class for a safe, handy and comfortable sailing craft 
will be badly foolec" 
CANADA— VENCEDOR. 
The victorious Canada reached Toronto on Aug. 31, the 
entire city turning out to do honor to her and her crew. The 
greatest enthusiasm was displayed throughout the city, the 
day being observed as a holiday. Vencedor returned to Chi- 
cago on Sept. 4. The race has awakened a wonderful 
anaount of interest on the lakes and throughout the West, and 
it is likely to be of permanent benefit to yachting interests 
on fresh water. It is certain that Canada will not be allowed 
to rest easy in undisturbed possession of her honors, and the 
effort to take them from her must, if it is to be successful, be 
carried out on lines that will tend to unify the various local 
interests, and to raise materially the standard of yacht rac- 
ing on the American shores of the lakes. In the matter of 
systematic building and racing, and of improving the racing 
rules, the Western yachtsmen are still behind those of Lake 
Ontario and the coast; there has always prevailed a variety 
of conflicting rules that have tended to keep the different 
clubs apart rather than to unite them, and even yet the rules 
and customs of yachting and yacht racing are far behind 
those of the salt-water clubs. 
The niistake that was made in the planning of Vencedor 
and the issuing of the first challenge is now generally appre- 
ciated, and we hope that the lesson of it will not be lost on lake 
yachtsmen, as the whole futm-e of their yachting for some 
time to come depends on their action during the coming 
winter. 
We have no sympathy whatever with the various attempts 
to mitigate the disappointment of Vencedor's defeat by blam- 
ing her owners, her designer or her builders. Messrs. Berri- 
man have shown themselves to be spirited sportsmen and 
good losers, they made a fair offer in the first place, they ac- 
cepted terms disadvantageous to themselves in order to get a 
match, and they have accepted the result in the best pos,sible 
spirit,- making no complaints and immediately issuing a new 
challenge. 
As to the builders, they have shown both spirit and 
enterprise in their original offer to build the yacht, in the 
securing of the best possible skill in designing and building, 
and in tbe creation of a plant for the work. They have met 
with many diflBculties incident to the inauguration of a new 
enter prisl,,tand the chances of the yacht have been hurt by 
delays, but they have done everything in their power to make 
her a winner. 
How well the designer has done his work it is impossible 
to say under the peculiar conditions of the case; the yacht 
has never had the sail plan which her dimensions demand,, 
and lacking this no one can judge of the merits of the design. 
It is both unfair and useless now to condemn and decry thnge 
connected with Vencedor merely because she has been de- 
feated. The one great mistake which they made was in at- 
tempting to introduce the extreme racing machine of com- 
paratively large size on the Great Lakes. 
A very superficial knowledge of lake yachting is enough 
to show the many serious drawbacks under which it has 
always existed, and that it can be put on a permanent and 
successful basis only by the adoption of a wise and liberal 
policy by all the clubs connected with it. The first essential 
is unity of action, such as has existed for a dozen years 
among the clubs, American and Canadian, of Lake Ontario, 
but not among the lakes as a whole, not even to any extent 
among the American clubs of Lake Michigan or Lake Erie. 
After many failures, the latest attempts at union on these 
two lakes now promise to be successful, and there should be 
no serious obstacle to-day in the summoning of a convention 
of representatives of every yacht club from Chicago to Mon- 
treal and the adoption of one uniform rule and of certain 
racing classes. What that rule should be is by no means as 
diflicult a question as might be supposed in view of the gen- 
eral dissatisfaction and uncertainty existing in the large 
American clubs and also abroad. The conditions of lake 
yachting are different from those of the great Atlantic clubs, 
American and British; they are fewer, simpler and more eas- 
ily understood and propounded. 
The lake racing is a system distinct and apart from ocean 
racing, and while in the latter yachtsmen have been always 
reluctant to impose anjr restrictions, however necessary and 
salutaiy, which may hinder extreme speed, no such consid- 
eration exists in the former. The lake yachtsmen can and 
must leave to others the development of the highest possible 
speed, regardless of all other considerations: their only way 
to success lies in the establishment of permanent racing 
classes of thoroughly wholesome types. Whatever may be 
urged for the bulb-fin of matchbox construction on the coast 
and the ocean, there is no place for such a machine on the 
lakes, and no good argument can be urged against its sum- ' 
mary exclusion. 
The experience of twenty years on the lakes furnishes' 
data which may be relied on as a safe guide in the formula- 
tion of essential limits. The yachts of the larger gizes have 
been entirely of poor quality, judged by modern standards; 
comparatively few new yachts have been built, but old ones, 
ma,inly brought from salt water, have been repeatedly re- 
built and patched over, with most unsatisfactory results. 
There is not now and never can be for years a racing clasa 
of large size throughout the lakes. 
The first requirement of lake yachting is a type of yacht 
which, while fast enough and smart enough for racing, is 
still usable for cruising and general yachting; there are no 
yachtsmen on the lakes who will, if they can, maintain a 
sailing machine exclusively for racing. To be thus usable 
the extreme limit of draft must not exceed 9ft.; plenty more 
can be used over hundreds of miles of water, and rough 
water at that, but if a yacht is to be used all about the lakes 
and in such ports as she must frequent for shelter, repairs, 
docking and supplies, it will be found that a foot less than 
9ft. is better than an inch more. This has been settled by 
practical experience beyond the possibihty of contradiction. 
Whatever objections may be urged against an arbitrary 
hmit of draft in other waters, on the Great Lakes a limit of 
9ft. is in every way desirable. 
This limit is in no way inadequate for the size of yacht 
best adapted to the general requirements of lake yachtsmen; 
of course larger yacnts will be used in the future as they 
have been in the past, and will be raced in such job lot 
classes as can be made up at times, but for the largest per- 
manent racing class, to which new yachts wiU be built from 
time to time, and in which such contests as the present one 
will be held, the size cannot greatly exceed that of Yama, 
Zelma and Canada, 42 it. racing length. A yacht of this 
class of modern but not extravagant construction will cost 
quite as much as the average lake yachtsman is inclined to 
spend on a racmg craft, both in first cost and yearly run- 
ning; in fact very many yachtsmen who are disposed to 
spend such a sum will prefer to buy an outclassed yacht of 
much greater size and do no racing. With that quasi-inter- 
national stimulus that has existed in the present contest, 
