876 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
(Nov. 7, 1896. 
be considered above all the old ones in making new rules, 
and on this occasion, at least, there is no reason why they 
may not be. As we have shown, there is nothing in the 
single-stick class which can reasonably claim to represent a 
vested interest, and the three schooners can be provided for 
by special legislation, if necessary, in order to allow them to 
race for a season or two against the new boats. 
To those who have followed the slow course of improve- 
ment in American yachting the changes of the past two 
years are indeed wonderful; the sandbagger has disappeared 
so quietly that its demise has passed unnoticed, fixed ballast 
and limited crew and sail area have been universally adopted, 
the old reaching courses have given place to short triangles 
sailed several times over, with provisions for stopping a race 
at the end of a round, and even the one-gun start, so long 
decried as impossible, has been adopted. 
It is impossible to consider the questions of overhangs and 
waterline measurement without being forced to the conclu- 
sion that they are most closely connected, and that the 
former must be greatly simplified by that solution of the lat- 
ter which is clearly inevitable— the measurement with crew 
on board. There can be no question that this must shortly 
be done in all classes In America just as it has long been 
done in England, and as it is done here now in the races for 
the America's Cup and in all the smaller classes. 
The only reason urged against it is most inadequate: that 
existing yachts would have to be remeasured, causing much 
work, and might come out of their classes. Against this we 
would urge that if new yachts are built they must be de- 
signed under the new rules to the extreme limit of their 
classes, and the designers will do some very close figuring in 
the matter of weights and waterline in order to waste noth- 
ing that is of advantage. It makes no difference whatever 
to owner or designer whether the new boat be designed for 
measurement with crew or without crew, so long as the rule 
is fixed one way or the other; but it will make a very great 
difference if the rule be changed in the near future, as it 
plainly must be, and the owners of new beats, built already 
to the limits of their classes, are obliged to conform to it. 
There has been entirely too much hasty and ill-considered 
legislation of late in yachting, and we hope that before it is 
too late those who are in a position to exert any influence by 
vote or otherwise will consider seriously this important 
question at least. Measurement with crew aboard is inevit- 
able ; it must come as surely as uniform classification, uni- 
form rules, one-gun starts and triangular courses have come. 
Any attempt to ignore it now can only work trouble in the 
future after new vachts have been built, as it is beyond 
question that such yachts will be designed to the limits of 
their classes when measured without crew. 
It is not necessary at this late day to go into lengthy argu- 
ments to prove that the only proper way in which to mtiasure 
a racing yacht is with weights of all kind aboard, in the bal- 
WENONAH. SAIL PLAN. 
last, and as nearly as possible in the trim in which the yacht 
actually sails. No other method is so fair to all yachts, so 
reasonable m itself, or so sure a preventive of evasion or 
"cheating" of the length measurement. Whether it is 
enough in itself, or whether it should be supplemented by a 
measurement at a stated distance above the actual loadline or 
by some other tax on overhang, is a secondary question, and 
one that can only be properly discussed on the basis of meas- 
urement of waterline in actual sailing trim. 
We publish this week the announcement of the fourth an- 
nual meeting of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine 
Engineers. As usual, a number of valuable papers will be 
read, and the two days of the meeting will give opportuni- 
ties for a social reunion that is as useful in its way as the 
papers themselves. It is gratifying to note the success of an 
institution which was long needed in this country, and which, 
now that it has come, is each year giving new evidence of 
its practical value. 
The Council of the Yacht Kacing Union of Long Island 
Sound has nearly completed the work in which it has been 
engaged since the ending of the racing season— the thorough 
overhauling of the racing rules. Though adopted on short 
notice and in an experimental way, with many concessions 
to the varying customs of the many organizations which it 
was proposed to unite, the rules thus far have worked ad- 
mirably through two seasons of regular racing. So great 
has been the change of public opinion during that short 
time in such matters as measurement with crew on board, 
one-gun starts, etc., that it is not only possible, but abso- 
lutely necessary, to revise the rules, and to incorporate some 
features heretofore unknown in American yachting. In 
some points, such as the remodeling of the list of classes, the 
abolition of allowance within the classes, etc., the general 
nature of the desired improvement has been plainly discern- 
ible, and the Council has had only to deal with details. In 
others, such as the question of limiting draft, overhang and 
sail, and that of a material alteration of the measurement 
rule it has proved very difficult to lay out any general plan 
that' promises to be satisfactory, and as yet no action has 
been taken, . . , 
So far as it has gone, the work of the Council in the form 
of amendments to many of the rules is most satisfactory. 
The main ends in view have been the lessening of the num- 
ber of classes, the strengthening of such classes as have been 
retained us permanent, the abolition of time allowance and 
the encouragement of owners to build to the full limits of 
the classes, and the further perfection of the details of actual 
management of races. The work has been done to a certain 
extent in concert with the Larchmont and New York clubs, 
though neither is a member of the Union, and all of the good 
features of the changes proposed in those clubs have been 
utilized; but the Union is prepared to go considerably 
further than the two clubs, especially in such important 
points as the measurement with crew on board in all classes 
and the limiting of yachts to the classes in which they 
belong, and prohibiting them from racing in others. The 
changes recommended are now nearly completed and will 
shortly be published, prior to being submitted to the Union 
for ratification. 
On some of the more important points, the proposed Umi- 
tation of draft and the possible alteration of the present 
formula with a view of producing a better type of yacht, 
the Council has as yet reached no positive conclusions. 
WENONAH-GUDRUDA. 
In spite of the large amount of information which it con- 
tains, the average yacht club book is not specially interest- 
ing or even valuable outside of a very limited field. The 
Imperial Y. C, of Germany, has for some years made its 
handsome year book of permanent value to yachtsmen, 
whether directly interested in the club or not, by the publi- 
cation of yacht cruises and also of the designs of prominent 
yachts, both racing and cruising, each book containing three 
or four complete designs. It is through this medium that 
we are enabled to publish the lines of one of the earliest of 
the Herreshoff fin-keels, the first American yacht to make a 
notable record in British waters since the days of the old 
America. The first experimental bulb-fin. Dilemma, was 
designed by N. G. Herreshoff and built at the works at 
Bristol for his own use, being launched in October, 1891. 
The results of her successful trials being widely heralded, 
two orders were placed for similar yachts for the 1 olio wing 
season. The first order was from Henry Allan, of Glasgow, 
one of the younger members of the famous yachting family 
of the Clyde, who had raced the Watson lugger Elfln in the 
2i-rating class in 1891. The new yacht, to which Mr. 
Allan gave the Indian name of Wenonah, was built to the 
same class, then in its prime on the Clyde, The other boat 
was ordered by H. Maitland Kersey, a young Enghsh yachts^ 
man who had recently made his home in New York, and was 
intended for the then existing 25ft. racing length class on 
the Sound, of which Smuggler and Nameless were-the first 
boats. El Chico, as Mr. Kersey named his boat, was practi- 
cally a sister of Wenonah, with the exception of a slight 
difference in rig, she having no bowsprit, the jib being set 
with a club on the foot, this club swiveled to the stemhead 
and projecting forward of it for 2ft. 
Wenonah's success was remarkable from the start, and iu 
two seasons' racing she made a record of thirty-three prizes 
in forty -six starts, her total winnings being about $750. At 
the end of her second season she was purchased by His 
Koyal Highness, Prince Henry of Prussia, brother to the 
Emperor, an enthusiastic yachtsman and owner of such 
crack yachts as the half -rater Niny, the forty-rater Irene, 
and later the cruising cutter L'Esperance. She was shipped 
