DbO. 19, 1898. 
FOREST AND STREAM^ 
short— 4iiti. are ample — and the gear low, and the 'reach' 
80 short that when the child is sitting easily on the saddle 
he can place his heel on the pedal when at its lowest point. 
The handle bar must be raised to such an extent and the 
handles so brought around that they can be conveniently 
grasped when the forearm is nearly fully extended and 
the trunk erect. The saddle must be of proper 8)553, and 
so adjusted that the peak does not cause any undue pres- 
sure; and, when all these preliminaries are fulfilled, the 
strictest supervision must be exercised to insure modera- 
tion as to the distances ridden and pace observed. All 
hill riding, except up a very slight incline, and all ex- 
cepsive speed should be forbidden, and the great teat 
after a ride is the condition of the child the next day. If 
he eat well, sleep well, and is bright and lively, he has 
not done too much and is likely to reap benefit and suffer 
no harm from his exercise. "When a person has been 
riding for some time and has regularly kept up his con- 
dition by constant practice, there is no reason why ad- 
vancing years should compel him to give up his recrea- 
tion and his exercise. There are scores of men who have 
passed the age of sixty years who are still capable of forty 
or fifty miles a day without fatigue, and the number of 
those who, though past the 'three score years and ten,' 
attribute their continued health to the regular use of 
their bicycle or tricycle is not inconsiderable. He would 
be a rash man who, without some very good and definite 
cause, ventured to debar his somewhat aged patients from 
an exercise which suited them and which is so adapted to 
persons who cannot walk much ; for it must always be 
remembered that a man on a bicycle has not to carry his 
own weight, it is rolled on wheels for him, and the differ- 
ence there must be in the exertion when a weight has 
both to be supported and propelled, and when it is only 
propelled on any kind of carriage, is apparent. An 
habitual rider, therefore, may be allowed to use his wheel 
as long as nature wiU allow him, and the more regularly 
be uses it within reason, the longer will nature allow him 
the lise of it." 
The annual general meeting of the Yacht Racing Union 
of Long Island Sound will be held on Friday, Dec. 18, at 8 
P M., at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, Parlor F. A full attend- 
ance of all club representatives is looked for, as important 
amendments to the racing rules are to be acted upon. 
Mk. J. R. Maxwell, owner of Emerald, schooner, has 
decided to rebuild her in order to keep her in the racing 
with Colonia, To this end plans have been prepared by her 
designer, H C. Wintringham, for the removal of the entire 
keel and the lower strakes of the bottom platiog, and the 
construction of a new keel nearly 4ft. deeper, increasing the 
draft from 10ft. to 14ft , the limit allowed by the new rules. 
This wiU, of course, necessitate a larger and entirely new rig 
to utilize the increased power derived from the lowering of 
the lead. The centerboard will, of course, be retained. 
This will be the second important alteration which has 
been made to the yacht, the fore body having been length- 
ened after her first season. The work will be done by T. S. 
Marvel, at Newburgh. 
NEW YACHTS. 
Within the past week several new orders for steam craft 
have become known, one being for a new Marietta, No. III. 
of the name, for H. B. Moore, of New York, from desigrs 
by H. .1. G-ieJow, designer of Marietta I. and Marietta II. 
The keel blocks for this yacht are now laid at the yard of 
John H. Robins «fc Co., Erie Basin, under the large shed 
erected last year to protect the steam yacht Sovereign while 
building. The new Marietta will be still larger than the 
older ones, 173ft. 6ia. over all, 140ft. l.w.l., 18ft. beam. She 
will be of steel, with double bottom amidships, to be used 
for fresh-water tanks. Her machinery will include a four- 
cylinder triple expansion engine supplied by two water-tube 
boilers. The interior is carefully planned to give large and 
convenient rooms, with good ventilation, and the yacht will 
be finished with all the modern requisites, electric installa- 
tion, complete plumbing throughout, etc. 
In addition to the steam yacht already mentioned 
for Governeur Kortright, Gardner & Cox have two 
orders for larger craft. Mr. Kortright's yacht will 
be in many respects a novelty, being planned to meet his 
special requirements in a cruising craft for a summer home. 
She will carry a yawl rig, and her bow will be much the 
same as that cf the modern sailing yacht, such as Queen 
Mab, She promises to be stylish and shipshape in appear- 
ance, and eminently comfortable and convenient. The two 
larger yachts — ^the owners of which are not yet known — will 
be 150 and 130ft. long. The Sl-footer for Mr. Hoyt is now 
well under way at the shops of Wood & Son, City Island, 
who turned out such excellent work in Mr. Hoyt's SS-footer 
Norota. Gardner & Cox also have an order for a 70ft. 
racing length cutter. 
The report is cuiTent that Howard Gould, owner of Niag- 
ara, will build this winter a large seagoing steam yacht for 
a cruise around the world, and the English papers state that 
James Gordon Bennett will replace Namouna by a very 
large steam yacht designed by Watson and built abroad. 
C. S. Eaton, of Boston, owner of the notable knockabout 
Cock Robin, has just sold her to 0, H. W. Foster, and will 
replace her with a Herreshoff 20-footer for the Seawanhaka 
races, to be handled by W. P. Fpwle, so well known as the 
owner of the several successful Saracens some years since. 
Mr. Fowle has handled Cock Robin this year, and no small 
part of her success is due to him. The Heireshoffs also 
have an order for a knockabout for D. H. Percival, Jr., of 
Boston. 
V. D. Bacon, of New York, has an order from a member 
of the Knickerbocker Y. C. for a design for a single-hand 
knockabout, to be 29ft. over all, 19ft. 6in. l.w.l., 8ft. 6in. 
beam, and 2ft. 6in. draft. She will be built at College Point. 
Thomas Clapham has sent to George T. Chester, of Buffalo, 
a design for a large sharpie, which will be built of steel at 
Buffalo. Mr. Clapham is at work on a yawl-rigged sharpie 
36fi. over all for Mr, Kellogg, of Buffalo, and on a catboat 
for A. H, Cochran, of Yonkers. 
The PoRKST AND Stekam ia put to press each week on Tuesday. 
Correspondence intended for publication should reach ug at the 
latett by Motuiay,and as much earlier as practicable. 
THE LAKE YACHT RACING'UNION. 
Our recent publication of the rules of the new Yacht 
Racing Union of the Great Lakes, and our comments there- 
on, have brought the following letters : 
Editor Foreat and Btreami: 
In your issue of Dec S vou state that the Lake Yacht Kacinff Asso- 
ciation adoped the British system of obtaining actual sail area for 
reasons which are not vftry clear. Prom very distinct recollections 
of the matter I am in a position to state that the chanee was made 
on account of the errowing tendency to use bat's-wing and Uific-sail 
rigs, which were never intended to be measured by tbe old Seawan- 
liaka rule, and it was found impossible to twist or alter the rule so as 
to make it apply to them with fairness. 
The reason of this was not far to seek. The Seawanhaka rule is 
based upon the assumption that the rig to he measured is approxi- 
mately a trianjrle of which the topsail halliard sheave is the apex. 
To all such rigs it applies fairly enough, hut very little ingennity was 
req\n"red to devise a bat's-win? or lug-sail rig to which it would apply 
no better than a rule for measiiring a triangle will apply to measur- 
infr a square. 
As an instance of what was done imder the old I'ule I recollect that 
Mr. Jarvis designed the 21-fnoter Thistledown to carry a battened 
lupr of 540^q ft. which measm-ed only 4503q. ft. by the rule. It is 
quite eTiden": that without some cbansre the cutter riff would have 
been penalized so heavily that it would have been driven off the lake 
by this time. The British system of measuriog sail area aptseared a 
little complicated at first, but our yachtsman soon erot used to it. It 
is also to he noticed that a few chancres were made in the existina: 
British rule at the time of its adoption by the L. Y. R. A., such as the 
measurement to the extreme end of the gaff and boom instead of 
attempting to measure the head or foot of the sail when fully 
stretched. 
Whatever theoretical objection mav be made to this system, it has 
certainly worked verv smoothly on Lake Ontai'io, 
Clotton, Ont. , Deg, 5. W:m. Q, Phillips. 
This explanation is probably the correct one. No one is 
better informed in the matter than our correspondent; and 
he is probably equally correct as to the practical operation 
of the Y. R. A. saii measurement on Lake Ontario. The 
Seawanhaka rule was never intended to measure the many 
varieties of small rigs: lug. lateen, gunter, etc.; nor has it 
been called on to do so in this country until a very recent 
date. Prior to the introduction of the 15ft. class'in 1895, 
we remember but one instance of a racing yacht being tilted 
with other than the boom and gaff rig — the 35-footer 
Needle, built in 1891, and fitted, when she first came out, 
with the English "lug" as used on the Solent. 
In its application to everything that can be termed a yacht 
as possessing some accommodation, and in distinction to the 
open sailing boat, the Seawanhaka rule is, we contend, 
superior to the Y. R. A., rule in that the measurements of 
the sail plan can be taken more easily, rapidly and certainly, 
and are capable of satisfactory verification in case of a dis- 
pute. When it cnmps to the 15 and 20-footers, with odd 
rigs of all kinds, the Seawanhaka method in its present form 
does not apply, and something more is necessary. This 
same difficulty has come very prominently to the front in 
arranging the terms for the new 30ft. class between the 
Royal St. Lawrence Y. C. and the Seawanhaka C. Y. C. 
There are three possible solutions of the diiilculty: First, 
to retain the Seawanhaka method for the great majority of 
yachts which are now fairly measured by it, with a special 
provision for the measuring of I he odd rigs in the smaller 
classes by the Y. R. A. method; second the retention of 
the Seawanhaka method for rigs with gaff sails and the ex- 
tension of the same principle of measuring as far as possi- 
ble from the spars alone to cover the odd rigs ; and, third, 
the substitution of the Y. R. A. method for all yachts. The 
first course 's now recognized in the existing rules of most 
American clubs; the second has been taken in framing the 
rules for the Seawanhaka cup races in the 20ft. class; and 
the third course was followed several years since bv the 
Lake Y. R A. at the instance of the Royal Canadian Y. C, 
for the reason given by our correspondent. 
As apphed to Lake Ontario, the change has worked well 
in practice The fleet of racing yachts is small, very few new 
yacbts are added each season, and few changes are made in 
existing yachts from year to year. The racing is confiDed 
very largely to the fleets of Toronto and Hamilton; the 
measurers are able to measure the sails under suitable con- 
ditions, in dry we ither, and a measurement once taken is 
likely to stand for some seasons. 
On the At' antic coast the case is very different There are 
about New York alone scores of yachts to be measured each 
year. The work of measuring for a large club, always a 
voluntary one save for the comparatively small fees, de- 
mands much time and labor at best, and this would be 
greatly increased if it were necessary to wait for weather in 
order "that all sails might be measured under the same condi- 
tions. However unimportant in the small classes, the ques- 
tion of the stretch of sails becomes far more of a factor in 
the case of the big schooners and cutters, and it is in these 
latter above all others that accuracy of both original meas- 
urement and verification are most important. In all classes 
from 30ft. upward nothing would be gained and much 
would be lost by a change from the Seawanhaka to the 
Y, R. A method. 
In the present condition of yacht racing on the Great 
Lakes it may be a small matter which system is used ; the 
conditions on Erie, Hm'on and Michigan are similar to those 
on Ontario, with even fewer yachts, and the Y. R. A. 
method can be used with good results There is, however, 
the future to be considered; we hope that before many years 
each of the five lakes may possess a strong racing fleet asso- 
ciated in the new Union and with interlake competitions. 
When that day comes the Seawanhaka method will, in our 
opinion, meet the necessities of the case far better than the 
one just adopted. 
Then too there is another consideration : no good reason 
exists for two different methods of measurement within 
practically the same territory between the Lake fleet and 
the coast fleet; one of the two, the poorer if there be any 
dift'erence, should be dropped and the other adopted. For 
the reasons already given we believe the Seawanhaka rule to 
be the better of the two, and therefore favor its use for all 
yachts above the 25ft. class, even though it should be finally 
demonstrated that the small classes can be better measured 
by a'Sifferent rule. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In your remarks last week concerning the action at the proposed 
new Yacht Racing Union of the Great Lakes (which by the way has 
been dubbed by one irreverent sailor "The Society f or the Suppression 
of Small Yachtb"), referiins; to that section of ttie rules which is to 
resci ict the area of midship section to a minimum coefficient of -35 per 
cent., you say: "With but four existing yacbts below tbis limit, it is 
perfectly practical and for the present at least must prove beneficial 
in barring further additions of the fin-keel type." This statement 
might be moiv or less easy to indorse were tbere any considerabls 
number of yachts of the size of Candda or even Vivia in commissioa 
or likely to be built ; but when one remembers that it took sis rich 
men, two Provinces of the Dominion of Canada, and all Mr. Jarvjs's 
well-known energy, with the added fiUipof a prospective international 
contest, to bring to life the only yacht above 33ft. r.l. built on this 
hike in two seasons, it does altoost seem as if— x)ii Lake Ontario at 
least— latitude and not restriction would he the thinfr su?erested. 
On the other hand, the spaetnde that has beon afforded to those 
who have attended th? L. Y R. A. races for the two seasons that 
cover as well the whole period during which the 22ft. class fnowto be 
abolished) has been offleially recognized has been one in which 
quite two-thirds of all the starters haV e be'^n of that class and the 87- 
footers: while of the residue probably half has been supphed by the 
class rating Saft. 
With these f-icta before them, uiany yachtsmen here are prone to 
thinli that it would be more to the interest of the new Union to face 
hving issues, turn a little of their attention to the classes that will fill, 
and generally to descend from that lofty positinii of superiority so 
readily assumed by these bodies that finds itself so well and fre- 
quf ntiy expressed in the club dinner speeches of elderly gentlemen 
who love unctuously to refer to the small rater as "the little train- 
ing ship from which our yachtsmen are developed " 
If any such thought as this ever did suggest itself, it has certainly 
met its most effective negative in the proposal to confine the designer 
to an express minimum coefficient of acircumpcribing parallelogram 
without any defined horizontal bounds, a inle that at once prohibits 
for the S7ft. and 22ft; classes (supposing the latter to exist) the only 
type in which speed and.sHf°ty are combined. 
How the Forest ANn Stricam can approve a rule that in its effect 
so completelv traverses all that it bas so steadily maintained for 
year.s can only be exnlained hy assummg it to be mistaken in the 
premises, for surely never before was such a premium placed upon 
the sandbag type of boat. 
What have the existing bulb-fiDS done to bring this thing upon us, 
Hiawatha? Koko? Isis "of Oswego, the Sa-footer which came the 
length of the Lake to race in Hamiltnn last year, and sailed home 
again with skipper and crew on board? Whit is the matter with the 
scores of boats from 36ft. to 24ft. r.l. that safely race thirty or forty 
times a season in the rough waters of the English Solent, fln-keeis 
all, and their sisters likewise in American waters? 
The effect of the bars possibility of such a rule being passed has in 
at least one case within the writer's knowledee been to turn astide the 
purpose of an interesting builder of a bulb-fiD to meet Hiawatha, and 
it is said others are held in abeyance pendine: the action of the Asso- 
ciation or Union, whichever will succeed to tije command. 
It is to he hoped that something in the way of interchanee of view- 
ing between the parties most interested may be had before anything 
irrevocable is done. FtN (de Siecle). 
Toronto, Deo. 5. 
Our correspondent brings up a number of points which 
may be, perhaps, best taken up seriatim. The obiections 
raised by him to the new rules have been made by others as 
well. 
Tt is because we recognize clearly the slow course of build- 
ino: on Lake Ontario, as pointed out by our correspondent, 
that we advoc'ite what we believe to be a fair and reasonable 
restriction. The worst possible thing that can happen to 
lake yachting is the introduction of the fio-keel in the larger 
classes throu2"h the presence of that "latitude" which our 
correspondent eaUs for. There are few enougb yachtsmen 
on Lake Ontario to-dav who are both willing and able to 
keep up such yachts as Vreda, Zelma, Aggie and Yama, with 
good headroom and comfortable accommodat'on for the rac- 
ing circuit of the Lake, or longer cruises at times to Lake 
Erie. There are still fewer, in fact none at all, who care to 
own a racing bulb-fin, with vastly inferior accotnmodalion. 
Even Canada, not an extreme bulb-fin, was only built by a 
syndicate and for a special purpose. She found no purchaser 
when put up at auction recently, and as now arranged she is 
inferior to the older yachts in accommodation. To outbuild 
her, should the occasion arise, would mean the extreme type 
of bulb-fin, with still less accommodation, and of no use save 
for racing. 
The 27 and 32ft. classes are to-day the most popular on 
the Lake, though neither is bu'lt up as it should be. As far 
as we are informed, the new Union and the Lake Y. R. A. 
have "faced living issues" in dealing with both classes 
according to the circumstances of each case. The 27ft. 
class, as now existing on the Lakes, permits a cabin yacht 
of fair accommodation, and large enoush to cruise from 
lake to lake, as was done this year. The limit of 35 per 
cent, is the least that would protect this class from the in- 
troduction of such a racing fin-keel as would at once kill off 
all existing yachts and prevent the building of new ones. It 
is only necessary that one man should start in to sweep the 
Lake for a season with a bulb-keel in any class, either" 
undergoing the discomforts of living in the confined quar- 
ters, or else putting up at hotels ashore, to put an end to the 
racing of wholesome boats in that class. 
From the positive tone of our correspondent we hesitate 
before suggesting that possibly he is the one who is mistaken 
in his premises; but we were reallv unaware that the 23ft. 
class had been abolished on Lake Ontario. It dnes not ap- 
pear in the list of classes of the Yacht Racing Union, pos- 
sibly for the reason that it is too small for interlake racing, 
but it is specifically mentioned in the amended rules of the 
Lake Y. R A , which will be acted on at the annual meet- 
ing on Dec. 19. Moreover, this class is very properly 
exempted from the 35 per cent, limitation, for the excellent 
reason that it is at best too small for other than local work 
and home racing, in spite of the fact that boats of the class 
have cruised the length of the Lake and back, as quoted by our 
correspondent. The class is rather small, with a l.w.l. length 
of about 19ft., to give cabin space and cruising accommoda- 
tion without a seiious loss of speed ; a fact recognized in the 
new rules by leaving it free from a limitation intended to 
preserve internal space. 
We fail to see how the limitation of the midship section 
has any effect whatever on the issue of keel and centerboard 
as it has stood on Lake Ontario for snme years, the keel 
boat having entirely driven out the centerboard. Such a 
limitation in a different form, of a premium for excess of 
area above 35 per cent., would strongly favor the center- 
board type; but iu its present form it merely leaves matters 
as they long have bpen. 
The bulb fins of the 33ft. class mentioned by our corre- 
spondent, Koko, Isis and, we believe, Hiawatha, are left as 
before, no change being made in the portion of the rules re- 
lating to them. The Solent boats instanced are admirable 
craft for a certain purpose; the toys of a set of wealthy 
yacbtsmen and yachtswomen who never attempt to cruise 
in them; bu race them within sight of their moorings, with 
a steam yacht in attendance if necessary. Such craft are iu 
every way unsuited for the lakes, where fair accommodation 
and adaptability for general use through the season are 
prime requisites. 
The course of improvement on the lakes had, up to last 
season, gone no further than a reasonable refinement of form 
and construction, as shown in Zelma and Yama. The safe 
and prudent limit was not onlv reached but exceeded in the 
construction this spring of Vencedor and Canada; and any 
attempt to outbuild either must result in the extinction of 
existing yachts and the surrpuder of tbe lakes to the bulb- 
fin racing machine, such as Dilemma, Niagara or Flatfish. 
The first to appreciate this fact and to act upon it are the 
very ones condemned by our correspondent. They have, in 
furtherance of what they believe to be the best interests of 
lake yacbting, deliberately adopted a rale which excludes 
from the racing their own yacht, Canada, and leaves the 
field still open to the old,er and better yachts of the 42ft. 
class. 
