cJtot 24, 1897.1 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
7g 
fill benefit. Thus tbe oompany which has chosen this unex- 
pected time for announcing a drop in the standard price of 
bioj'cles has for the moment a leading hand, though only ex- 
perience can prove how the game will result. 
In an interview printed in a ETartfRrd paper, the head of 
this great concern is quoted as sayins: that tbe reduction was 
made; "Re cause, with our pi'esent facilities wa can make 
more bicycles than we can sell at $100 each, and I fee! a per- 
sonal responsibility in seeing that our large force of work- 
men is kept constantly employed." 
The reporter asked him: "Do I understand from that that 
your output has not been selling?" To which the manufac- 
turer replied : "Oh, no, our business is larger than ever be- 
fore, but our facdities baye been steadily increasing We 
want to keep our men at work the year round. It has never 
been our policy to weaken our oreanizition when trade 
falls off, and later bring in a set of new men who must be 
.trained to our standard, If we can bring our produetiou up 
to the limit we can sell the bicycles at the new prices and 
make a fair profit." 
This reply naturally suggested a question as to the profits 
of bicycle manufacturing. The reporter stating that he had 
seen tabulations wbicb professed to give the cost of making 
a high grade bicycle as $::U) The manufacturer answered: 
"If this is correct, why should so many bicycle manufac- 
turers fail when the prices were very mucli higher tban th^y 
are now, and when they netted a t'reat deal more than $30 
tor wheels not of the highest grade? There are many tbit.ga 
lo consider besides the actual first cost of materials. Eo 
manufacturer knows what the goods cost him until he 
figures up at the end of tbe year and puts in aH his expenses, 
and mnny of them have then found that their bicycles have 
cost them more than twice their estimate." 
The matter of making a cut in price in the middle of (he 
season has aroused a great deal of unfavorable comment. 
Riders who bought before the reduction, could, in many 
cases, have waited just as well as not before purchasing and 
taken advantage ot the lower price, if they had known it 
was to be made. 
It was taken for granted that the price announced at the 
beginning of the season was fixed for the entire year, and 
the reduction came accordiLgly very much like a 25 per 
cent, drop in the price of a stock that had been purchased at 
what was regarded to be its true value. Many riders sell 
their wheels after a season's use, and the unexpected reduc- 
tion had the effect at once of .scaling down the money value 
of these second-hand bicycles. 
One prominent manufacturer announced that if he had so 
reduced the price in his wheels, he would consider it obliga 
tory upon himself to send a check for the diff.:rence in value 
to each rider who had purchased a bicycle from him during 
the season, and the opinion among others was general that 
they considered themselves in honor bound to maintaiu the 
same price throughout the season. 
One result of the trial races has been to explode the stories 
current in the spring of the tremendous speed of some of the 
new boats. One that was credited with bome miles in a pre- 
posterously short time failed to makeauy thing like the same 
record over the carefully-legged cour.ses when timed by the 
race committee and independently by the newspaper men. 
Another that poses as the winner of a quasi-international 
contest was beaten by the whole heet. 
Thk increase of cost has appa.rently acted to reduce the 
mumber of boats, as was to be expected. With a 15 footer 
■costing from $300 to $6.50, there were twenty-eight at the line 
in the trial races of 1896. Now that the larger racing ma- 
chine costs from $1,000 to Sl,500, the number was reduced to 
ten. 
SEAWANHAKA INTERNATldN AL 
CHALLENGE CUP. 
Third Contest. 1S97. 
Trial Races for Ohdllenger. 
OYSTER, BAT. 
The third annual series of trial races has filled up the past 
week at Oyster Baj*, and, though the weather has been un- 
favorable and no decision has been announced by the com- 
mittee, the standing of the competing yachts has been pretty 
definitely determined. The races have been unsatisfactory, 
in a measure; though one was sailed through with no flukes' 
another was started in a light air and spoiled by a calm in 
the middle, while the third failed of a finish after much idle 
drifting and some Hght-weather sailing. At the same time, 
it is doubtful whether further trials and in better weather 
would change the places of the first four boats. 
Up to Saturday it looked very much as though there was 
but one boat— Momo — and no good second to h"er; but lu the 
two extra races on that day, her sister boat, Al Auka, made 
an excellent showing. Momo has done uniformly good work 
throughout the week; on Monday she had a poor start and 
was in the middle of the fleet for a time, but came to the 
front on the windward work of the first round; she sailed 
very fast on the reaches and did excellent work to windward 
in a reefing breeze and sea. While her victory was due to 
Skate's capsize, this Is nothing to her discredit, as all of 
these boats— Momo included — are liable to the same mishap. 
On Wednesday she had fairly beaten the fleet to windward 
in light weather, whenshe was hung up on the second round 
and overtaken by tbe others; but from that point on she 
started in to beat the fleet a second time, and did it. On 
Thursday she was the leading boat all day in light weather. 
She has shown herself very fast under all conditions: in the 
drifts and light winds she runs and reaches fast, and is ex- 
cellent to windward; in a strong breeze she still maintains 
her superiority. What is most important is that sh e seems 
to be a good, consistent and reliable all-round boat — one that 
can be depended on in any weather. 
It has beeo quite evident during the races that Al Anka 
was not shown to the best possible adVautage; had Momo 
never been built the latter would have been pushed much 
harder by her owner. She was well sailed by a good crew, 
but her first mast was poor and her sails rathe'r heavy, while 
her second mast, that now in her, was none of the best. ■ Sbe 
ia by no means as handsome and probably not as fast as 
Momo, but still she is a fast boat, as her work on Saturday 
showed. With a capsize and a breakdown marked against 
her, the score in the first two races placed her far Oelow 
Momo, but on Thursday and Saturday she did very much 
better, so far as light weather work is concerned. The two 
are by all means the best of the fleet, probably the only ones 
that are good enough to represent the elub in Canada. 
Accepting as correct the position which we as well as many 
.others have always taken, that the fin-keel was not a possi- 
bility in either the 15ft. or the 20ft. class, Shark has done re- 
markably well in the trial and other preceding races. She 
has shown herself a good all-around performer, fairly fast in 
light, moderate, or even heavy weather, and sailing very 
evenly. At the same time, it ia evident that her place is 
from third to fourth in the fleet, and that she is not fast 
enough to make a good fight for the cup. 
The two Huntington boats. Skate aud Keneu, havp been 
looked upon by some as certain winners in the trial races, 
but they have by no means come up to these exppctation.s. 
While strong on some points, they are weak in others, and 
neither has shown herself a consistent aud reliable performer 
in average racing weather. Skate gave a wonderful di.«play 
of sail carrying on the fir.st day, and her speed in reaching 
was something never before attained, .so far as we know, by 
the same length and sail. Her work to windward in a 
strong wind and sea was admirable, aud she should have 
won this race on her merits ha^l she shortened sail in time 
and had she been properly t)H]anced under storm canva«. 
Under the conditions of Monday sbe would prol'ably beat 
Momo over a triangle or even to windward and leeward, and 
she ia far faster than the other when she strike.^ her best 
speed, on a reach in a fresh breeze. At the same time .such 
conditions are exceptional, aud her speed under them is i.o 
guarantee that she will win a fair number of races in ordi- 
nary racing wef^ther on the Sound. In light weather she is 
slow, especially down wind; the conditions of Saturday's 
races were as near the average as can well be found, smooth 
water and a light but steady breeze, aud at this work the 
other boats simply lost her. 
Keneu is much the same a'^ Skate, very fast under certain 
conditjons but slow under others, the lOss, from a racing 
standpoint, more than offsetting the gain. From their per- 
formances through the season it is doubtful whether either 
boat would be good enough to make a creditable fight on 
Lake St. Louis in a prolonged series of races in August with 
a time limit. 
The two Olmstead boats, Asthore and Montauk, the latter 
o:dy sailing iu the trial races, are not up to date in model; 
like all of Mr. Olmstead's boats in the 15 and 20ft. classes, 
they are fin-keels, of the normal furm and staunch aud com- 
paratively durable construction and strongly and heavily 
rigged. As boats, they are entirely too good for the clas.'*, 
being deep and able little ships, hand.some to look at and 
ea.sily altered into useable craft for afternoon sailing. Under 
suitable storm canvas Montauk should have done very well 
on Monday, she was third boat as it was, but she has never 
been near the front in any of the trial races. 
The Western boat Mary is even yet an unknown quantity, 
not only had her crew done little practice work in her at 
home, but she arrived too late at Oyster Bay for any trials 
of herself or for any practice sails over the course. Her 
owners were utterly unfamiliar with the surroitudings, they 
had never sailed in tidal w aters, and they did not fully know 
their boat. In the hard windward work of Monday she did 
very well until disabled, but she has not been raced in away 
to show her true position iu the fleet. 
All things considered, we have very little hope of the Sea- 
wanhaka international cup coming back to Oyster Bay next 
month, but iu Momo the club has a fitting represeutative to 
back its challenge; one that may be depended uijon to put up 
a good fight. J U.St how near to Momo Al Anka is, we can- 
not pretend to say on the showing of their races about the 
Sound, but it is certain that if the sole attention of her owner 
were concentrated upon her, in the ab.sence of the other boat, 
she would do better than she thus far has; probably well 
enough to make an interesting fight for tbe cup. As a fln- 
keel, and on her showing in the races. Shark is not good 
enough for international honors. When Mr. Brand came 
over for the first cup races in 1895 he was very anxioLis indeed 
to have reaching races instead of windward-leeward ones — a 
desire which was not gratified. If the challenger this year 
could pick reaching courses and secure a short time limit, 
either Skate or Keneu would probably bring back the cup; 
but as yacht racing is at present conducted it is the good 
litlht- weather performer and the all-around good sailor, espe- 
cially to windward, which wins. 
Momo is the second boat designed for the class by Clinton. 
H. Crane, who designed and sailed El Heirie in the unsuc- 
cessful defense of the cup last year. After Mr. Crane had his 
first boat — Al Anka — well under way, his father, J. H. Crane, 
and his uncle, A. W Durkee, neither of them yachtsmen, but 
deeply interested in this racing, offered to build another ooat 
if Mr. Crane was desirous of trying anything different from 
his first design. This offer was accepted, and the boat was 
built, sparred and rigged by the Spalding St. Lawrence Boat 
Co.,atOt;densburgh. Momo, tbe Japanese word for "peach," 
is 29ft. 6in. over all, with a beam of 8ft. and a draft of 5io., 
with moderate freeboard and sheer, quite different from the 
straight sheer line and turtleback deck of El Heirie. She 
has a boldly curved side line, not parallel, as in several of 
the class; a flat floor, and a good flare to the side. With the 
marked characteristics of the new type of small racer, she 
has still the appearance of a boat, and is by no means of the 
slab or barndoor type in appearance. Her fore end for about 
2ft. is blunted in after a very ugly fashion; but a()art from 
this, which is not apparent when under way, and a general 
fullness of the lines, she is a very good-looking craft, the 
handsomest of the new fleet except Mary. She carrlss a 
short bowsprit and is rigged with a gaii mainsail. She has 
no transverse bulkheads, but a shoal watertight cockpit 
about Oft. long and 3ft. wide, with deck hatches fore and aft. 
The hull is of Spanish cedar, shiplap, as is the deck; the 
frames are very light, but the construction is substantial, 
and by no means exceptionally light. The workmanship is 
good throughout. 
The tiller is a novelty, the shape of a wishbone, or rather a 
large Y, a double tiller of bent elm braced strongly but 
lightly. When the helm is amidships, one arm of the tiller 
is near the gunwale to windward, and the other to leeward. 
The cent«rboard is a large plate of Tobin bronze, weighing 
about 2301bs., and fitted on the fore side with a roller, on 
which it may be raised, lowered, or run fore and aft. It ia 
handled by a powerful tackle. The Young spring gooseneck 
Is used on the boom, and a special pattern of brass blocks. 
The deck fittings are strong and convenient. Abreast of the 
cockpit on each side of the deck, about If c. in from the plank- 
sheer, is a teak handrail. The sails were made by Wilson & 
Silsby, of Boston. 
Al Anka (the name being the Arabic fot bird), the first 
boat designed by Mr. Crane, is 31fc. over all and Sfb. beam, 
with about 6ln. draft. The hull and spars were built by 
Lawley & Son, who also built El Heirie, the construction 
being the same, double-skin with mahogany outside. She is 
a fine piece of work, the bow being especially difficult to 
build. On deck it is a semicircle, and the fore end of the 
bottom is abruptly rounded in to meet the deck. The tiller, 
centerboard and rig are similar to those of Momo, but she 
has no bowsprit. Both boats have bronze rudders of a pecu- 
liar pattern, not unlike a wide curved dagger or creese. Al 
Anka's deck is of white pine, with caulked seams. 
Shark was designed by Gardner & Cox, and built by the 
Spalding St. Lawrence Boat Co. after an old system of con- 
struction that, however, has not before been tried in that 
class of boat. Tbe planking is of Spanish cedar, in. strips 
%in. thick and about lin. wide, worked with one convex and 
one concave edge, so that no beveling is required. These 
strips are edge-nailed with brass wire nails at frequent in- 
tervals, each nail going through nearly three strips In ad- 
dition the hull is lightly timbered and very strongly and 
elaborately strapped and braced. The deck is also o£ %in. 
Spanish cedar. The hull ia a remarkably handsome piece of 
work. The boat is 30ft. over all, 6ft. beam, antl about Sin. 
draft without fin. She has no sheer and the sides are nearly 
parallel; the bottom is flat, with around bilge. The transoni 
is cut oft square, aud though she comes to a point forward a 
short bowsprit is carried. The model is too nearly of the 
slab order to be handsome, as compared with the 15-footers 
or fmall raters of several years ago, but at the .same time the 
boat presents a very satisfactory appearance on the water. 
The fin, of the full draft of 5ft., is only 2Ct. wide; the rudder 
is of mahogany, triangular in shape, aud about 3ft. deep and 
lOin. wide. The spars and rigging, made by the builders, are 
very fine in workmanship. The sails were made by Wilson 
& Criffin, of New York. 
The other fin-keel, Montauk, was designed by Chas. Olm- 
stead, who designed and sailed River,side, the fin-keel that 
WHS second in the trial races of last yeai-. Montauk is 29ft. 
over all, 6ft. llin. beam and Sin. draft of hull. The hull Is 
strongly built, with a good keel and plenty of oak floors, the 
planking being white cedar, carvel-built. The deck is of 
cedar and canvased. The boat has an open cockpit and no 
bulkheads. Her fin and rudder are of Tobin bronze, of the 
usual shapes. The spars and rigging are strong, but heavy, 
Mr, Olmstead has not gone in to cut weight, as some of the 
other de.signers in the class have. Her sails were made by 
Sawyer & .Son. The boat is quite shapely in appearance and 
will make a very nice little craft for ordinary sailing. 
Tbe two Huntington boats are more or less similar to Pap- 
rika, the 15 footer of last year. Keneu was the first built, 
early in the spring; she is SOPt. 6in. over all and 8ft. beam. 
With a straight sheer, she shows a comparatively high free- 
board for the type, her trau.som is wide and deep, just clear 
of the water. Her sides are nearly parallel and her bow is 
rounded in .sharply. Skate is by no meaas so deep in hull, 
though of the same length and beam, her draft ia about 4in. 
Her sides are parallel and her bow is very full, nearly a 
semicircle on deck. Both boats have flush decks with only 
small, oval cockpit <, in which to stow light sails. They are 
fitted with big, sliding plates of .steel, that of Skate weigh- 
ing 2801bs. These plates are simply dropped through the 
trunk, anel there is no provision for handily raising or ma- 
nipulating them. 
Some comment has been made over the fact that Mr. Cox, 
after designing a boat himself for the class, has ordered one 
from another designer-. In contracting to design and build 
Shark, Mr. Cox took the 15-footer Paprika in part payment 
and sailed her early this season, afterward taking her to 
Bermuda, where he and Mr, Dresser raced her with surpris- 
ing success against the Bermuda boats. Being impressedi 
with her peculiar qualities, on his return Mr. Cox ordered a" 
20-footer from Mr. Huntington, intending to race her him-' 
self in order to study the type. The design was made and 
the boat built by Mr. Huntington, who is entitled to alb 
credit for her. She has been sailed in the races this spring, 
partly by the Huntingtons and partly by Mr. Cox, with 
iMe.ssrs. Dresser and Bullock as crew, showing a very high 
speed at times, her most Successful performance bt ing in the. 
strong N.W. wind of the Seawanhaka regatta on June 26. 
The two boats were sparred by the Spalding St. Lawrence 
Boat Co. The hulls are carvel built, of white cedar, with 
canvased decks. ' 
Mary is the be.<?t looking of the class, more after the model 
of a year or two back; .she has shapely ends, a good sheer and 
side line, and with mu outer skin of mahogany, oak plank-^ 
sheer and sprung deck of narrow pine caulked, is very ship- 
shape and handsome. She has a shallow water-tight cockpit 
with deck hatches. Her ceuterboard is of steel plate, quite 
large and handled by a tackle, being pivoted in the usual 
way. She was built by the Racine l^'acht and Boat Manu- 
facturing Co. 
Araucais thelarge.stand most extreme of the class; she 
was designed by her owner, Mr. Howard, in connection with 
the builder, L. K Fry, and built at Claytou, N. Y. She is 
sort. 8m. over all, lOfc. l^in. beam, with a very wide tran- 
som. The after overhang is very long, wide and flat, just 
clearing the water. On deck she is very large, with a full 
bow; tbe whole boat looks like the deck of an oyster sloop 
cut off and .set afloat. She has a very long and shoal self- 
draining cockpit and a large centerboard of steel plate, with 
a long but very shoal rudder. The rig is peculiar, -after Mrt 
Howard's own ideas; the hoist is low, the gaft" long, and set 
at a very low angle. In spite of the great size of the hull, 
the construction is light in the extreme, the frames and 
planking being about heavy enough for a 30in. canoe. She 
was badly balanced, and at times would not mind her helm. 
Vagary and Idea were never in at the club station,the former 
lying up at Cold Spring Harbor, and the latter off the town 
of Oyster Bay. Vagary was designed by her owner, Mr. 
Barclay Ward, an amateur, as an experiment in the scow 
type, and wa.s built and rigged by the Spalding St, Lawrence 
Boat Co, Her deck plan is a rectangle, with flush deck. She 
had no opportunity during the races to show whether the 
experiment was .successful or the rever.se, being ordered late 
in the season, and only completed in time for the races. A 
defect in her rudder disabled her just prior to the first race, 
and she start-ed but once. 
Idea wa.'^, so far as could be seen, much after the ordinary 
type of small yacht; she showed a high freeboard and a good 
deal of sheer torward, a long fore overhang and rather hol- 
low bow. 
Compared with the 15-footers of 1S95-8, it is not eviden 
that any material good has resulted from the change o 
class. The boats are decidedly faster in absolute speed, but 
the actual interest in the races, either to participants or 
spectators, is not increased by this; the fighting was quite as 
keen and interesting last year as this. The first cost has in- 
creased from about $650 for the most expensive of the 15- 
footers to $1,500 for a similar 20 footer, ranging down to 
$1,000 for tbe Huntington boats, of plainer construction. 
Similarly, the cost of transporting, altering, etc., has in- 
creased. The 20-footers carry a crew of three as compared 
with two iu a 15-footer, but there is no special advantage in 
this. They are larger, but very much more unwieldy to 
handle in beaching or oeside a dock. While abler in pro- 
portion to the increased size, they are little better as racing 
machines than the smaller boats. They are even less useful 
than the great majority of the 15-footers for conversion to 
other purposes after their racing days are over. As far as 
the advancement of naval architecture as a science, or even 
the improvement of yachts in the larger classes, are con- 
cerned, the less said tne better. 
The results of the races thus far sailed may be considered 
as final; it was evident to all that Momo was the one boat to 
send to Lake St. Louis, but the race committee made no de- 
cision after Saturday's race, and it is even possible that fur- 
ther races may be sailed. The very favorable showing of Al 
Anka on Saturday hus changed the first opinion regarding 
her, but still there are no grounds for considering her equal 
to Momo. It has been suggested that in the probable event 
of an official selection of Momo in a few days, in which case 
Mr. Crane will at once take her to Dorval— Al Anka be also 
taken, for use in working up the other boat on the course 
over which the races will be sailed. If selected, Momo will 
be sailed by Messrs. Clinton H. Crane, Stackpole and Pierce, 
her crew in the trial faces; Mr, Stackpole frequently relieved 
Mr, Crane at the tiller, thus giving him a needed rest. 
The courses and conditions for the trial races were practi- 
cally the same as iu the two preceding years, the only mate 
rial change was that the windward-leeward course was but 
two miles instead of three; but sailed three times instead of 
two, to make the twelve miles. This change was made at 
the suggestion of the racing men, who found that a three- 
mile beat to windward in one position on the edge of a slab 
was more than they cared for. The course, as shown on the 
accompanying chart, was thus limited to something less than 
a semicircle, of which the center was the black buoy off Cen- 
ter Mand, the start and finish of all previous races of the 
