iRCH 24, 1900.] 
FOI^EST AiSTD StHEAM. 
Lake Ontario. 
The Hamilton, Ont, correspondent of the Union and 
Advertiser, of Rochester, gives the following description 
of a new yacht for the Lake fleet: 
If the 40ft. cutter now being built in the Weir shop at 
the foot of Wentworth St. were intended for the America 
Cup races greater secrecy would not be preserved. Even 
the name of the owner of the new craft of which so much 
is expected has been kept from the public, though it has 
leaked out that he is a wealthy resident of Kingston who 
has not been very prominently identified with yachting 
thus far, but who intends to make fame for himself in 
Lake Ontario water by turning out this season with one 
of the fastest if not the speediest 40-footers on the lake and 
by furnishing his club with a boat with which to challenge 
for the Fisher cup, now held by the Rochester Y. G. 
The craft is from the designs of Mr. Hugh Weir, the 
creators of Verona, Kestrel, Hiawatha, the Weir defender 
for the Canada cup, and other speedy Lake Ontario flyers, 
and she is being built under his direct supervision. When 
the craft was first laid out it was given out that Weir 
merely had the contract for another fast cruiser; but as 
the work progressed and tales of the new boat's racy ap- 
pearance reached local yachtsmen it was rumored that 
Weir was building a challenger for the Canada cup which 
was lost to Genesee, and that his boat was to be nomi- 
nated by one of the Hamilton yacht clubs. The officials 
of the club, however, denied that they had issued a chal- 
lenge for the cup and announced that even if Weir did 
produce a craft speedy enough to go West on a cup lifting- 
voyage it would not be sent this season at any rate, 
because the limit set for the reception of a challenge 
had passed and the club had no claim on the Chicago 
Y. C. for time concession. 
V/eir himself also denied that the craft under construc- 
tion was intended for a race for the trophy Genesee 
wrested from Beaver last August. 
Last week, however, it became known that the cutter, 
provided, of course, that she develops the requisite speed, 
would represent the Kingston Y. C. in a contest for the 
Fisher cup. Mr. Weir refused to either affirm or deny 
the statement that the boat was building for the Fisher 
cup challenge, but acknowledged that she would fly the 
colors of the Kingston Y. C. and that she was ' designed 
for important races on Lake Ontario. Further, he vvould 
not go, nor will he deny that the boat would sail for the 
Fisher cup. - ! •, ■ 
The announcement was made last fall that the Kingston 
Y. C. would send Kestrel, the 30ft. champion of Lake 
Ontario, after the cup if the R.ochester Y. C. would nom- 
inate Verona as the defender. Though the Rochester 
yachtsmen, it is said, were confident that Verona could 
defeat Kestrel, the match was not arranged because the 
Rochester men did not care to bind themselves to defend 
the cup with Verona alone, ,when other 30-footers were 
building, and it is now said that the Kingston men will 
pit the Weir boat if she develops any speed at all against 
anything the Rochester Y. C. can produce in the 40ft. 
class. 
The new racer is a most peculiar craft, and the racer 
from stem to stern. Her bilges are very slack forward 
and very hard aft, but beyond this she bears all the ear- 
marks of a typical Weir craft, and a very great resem- 
blance to Verona the champion of the lake in 1898, al- 
though she is a trifle fuller in the body than the Rochester 
30-footer. 
The dimensions of the vessel are: Length over all, 
55ft. 3in.; l.w.l., 36tt. ; beam, 12ft.; draft, 7ft.; sail area, 
2,000 sq. ft; ballast, 6,ooolbs. 
Everything in connection with the boat is of the very 
best material obtainable, and no expense is being spared 
in either building or fitting her out. Her keel, stem, 
sternpost, bilge stringers and covering boards are of 
white oak. Her frames are alternately bent and cut. She 
will present an unusually clean deck for a 40-footer. The 
deck is flush, the only breaks being a self-draining cockpit 
and a couple of scuttles and skylights. She is entirely 
devoid of rail.' 
The interior finishing is of quartered oak and mahog- 
any. There will be staterooms, dining room, lavatory, 
galley and forecastle, so that while the cutter's lines 
proclaim her a racer of pronounced type, she will be 
provided with ample accommodation below. She car- 
ries about 5,ooolbs. of lead bolted to the keel, an addi- 
tional half ton is distributed inside between the frames to 
turn her. Lapthorne & Ratsey, the famous English rac- 
ing sail makers, will ftirnish the canvas for the craft. The 
light head sails, topsails and balloon sails will be of silk. 
The blocks will be of a special pattern and the running 
and standing rigging of the best woven steel wire rope. 
The putter was framed by the middle of February and 
will be ready for launching in plenty of time for the earlier 
races of the season. A fact which goes to prove that the 
new boat is intended for racing of importance is that the 
Weir candidate for the defense of the Canada cup, a 35- 
ioOter, which made a good showing despite the fact that 
.she was undercanvassed, is being raised to the class of 
the new cutter. Her sail area has been increased by 500 
sq. ft. and i.ooolbs. more lead ballast has been added. 
This brings her up to the 40ft. class, and she will be used 
as a trial boat for the new cutter. The changes in the 
35-footer were made with no other intention than that 
she .should be used to test the capabilities of the Kingston 
man's racing craft. 
WENDER SINGLE-HAND CRUISEIL 
Designed by Geo. F. Holmes, Esq., for Henry Thorpe, Esq., 1898 
H. H. Porter, Jr., of the Lake Geneva Y. C, has placed 
his order for a 20-footer, which will be built at Lake 
Geneva. The boat was designed by Mr. Porter himself, 
and is said to have many original ideas. Reports from 
Wisconsin indicate that there are many yachts building. 
One boat company of Pewaukee is .said to be working on 
five new boats, all for the inland lakes, and intended 
for the regatta of the Inland Lake Yachting Association. 
It is now said the boats being built by Messrs. Pynchon 
and Erskine, of the Saddle and Cycle Club, will represent 
the East and West. Pynchon's boat will be built in the 
East, Crane being the designer. Erskine' s boat will be a 
17-footer, designed by C. M. Palmer, the man who was 
responsible for the famous Flying Fox, owned by Lyford, 
of the Fox Lake Y. C. The boat will be built at Racine in 
all probability.— Chicago Tribune. , 
