March t, 
FOREST AND STREAM.* 
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Our Boston Letter. 
Boston, Feb. 24.— Already the yacht clubs in the 
vicinity of Boston are making active preparations for the 
coming racing season. The Corinthian Y. C, of Marble- 
head, is always early in the matter of arranging racing 
dates, and this year there was no exception to the 
general rule. A schedule for the season was arranged 
soon after the annual meeting. This has been published 
in Forest and Stream. It is a temporary schedule, but 
all of the dates given will be kept. The only changes 
that will be made will be in the addition of races. It is 
because the Corinthian Club has always been early in the 
arrangement of its dates that it has had success with its 
club events. This rule generally prevails. When the 
programmes for the season are arranged Jong before the 
season opens, there are always opportunities of changing 
the dates when there is possibility of confliction. With 
the programmes arranged early there is less trouble in 
making changes, that may become necessary, than when 
everything is left until the last minute. 
The Hull-Massachusetts Y. C. is another one of the 
early birds. Last year and the year before the pro- 
gramme for the season was laid out long before the snow 
had left the ground. This year the racing dates have 
been made early, and a fine programme has been made 
by the Regatta Committee. The committee has organized 
with the following officers: John Taylor Humphrey, 
chairman; C. W. Cole, secretary; Louis M. Clark, Foster 
Hooper and C. C. Clapp. There will be only two mem- 
bers regularly constituting the board of judges, Charles 
A. Cooley, chairman, and Charles E. Lauriat, Jr., secre- 
tary. The members of the Regatta Committee will, how- 
ever, when present at the races, help in the matter of 
judging; ' ' 
The racing programme, which has been arranged so 
far, is as follows: 
June 14, Saturday — Club race. 
June 17, Tuesday — Y. R. A. open. 
June 28, Saturday— Club race. 
July 5, Saturday — Club race. 
July 12, Saturday — Club race. 
July 24, 25 and 26, Thursday, Friday and Saturday — 
Midsummer series of Y. R. A. open races. 
Aug. 16, Saturday — Club race. 
Aug. 30, Saturday — Club race. 
Sept. 6, Saturday — Club race. 
This year, as in the two preceding years, champion- 
ships will be offered in the different classes. There is 
sure to be. a good flock of Y. R. A. 21-footers in the 
field, awi it is likely that many of them will race at 
Hull. In this class a championship cup will be offered 
for the best season's work, and there will also be cash 
prizes offered for each race. There will also be a big 
bunch of 18-footers, knockabouts, old and new. Most of 
those which have been built to sail in the waters of 
Boston and vicinity, are owned by members of the Hull- 
Massaehusetts Y. C. Last year the club fostered this 
class and adopted the restrictions of the Eighteen-foot 
Knockabout Association, and the result was that many 
boats were built. The attendance at the club races was 
very good. With the addition of several new boats, it is 
expected that the class will be much larger this year. 
For this class there will also be a championship prize 
for the best average work, and also cash prizes for every 
race. It is a little uncertain as to how well the Y. R. A. 
25-footers will show up in the Hull Club. Flirt and 
Chewink have been sold, and are expected to race at 
Islesboro and Bar Harbor. It may be that both of these 
boats will linger in Massachusetts Bay to take a try at 
the championship before going east. There are several 
new boats being built, and if they are out for racing, the 
Hull-Massachusetts Y. C. is likely to get their attend- 
ance. If there should be a sufficient number of 25- 
footers to warrant it, a championship prize will also be 
given in this class, as well as cash prizes for every race. 
The prizes offered by this club are always most gener- 
ous. Every inducement is offered for the yachtsmen to 
race, and it is not likely that they will want to let the 
opportunity of getting these prizes go by. 
It will be noticed that this year the club has scheduled 
fewer club dates than it did last year. This is because 
last year there were some complaints made about the 
club taking every Saturday for club races. While this 
was partly true, a sweeping statement of that nature 
would be doing the club and its Regatta Committee an 
injustice. It is true that the- club scheduled as many 
club races as it could. It is only natural that the club 
which is the most active south of Boston and has the 
largest racing membership should do" so. But last year, 
when there was an open race scheduled for the popular 
classes, this club cut those classes out of its regular 
scheduled club races so that the Y. R. A. boats might 
attend the open races of the other clubs. In this feature 
the club has always been consistent. It wants all the 
races it can get for its members, but it does not by any 
means want to "hog" the races, and is always willing to 
give way to such an extent that the smaller clubs can 
have the attendance of all of the Y. R. A. boats at their 
open races. Already the Regatta Committee has con- 
sulted with the committees of three of the clubs that will 
figure most in club events, so that there will be no 
conflicting of dates. The Y. R. A. schedule has not yet 
been made out, but when the time comes, this club will 
also give way, in the interest of racing, to such clubs 
as can only hold their open races on certain dates, be- 
cause of the depth of water or other sufficient reasons. 
This year four Y. R. A. open races have been scheduled. 
The first of these is on June 17. This date belongs to the 
Hull-Massachusetts Y. C. club by right of precedent. It 
has had this date for some years, and nobody thinks of 
contesting it. Last year, for the first time, there was a 
midsummer series of invitation races. For the first ven- 
ture, these races were very well attended. It is desired 
this year to make the attendance even greater, and to 
encourage racing in the popular classes, the Regatta Com- 
mittee has decided to make the midsummer series Y. R. 
A. open races. As the object is a good one, and by the 
arrangement the club will put a big benefit in the way of 
yacht racing in Massachusetts Bay, it is not likely that 
any other clubs will put anything in the way of having 
these races held as scheduled. The Regatta Committee 
also is desirous of encouraging handicap racing among 
