234 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
before April i, and it would not be the most surprising 
thing in the world if Mr. Faxon should be preparing for 
it. At one of the fall meetings of the Y. R. A., Mr. 
Faxon was very anxious to have the rule barring double 
hulls removed, but was unsuccessful. He must have had 
strong reasons for de;iring the change, and it is likely 
that he had the idea of challenging at that time. The 
cup is now held by the Manchester Y. C. having been 
won by Lookout, owned by A. Henry Higginson, Jr., 
and Reginald Boardman in 1900. Mr. Faxon successfully 
defended the cup for the Quincy Y. C. for two years, 
and it is only natural that he should now want to get it 
back. At any rate, it behooves the Manchester Y. C. to 
get ready. 
Frank Tandy has sold the 27ft yawl Freya to William 
S. Hilles, of Wilmington, Del, and the 18ft. knockabout, 
Lobster II., owned by C. C. Clapp, to W. W. Rouse, 
of Boston. Both of these boats are of Crowninshield 
design. 
A. H. Mclntyre & Co. have sold the 30ft. waterline 
yawl, Columbine, designed by Crowninshield and owned 
by Elmer F. Smith, to Charles F. Gould, of the New 
York Y. C. Also the 24ft. yawl, Pawnee, owned by 
Frank A. Heyer, to F. H. Pratt, of Cohasset, and the 
B'nney designed 21ft. cat. Trilby, to H. F. Drew, of 
Maiden. 
MacConnell Bros, have sold the cutter, Lassie, to C. B. 
Blount, of Boston; 25ft. knockabout, Conomo, to a mem- 
ber of the Hull-Massachusetts Y. C; knockabout, 
Raduga, to F. J. Schussell, of Hoboken, N. J. ; 50-footer 
Gloria, to Boston parties; steam launch, Adele, to the 
Misery Island Club; 21-footer, Ariel, to G. H. Sheahan, 
of Harvard College; gasoline launch, Isabelle, to H. H. 
Perkins, of Manchester, N. H., and yacht, Irene, to S. T. 
Snodgrass, of Winthrop. John B. Killeen. 
Our English Letter. 
The annual general meeting of the Yacht Racing 
Association was held on the 21st inst., when Mr. Burton 
brought forward his proposal to change the luffing rule. 
The rule at present is that a yacht may luff as she 
pleases to prevent another passing to windward, and, 
though it is plain that the intention of the rule was to 
prevent a yacht from waiting until the other was well 
abeam before luffing, yet that has of late years been per- 
mitted. The question is a very difficult one, for, given a 
very high-pointing craft in the lee berth, one can easily 
prevent another from passing to windward, even though 
one put off luffing until long after an "overlap" has been 
established. And if the helmsman of the weather boat 
keeps his eyes open, as he should, there is no earthly 
reason why a foul should occur. But the word luffing 
itself is in want of some elucidation. It seems to me that 
if a man luffs to prevent anpther passing to windward he 
should check the swing of his vessel before the head- 
sails lift. That is to say, it seems an abuse that a vessel 
should be thrown head to wind to stop another from 
passing, and it is a very moot point whether the verb 
to luff can be taken to apply to a vessel the sails of wh : ch 
are in the wind. The order to the helmsman in this case 
ought to be "port" or "starboard" instead of "luff." 
The upshot of Mr. Burton's motion was that the council 
will consider and report upon the question as to whether 
any change in the rule is required. As things are, the 
rule is pretty well understood, and any change would 
cause a lot of temporary confusion, for the average sail- 
ing master is conservative in his ideas. 
A very pretty illustration of this was related to the 
writer last season by a man who went out in charge of 
a 2j4-rater to Spain. He had occas'on to luff pretty 
freely in the course of his first match, and could not 
understand how it was that the usually courteous Span- 
iards looked at him with unconcealed disgust after the 
race was over. It turned out, however, that in Spain 
it is considered the most unsportsmanlike thing possible 
to luff an overtaking boat, and I think it is also against 
the rules. However, so strong was the habit in the man 
that no amount of expostulation could ever wean him 
from having a shot at any boat he saw coming up on his 
weather, and the Spaniards at last found it best not to 
put him in the way of temptation. 
A report is current that Navahoe has been bought 
by a German yachtsman and will be rigged as a schooner. 
From what was seen of her over here, it seems that the 
change will suit her admirably. From time to time one 
reads absurdly eulogistic accounts of this vessel's career 
in England. The truth is that she was an absolute failure, 
and totally unfit to be seen in company with Britannia. 
But this arose entirely from the fact that her sails were 
shockingly bad. In the first round of her first race at 
Cowes the yacht showed very good promise, indeed, 
though she failed a li.tle by the wind. After that, how- 
ever, the sails and gear began to stretch, and throughout 
the rest of the season they went from bad to worse. 
Nothing would have made her fit to tackle Britannia to 
windward in a decent breeze, but no racing yacht ever 
had such a deplorable outfit of sails. Nowadays it is 
understood that a deep-hulled boat with a center plate 
is not suitable for racing, and probably Navahoe was the 
best possible craft of that type. The fact that she is 
coming to Kiel at once suggests getting up an ocean 
match between her and Meteor III. from Sandy Hook to 
the Needles. Perhaps some reader may start a prize 
fund, which should amount to at least $50,000. 
At the Y. R. A. meeting on Friday last it was an- 
nounced that H. R. H., the Prince of Wales, had con- 
sented to become president of the association. The 
King was president before he ascended the throne, but 
after that event he of course gave up all offices to which 
election is necessary. The Prince, being a sailor (and 
a good one, too), it is greatly to be hoped that he will 
take to racing. The German Emperor will not race 
Meteor II. in England any more. The yacht follows 
Meteor L, and will become a training vessel at Kiel. . 
The Royal C. C. has instituted an exhibition of models 
and designs of "canoe-yachts," and this will be opened in 
the spring. Your readers may not know exactly what a 
"canoe-yacht" is, and it may be well, therefore, to describe 
it as a small yacht with a snubbed-up nose, and the coun- 
ter ending in a point. These seem to be the sole char- 
acteristics. The competition is for boats that will rate 
as 24ft under the Y. R. A. rule, and a suggestive stlpu- 
