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FOREST AND STREAM DESIGNING COMPETITION HONORABLE MENTION DESIGN— CABIN PLAN. 
Submitted by "Katahdn" (Edson B. Schock), New York City. 
FOREST AND STREAM DESIGNING COMPETITION HONORABLE MENTION DESIGN. 
Submitted by "Katahdn" (Edson B. Schock), New York City. 
But the same broad result is observable. There seems to 
be no market in England for ex-racers, whatever the 
size of the boat may be, and owners who enter upon the 
sport of yacht racing in the open classes must perforce 
take this fact into consideration when they estimate the 
cost of the sport before embarking upon it. This question 
of cost is probably at the root of the decadence in yacht 
and the respectful behavior of the recipients following 
have become alive to the fact that skill and knowledge on 
the part of the owner are of small avail, unless backed by 
a long purse. The intelligence, knowledge and skill which 
formerly brought success- to the owner who possessed 
them have been shifted of recent years to the designer, 
the sail maker and the professional' skipper. All the 
owner has to do is to pay the bills and agree to every re- 
quest of his paid hands, however unreasonable. Men 
of moderate means, however, expert as yachtsmen, there- 
fore find themselves oustted from their favorite sport. 
They see boats built with dowble skins of mahogany or 
other costly wood, with the lightest possible framing con- 
sistent with strength, and the whole structure a triumph 
of art and dollars. They see silk introduced into the 
manufacture of sails, and Japanese enamels for the sur- 
facing of hulls. Above all, they note the pay and per- 
quisites of the hands mounting yearly by leaps and bounds, 
and the respectful behavior of the recipients following 
an inverse ratio. The pay is now so high that it ought to 
include everything, but this is far from the case. When 
a little yacht leaves her moorings (usually planted in front 
of the skipper's cottage) and remains away for the night, 
her skipper expects "lodging money." When she is rac- 
ing, he either wants a square feed or asks for "grub 
money." If he has already received a good kit at the 
commencement of the season, including clothes that he 
never wears on board, seldom on shore and usually sells, 
he asks for "oilers." If you give him blue jerseys, he 
asks for a white on the first hot day, and if you give him 
white jerseys, he asks for blue. If he travel by rail to 
save his legs, he demands the fare. He borrows moor- 
ings for a money consideration to save anchoring the 
yacht, and leaves the dinghy under a man's charge during 
a race for a similar reason, and the man ties several to- 
gether and lets them scratch acquaintance for hours, this 
being the "care taking" for which the owner has to pay. 
The men are not to be blamed. The real culprits are the 
wealthy fools who seem to take a pride in wasting their 
money and spoiling the sport for others. But they cut 
their own throats in the process, there being no fun in 
racing unless you have a reasonable number of compe- 
titors, and these are precisely non-attainable by means of 
the almighty dollar. Then what is required? 
Firstly— Owners should meet and talk the matter oyer 
amicably and come to some mutual agreement concerning 
crews' wages and perquisites, and fix limits. 
Secondly— A limit should be placed on the cost of each 
boat, when new and complete, for each class. 
Thirdly— Owners in any single class should agree not 
to haul up more frequently than say once a month, tidal 
beaching, however, for a scrub by the crew, but by no 
others, being permitted at any time. 
Fourthlv— Owners should agree to oppose oppressive 
and unreasonable fees, either for entrance to races or for 
the lodging of protests. 
Under the first heading some limit could be placed on 
the clothes and kit given at the commencement of the 
season, and all extras prohibited beyond the weekly wages, 
which could be limited in its amount. Under the second 
heading, such a costly and unnecessary item as a double 
skin could be forbidden, and so on. In short, the confer- 
ence of owners could very rapidly pass a few rules which 
would at one stroke of the pen place the sport of yacht 
racing on a far less costly basis than at present, in which 
event I for one feel fairly confident that the number of 
owners of full-fledged racers would increase consider- 
ably, and this is the main thing required. 
The rating rule is, of course, an important matter, any 
rule which favors or helps a less costly type or design 
being beneficial. Consequently a rule which places a 
premium on displacement, whether directly or indirectly 
(as in the present French tonnage rule for yacht racing), 
cannot fail in the long run to improve the sport. 
These remarks on the decay of yacht racing would 
scarcely be complete if competition in sports were not 
mentioned. Our grandfathers were devotees to "cock fight- 
ing and pugilism in addition to cricket, coursing and the 
turf. The two first have died their death, more, or less, 
but have been replaced by golf, cycling, motoring and 
tennis, without mentioning the new winter games which 
do not compete with yachting. Evidently out-of-door 
summer pastimes have become keen competitors,, and 
yacht racing must have lost many an owner in conse- 
quence; not by desertion, but by failure to join the 
colors. 
All the more necessary, therefore, is it to make yacht 
racing as popular as possible by reducing costs to a mini- 
mum, and thereby bringing the number of owners and of 
their paid hands to a maximum. 
Thalassa. 
April, 1902. 
The German Emperor's schooner Meteor anchored off 
Hythe, Southampton Water, on April 17. Her time to 
Prawle Point was fifteen days twelve hours and forty- 
seven minutes. Bad weather was encountered almost 
all the way. The boatswain and carpenter had their legs 
broken. On April 12, when being towed by the convoy 
Scotia, the bobstay parted and the bowsprit was soon 
carried away. The spar was finally gotten on deck and 
secured. The officers and crew speak highly of the boat's 
seagoing qualities, and seem to think she is fast when 
sailing with a lifted sheet, but are doubtful regarding her 
windward qualities. The day after her arrival Meteor 
was docked at Southampton, where her stern that was 
damaged on her trial trip will be repaired and her in- 
terior fittings will be put in place. The work will be 
done with all possible dispatch, so that she will be ready 
in ample time for the regattas at Kiel, 
