Nov. ix, 1911.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
717 
Ticks From the Ship’s Clock. 
Secretary-Treasurer A. C. Thomas, of the 
Cape May Y. C., was, at the last meeting, pre¬ 
sented with a seventy-eight piece silver table 
service, as a token of esteem by fellow mem¬ 
bers. Mr. Thomas has served the club in his 
present capacity for five terms. 
The committee of the M. R. Y. C., of Toledo, 
to whom was assigned the duty of investigating 
the feasibility of purchasing a number of cat- 
boats to be owned by the club, submitted an ex¬ 
haustive report Oct. 17, in which it was recom¬ 
mended that the club devote its energies to 
the promotion of a 14-foot restricted class. It 
was contended that this class would be more 
practical for both social sailing and racing; be¬ 
sides the sloop-rigged craft could be made more 
seaworthy and comfortable than catboats. The 
committee’s recommendation was adopted and 
the Inter-Lake Yachting Association at the an¬ 
nual meeting in December will be asked to 
officially adopt the class and formulate a set 
of rules suitable for competition at the annual 
regattas. Tentative rules were referred to the 
rules committee of the Inter-Lake at the meet¬ 
ing in Cleveland last winter, and they are ex¬ 
pected to receive favorable action at the next 
meeting. 
The Cleveland Power Boat Club announces 
as follows the winners in last season’s races: 
Scout, owned by T. I. Stoller; Mauna-Loa, 
owned by C. H. Stuart; Aurora, owned by 
James Miller, and Traveler, owned by George 
Dietz. Scout belongs to Class A, open boats 
under 20 feet; Maurna-Loa to Class B-C, open 
boats over 20 feet; Aurora to the cruiser class, 
and Traveler to the speed boat class. Three 
handsome silver cups were offered as prizes for 
the regatta held on the afternoon of Oct. 15 off 
Edgewater Park. The following committee had 
charge of the event: A. Y. Gowen, M. PI. 
Moffatt, Otto Nehrnst, Fred Squires and Robert 
E. Power. 
The energy of Long Island motor boat clubs 
is evidenced in the plans under way by the Bay 
Shore (L. I.) Motor Club for a fine new club 
house. It is hoped the new house will be ready 
in May. Although this is the birth year of this 
club, its racing season has been eminently suc¬ 
cessful. 
On Sept. 3 the Mill Creek Y. C. was formed 
in Brooklyn, N. Y., with thirty-five members. 
Two months later the club has ninety-five mem¬ 
bers. This remarkable increase is due to the 
capable management of its efficient officers who 
are: Commodore, C. G. Morse; Vice-Commo¬ 
dore, G.us Flaig; Rear-Commodore, Charles 
Klugherz; Fleet Captain, R. Spielman; Treas¬ 
urer, H. Lewinskie; Secretary, W. E. Peckham; 
Sergeant-at-Arms, Louis Fuchs. A new club 
house is in contemplation. At present the club 
meets in Warren’s Hotel, Flatlands Bay. 
The Luffing Ru!e. 
“A yacht may luff as she pleases in order to 
prevent another passing her to windward, pro¬ 
vided she begins to luff before an overlap has 
been estalished. A yacht shall not bear away 
out of her course so as to hinder another in pass¬ 
ing to leeward.” 
These old rules, once used by all yacht clubs, 
and still generally in force in America, have been 
recognized as the fundamental authority for 
jockeying, and although often criticized and 
varied, the general principles have never been 
seriously questioned by practical yachtsmen. That 
luffing is inconsistent with other rules, such as 
that requiring an overtaken yacht to keep her 
course, and that it introduces a needless element 
of hazard into the sport, are freely recognized; 
but it is exactly for these reasons that red- 
blooded yachtsmen enjoy the sport of luffing, 
which often injects a desirable amount of ginger 
into an otherwise prosaic race. 
The English version is more complex, as shown 
by the following quotations from Y. R. A. Rule 
30, Right of Way: 
Two yachts sailing the same or nearly the 
same course are said to be overlapping when 
an alteration of the course of either may in¬ 
volve immediate risk of collision. Otherwise 
they are said to be clear. 
Of two yachts, sailing the same or nearly the 
same course, one which is clear astern of an¬ 
other when approaching her so as to involve 
risk of collision, is said to be an overtaking 
yachts, and she continues such after the yachts 
overlap, and until she has again drawn clear. 
(a) A yacht overtaking another shall keep 
out of the way of the overtaken yacht. 
(&) Provided that the overtaking yacht makes 
her overlap on the side opposite to that on 
which the overtaken yacht carries her main 
boom, the latter may luff as she pleases to pre¬ 
vent the former passing her to windward, until 
she is in such a position that her bowsprit end, 
or stem, if she has no bowsprit, would strike 
the overtaking yacht abaft the main shrouds. 
(c) A yacht must never bear away out of her 
proper course to hinder an overtaking yacht 
passing her to leeward, the lee side to be con¬ 
sidered that on which the leading yacht of the 
two carries her main boom. The overtaking 
yacht, if to leeward, must not luff until she has 
drawn clear. * * * 
( k ) When by any of the above clauses one 
yacht has to keep out of the way of another, 
the latter (subject to clauce (&)) shall not alter 
course so as to prevent her doing so. 
(These readings, it may be noted, are those 
of the International Yacht Racing Union, adopted 
at the Paris Conference in 1907.) 
At first sight one is inclined to say that all 
this is no more than a particular and perhaps 
commendable re-statement of the rule in terms 
of recognized practice, but according to the 
Yachtsman it has had far-reaching results. For 
example “a yacht must never bear away out of 
her proper course” is evaded upon the ground 
that the proper course of a yacht must be deter¬ 
mined by her helmsman, and that a yacht may 
have to hold to leeward of a mark to allow for 
tide or current. Consequently an overtaken yacht 
may not only luff as she pleases, but bear away, 
and as a result it may be practically impossible 
for a faster boat to pass her. Even this may not 
be so bad as it looks; there are many usages in 
sport which favor those who are ahead of the 
game. Thalassa, in the Yachtsman, writes edi¬ 
torially as follows: 
Inasmuch as Clause (c) has made it far more 
difficulty for overtaking boat to pass to lee¬ 
ward than was the case prior to 1907, it really 
seems necessary to put some check on the “luff 
as she pleases” in Clause (b), which was reason¬ 
able when a free passage to leeward was 
granted, as it used to be before the rules were 
reframed and altered in 1906. 
It is no longer reasonable, because the two 
clauses together almost prevent a faster over¬ 
taking boat passing her slower opponent when 
sailing free. She tries for the weather and is 
luffed out of her course; she tries for the lee 
side and the leader pays off upon her directly 
she is “clear,” as per definition. In the mean¬ 
time other yachts, more to be feared perhaps 
than the leader, sail up and pass both. 
The change in Clause (b) that would seem to 
meet the situation is to prohibit a yacht luffing 
another out of her course, which comes up on 
her weather “clear” and abeam. It may be 
urged that Clause ,(b) gives no sanction for such 
luffing and by implication forbids it. This is 
true, because it only allows a boat to luff when 
the luffee is “overtaking,” and this does not 
occur when the boats are “clear.” Nevertheless 
such luffing is now frequent throughout the sea¬ 
son, and without protest from the sufferers. 
Such luffing was part of the game prior to 1907, 
when it was perfectly legitimate. The Interna¬ 
tional invention “clear” now makes it wrongful 
sailing, but will it ever be so regarded until it 
is unmistakably prohibited in Rule 30? Some 
of our best sportsmen deny the implied pro¬ 
hibition. 
The reinstatement of important customs is 
certain to meet with opposition from those who 
made the changes, but the best interests of sport 
should always outweigh personal feelings. 
The essence of Rule 30 should conform more 
closely with the Y. R. A. rules it replaced. That 
little word “clear” in paragraph 1 Rule 30 
causes most of the trouble. It should be quietly 
but firmly dropped overboard with a shot in its 
shroud. The racing rules used by the yacht 
clubs of the United States possess no such defi¬ 
nition. In racing for “the cup,” Thistles and 
Shamrocks could luff as they pleased to prevent 
the various defenders from passing to wind¬ 
ward, without any question as to the distance 
of the luffee when the alteration of course for 
luffing commenced. But, on the other hand, 
they could not pay off upon a defender when 
she was passing to leeward, although “clear” 
according to our present curious definition. 
It is regrettable that the New York Y. C. was 
without a representative when the Y. R. A. 
racing rules were melted and re-coined. Such a 
representative, although possessing no voting 
power, would at all events have endeavored to 
persuade the conference to change essentials 
as little as possible. 
It is true that the United States refused to 
join the International Conference in London on 
the question of a new international rating rule, 
as they were contented with their own L, S and 
displacement rule; but we have yet to learn that 
they were invited to attend the second confer¬ 
ence for re-casting the racing rules. A gradu¬ 
ally increasing divergence between the European 
and the American racing rules may result, 
whereas before the conference, an exactly op¬ 
posite tendency was in evidence. 
New Yacht Clubs on Sound. 
There will be another club to take a promi¬ 
nent part in yachting on the Sound next sum¬ 
mer, and if the plans of the promoters of this 
club can be carried out, it will do much to help 
the sport. This is the Glenwood Country Club, 
which is now being organized and which already 
has more than 300 members. This club has been 
formed by some members of the Crescent 
Athletic Cluh who realize that they are grad¬ 
ually being driven out of their present country 
home at Bay Ridge, where there is no longer 
