782 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[May is, 1909. 
STAMFORD YACHT CLUB HOUSE. 
Stamford Y. C. 
In 1890, at the suggestion of several men 
prominent in the yachting w'orld, a beautiful 
site of land was chosen at Shippan Point on 
the Sound, upon which the present Stamford Y. 
C. was built and organized. Since that time it 
has grown to be one of the important clubs in 
the Yacht. Racing Association of Long’ Island 
Sound. Its past career has been most eventful, 
and many exciting races have been sailed under 
its auspices. The club house, which contains 
every modern improvement, is roomy and well 
adapted to its social events and for the com¬ 
fort of its members. The cuisine is unexcelled, 
and the club, which is open the year around, is 
always at the disposal of yachtsmen cruising in 
this vicinity. The original club house has been 
frequently extended, until at the present time 
it is not only a more handsome building, but 
about twice as large as the original one. 
At the present time the club is much inter¬ 
ested in motor boat races, and has under way a 
schedule which includes such races and many 
other yachting and water sports. Its annual re¬ 
gatta is held about the middle of August, to 
which entries are received from some of the 
best known yachts in the country. The mem¬ 
bership to-day is nearly 300, the initiation fee 
being $25, and annual dues $25. Among the 
many yachts and owners connected with the 
club mention may be made of James D. Smith’s 
schooner yacht Viking, John B. Phillips’ 
schooner yacht Southern Cross, Walton Fer¬ 
guson’s steam yacht Christobel, John T. 
Williams’ steam yacht Embla, Frederick D. 
Underwood's steam yacht Alice and many 
others. At the last annual meeting of the club 
the following officers were elected for the en¬ 
suing year; Commodore, Richard H. Gillespie; 
Vice-Commodore, George C. Blickensderfer; 
Rear-Commodore, James S. Jenkins; Secretary 
and Treasurer, Herbert Lawton, Stamford, 
Conn; Fleet Surgeon, Dr. Thomas J. Biggs; 
Measurer, Dr. Alfred H. Scofield; Chaplain, 
Rev, Bertrand M. Tipple. Directors—Walter 
C. Allen. Edward G. Burgess, Jr., Edward 
Corning, James S. Herrman, Frederic G. 
Mather, John B. Phillips, John J. Radley, 
Henry G. Ridabock, Dr. Alfred H. Scofield, 
James D. Smith. Robert Struthers, Jr., Charles 
F. Waterbury. 
Yachting Notes. 
The Sender boat built at Herreshoff’s for 
Max Agassiz, was launched last Monday. Nearly 
all the new boats for this class are ready for 
launching. 
Six yachts are entered for the race to Ber¬ 
muda. These are George S. Runk’s Margaret, 
Edwin Palmer’s Crusader II., Dr. Leedon 
Sharp’s Restless, E. J. Bliss’ Venona, Dr. W. 
L. Baum’s Amorita and Frederic Thompson’s 
Shamrock. It is expected that there will be a 
dozen starters in this event on June 5. 
In the power boat race there are six entries. 
These are the winner of last year, Ailsa Craig, 
Ilys, Merides II., a boat building in Baltimore 
and two boats building at Greenport. 
Eight boats have been entered for the Bay 
Ridge-Marblehead race which will start from 
off the Crescent Athletic Club on July 17. This 
event, which is to be an annual fixture, will 
attract a large fleet of small boats, and the finish 
is to be off the Eastern Y. C. house. 
Charles A. Childs, a member of the New York 
Y. C., has ordered a new yacht to be built by 
Herreshoff to beat Eleanor. It is said this new 
boat will go after the Thompson cup won last 
year by Eleanor, owned by F. T. Bedford. 
A match race has been arranged between the 
Gravesend Bay dories and the dories of the 
Massachusetts Association. L. S. Tiemann, of 
the New York Canoe Club, arranged matters 
with the Boston men last week and a challenge 
is to be sent for a race to be sailed next sum¬ 
mer. The Boston Y. C. has offered a perpetual 
challenge trophy for this class and the races this 
year will be sailed under the auspices of the 
Boston Y. C. either at Marblehead or Hull. 
The Yachtsmen’s Club, of Philadelphia, has 
arranged for three races over ocean courses 
which will be sailed on July 10. These are for 
sailing craft, auxiliaries and power boats and 
two prizes are offered for each race. The course, 
which starts off Beach Haven, is 8714 miles long. 
New Type of Motor Boat. 
A NEW type of motor boat, Roberta, has re¬ 
cently been put in service in Pittsburg waters 
by its inventor, Fred J. Heavens. His most 
radical departures from the conventional forms 
of boat construction are the placing of the pro¬ 
peller under the middle of the hull and the ab¬ 
sence of a keel, the skag taking the place of the 
latter. 
This skag is ^-inch by 1^2 inches flat iron on 
edge and gives sufficient steering way for all 
purposes. The inventor claims that increased 
speed is obtained by placing the propeller under 
the middle of the boat, as the purchase of the 
flukes against the water is constant at all points 
on the circle described by the revolving pro¬ 
peller. 
This is due first to the fact of the bottom of 
the boat being perfectly flat and consequently 
not disturbing the water to so great an extent 
as would a round hull, and second to the weight 
of the boat on the water being directly above 
the propeller, thus giving the latter a solid 
body of water in which to work. 
Another unusual feature, according to the 
Technical World, is in the placing of the engine, 
which is set only four feet from the front, 
whereas the ordinary plan is to have it in the 
rear or at the most not more than one-third 
the distance from the stern. As the engine 
of Roberta weighs only thirty-five pounds, it 
was feasible to put it in front. Small as it is 
and with only horsepower, it drives the 
natty little boat through still water at the rate 
of six miles an hour. 
The craft’s towing power is extraordinary, as 
was well shown on one occasion when it towed 
a flatboat 10 by 25 feet, loaded 10 feet high with 
camp equipment and containing three passengers 
besides three other persons in the boat itself, 
all this against a stiff current in the Allegheny 
River. 
Boston Y. C. 
The Boston Y. C. now has a membership ofi 
691 — which is the largest of the eastern yacht* 
clubs. It maintains five houses. The Rowe’s' 
Wharf Station, in Boston, is kept open all the 
year, and the stations at City Point, Hull, 
Dorchester and Marblehead are open during 
the racing season. The City Point station was 
opened in April, and the other three this 
month. 
Commodore Alfred Douglass has recently 
made a long cruise in southern waters on his 
power cruiser Zui Zia, and since last November 
made about 2,500 nautical miles. His summer 
yachting is to be done on the new schooner 
Shiyessa IV., which was recently built at 
Lawleys. Commodore Douglass has appointed^ 
Charles W. Cole, Fleet Captain, and Dr. Samuel 
Crowell, Fleet Surgeon. 
The regatta committee has arranged an in¬ 
teresting schedule of races for the season as fol¬ 
lows: 
June 5 — Club race. City Point. 
June 17 — Open race, Hull. 
June 26 — Ocean open race — Marblehead to 
Brooklyn Y. C., Gravesend Bay. 
July 3 — Club race, Marblehead. 
July 17 — Annual cruise to Camden, Me. 
Aug. 5, 6 and 7 — Mid-summer series, open 
races, Hull. 
Aug. 10 — Open race, Marblehead. 
Aug. 21 — Club race, Marblehead. 
Sept. II — Club races, Marblehead. 
The usual championship trophies will be,,j 
sailed for, to be won in each class by the yacht i 
scoring the highest percentage, and in order 
to qualify, a yacht must compete in at least six, 
of the nine races scheduled. 
The ocean race is for yachts under 50 feetl 
over all length that qualify as cruisers under ^ 
the usual conditions, and it has been arranged: 
at the date mentioned so that the racers may; 
reach Gravesend Bay in time to take part in 
the Cape May race of the Brooklyn Y. C.,| 
which will start on June 3. 
The club has recently issued the first num-i 
ber of their journal called the Binnacle. It is; 
to be issued on the ist and 15th of each month; 
from May i to Sept. 15. It will help the mem¬ 
bers keep in touch with club affairs and be a' 
means of issuing notices of events of interest. F' 
The first number has an article by Walter Bur¬ 
gess, who is an assistant editor on “Yachting 
in the Early Days of the Boston Yacht Club.”; 
This article will interest many other yachtsmen; 
who are not fortunate to belong to the Boston' 
Y. C., and for that reason it is reproduced ini 
Forest and Stream: 
“The Boston Y. C.. organized in 1866, saw 
practically the beginning of yachting in New 
England. Before the war there were a few 
yachts owne 9 by Boston gentlemen, and there ' 
had been a club formed which died soon after 
its birth in the thirties, and still another fol¬ 
lowed which lasted two years. This club had 
a club yacht instead of a club house. 
“In 1861 there were other things to think 
of besides yachting, but after peace settled over 
the nation people needed rest and recreation, 
resulting most naturally in a new interest in 
yachting. 
“In those day's there were few outdoor sports 
baseball and football being in their infancy, 
and there were no bicycles, tennis or golf; so 
yachting prospered. Even in 1865 there was 
quite a sprinkling of yachts in Massachusetts 
Bay, and an occasional yacht race. In 1866 the 
City of Boston gave its first Fourth of July re¬ 
gatta, a custom continued to the present time. 
There were forty-one entries, boats coming to | 
Boston from nearly all the neighboring ports, 
There had been so few trials of speed among' 
the yachts that no one could even guess at the 
