222 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Feb. 9, 1907. 
THE SONDER CLASS RACES. 
The Kaiserlicher Y. C. and the Eastern Y. C. 
have within a few days agreed upon the date of 
the return match in the Sonder or special class 
next summer. The first series were sailed last 
fall at Marblehead under the auspices of the 
Eastern Y. C. for the cup presented by President 
Roosevelt. The second match will be sailed at 
Kiel, beginning Aug. 15, for a trophy presented 
by H. I. M. the German Emperor. 
The Sonder class races held the center of the 
stage in Massachusetts Bay last season, there 
were no les than seventeen competitors trying for 
the honor of defending the cup. Since the match 
came to a close, the discussion of the future races 
to be held under the agreement of the Eastern 
Y. C. with the Kaiserlicher Y. C. have claimed less 
attention than might be supposed to be due them. 
Time has dragged on till now without any definite 
agreement as to dates. 
Racing in Massachusetts Bay is chiefly devoted 
to the requirements of the small boat sailor. 
Last summer there were many signs of dissatis¬ 
faction at the type and general uselessness of 
the Sonder boats; and rightly enough, for they 
did not possess—for the money expended—some 
of the many good features of the old knockabouts. 
Last summer the new rule of rating adopted by 
all the clubs of the Atlantic coast found but one 
exponent in Eastern waters; and all eyes turned 
to Orestes, the Q Class boat under the new rule, 
to find a suitable type. A cup donated by Sir 
Thomas Lipton has helped materially to bring 
attention to this class. There have been many 
converts to the belief that the Q Class holds all 
that is most desirable for a racing boat with fair 
cruising ability, of good scantling, that will 
maintain her value and will be worth while. 
Silence on the part of the Eastern Y. C. in re¬ 
gard to the Sonder dates has helped the Q Class 
project immensely, and at this time there have 
been adopted tables of scantling, and at least 
seven boats are being built. The class is fairly 
launched, and with the usual Eastern energy it 
will go. The interest in the Sonder Class has 
dwindled. A consideration of the time and ex¬ 
pense required in fitting out a boat for the Ger¬ 
man races does not promise as much as the 
racing at home; and the general opinion in the 
matter is not one of great enthusiasm. 
The cry has been that home racing was best 
after all, and that outside interests did not foster 
a good development or produce well filled classes. 
The feeling in regard to home racing is perfectly 
just. We have not realized the standing which 
we hold among racing men abroad. That we 
have climbed the ladder and have arrived some¬ 
where near the top of the racing heap must cer¬ 
tainly be inferred from the invitations to race in 
Spain and Belgium, and the foreign orders for 
small boats recently placed here. 
It would have seemed most desirable to per¬ 
mit the return match in Germany to lie over a 
year. The type of boat could then have heen 
changed to the Q Class, which produces a little 
ship in every sense of the word. At this time 
this is an impossibility. However, it is hoped 
the German races will cause enough interest that 
the American side may be well represented. Aug. 
15 will afford all the time necessary to get the 
class in shape. 
We may flatter ourselves indeed in consider¬ 
ing the regard we have won in the field of 
designing, building and sailing of small boats. 
The anxiety lest our classes at home should suffer 
is a good sign, but even the alarmists must admit 
that with our fame spread abroad we should 
shoulder the burden and be willing to fight to 
retain our laurels. The intercourse which is a 
part of such contests promotes the feelings of 
friendly rivalry and is important to the develop¬ 
ment and expansion of the sport. 
British Letter. 
I have reason to believe that a great deal of in¬ 
terest is likely to be aroused in the United States 
by the publication of the new international scant¬ 
ling rules by Lloyds Register of British and 
Foreign Shipping. Lloyds have a wide sphere of 
influence in America, and their recent produc¬ 
tion, “Lloyds Register of American Yachts,” is 
recognized as a most useful work of your yacht¬ 
ing men. In the English clubs, at the moment, 
the new scantling rules are naturally the principal 
topic of conversation. The idea of building 
racing yachts to uniform scantlings has been 
talked about for so long, and so many people have 
had a finger in the pie; more than once scantling 
tables have been actually drawn up and sub¬ 
mitted to the Yacht Racing Association, but a 1 - 
they have all been surrounded with a flavor of in¬ 
completeness, the authorities have always dropped 
them after careful perusal. Yachtsmen had there¬ 
upon pretty well agreed it was hopeless to at¬ 
tempt to make uniform scantling rules. “We 
must,” they said, “leave the designers unfettered.” 
It was also said that if the Y. R. A. made a good 
set of scantling rules and tables, that the gov¬ 
erning body did not possess the machinery for 
putting them into force. One cannot build yachts 
to conform to scantling rules without an adequate 
staff of surveyors to see the rules are carried out. 
This of course the Y. R. A. had not got, and 
thus to run a set of scantling rules to accom¬ 
pany their rating rule was beyond their power. 
Yet it has been very obvious, especially during 
the last four or five years—or ten years, if you 
like—that yacht racing has been suffering very 
severely from the want of a scantling rule. Our 
yachtsmen—those who have enough of this 
world’s goods to enjoy a bit of racing—have 
been divided over the scantling question into two 
classes. Firstly, there were the old hands; the 
men who have been yachting and owning yachts 
for a great many years and who know—or think 
they know—as much about yacbt construction and 
scantlings and designing as the professional vacht 
designers themselves. These yachtsmen by the 
weight of actual practical experience know the 
type of boat they require and all about the strains 
and stresses to which it is likely to be subjected. 
When these men buy or build a boat they are 
able to talk the details over personally with the 
designer with the result that often their skill en¬ 
ables them to own a boat which combines light¬ 
ness with strength. It is true that all the con¬ 
sultation in the world will not make a designer 
put an iR?in. deck to a racing boat, if he knows 
his rival is going to have iin. planks, so I can¬ 
not see how the most expert old-hand owners 
can claim to be able to build a perfectly satis¬ 
factory racing yacht without a scantling rule; but 
nevertheless this class of yacht owner has not 
clamored for a scantling rule. Most of the know¬ 
ing ones have either been mildly opposed to any 
scantling regulations or indifferent to them. 
Secondly, however, we have to come to the 
other class of yachtsmen, the new and prospective 
owners of racing yachts. These sailors, forming 
an ever-increasing throng, while the old hands 
have been growing less, have been loud in their 
cries in favoring a scantling rule. “What is the 
use of your rating rule and your nice habitable 
type of yacht if her scantlings are so light she 
will not keep the water out?” That has been the 
cry of the new school of yachtsmen. Moreover, 
they have backed their opinion by building fast 
cruisers classed at Lloyds instead of building 
racing yachts for Y. R. A. classes. Their cruisers 
have been for all intents and purposes the same 
size and shape, and have cost as much as the Y. 
R. A. boats, they have had full racing crews and 
have devoted as much time and money to the 
wretched sport of handicap racing as if they had 
been sailing and enjoying pure class races, and 
all this trouble because they refused to own 
lightly constructed yachts such as they would 
have been obliged to build in an open class. The 
result for British yachting has been lamentable, 
in the last five years the number of open class 
racers built has been extremely few, notwith¬ 
standing a general consensus of opinion that the 
rating rule has been satisfactory. 
This is a summary of the situation which has 
led to the adoption of the new scantling rules and 
tables; is it possible that a somewhat similar state 
of affairs exists in the United States, where 
yachts are built in the open classes under the uni¬ 
versal rating rule? 
I will explain briefly what has been done to 
cope with the situation here. At the International 
Conference on Yacht Measurement, held in Janu¬ 
ary, 1906, in London, at which, as you know, 
all the European countries were represented, it 
was unanimously resolved that there should be 
scantling restrictions to accompany the new rating 
rule. As the most desirable method of carrying 
this resolution into effect it was resolved : 
(1.) That the British and German Lloyds and 
the Bureau Veritas be invited to consult together 
with a view to coming to an agreement on a uni¬ 
form rule for the scantling classification of sailing 
yachts. 
(2.) That the above societies be asked to con¬ 
sult the other countries represented at the con¬ 
ference on the question of materials used in the 
construction of yachts. 
(3.) That it is necessary that all racing yachts 
be classed by the societies’ rules. 
It will be noticed that the resolutions implied 
that the rules of all the societies should be uni¬ 
form, so that whether a yacht is built on the 
Clyde, at Kiel or on the Seine to a certain class 
her scantlings will be the same; further, the 
third resolution states that the rules are to apply 
to all yachts. As the classes range from 16.4 feet 
(5 metres) to 75.4 feet (23 metres), the rule is 
of a most sweeping nature. Scantling rules and 
tables have now been prepared and agreed to by 
the three societies, and are ready for publication. 
(They can be had from the Secretary of Lloyds 
Register, 71 Fenchurch street, London, or from 
the other societies, price 5s.) So within the 
brief space of twelve months the state of yacht 
construction in Europe may be justly said to 
have undergone one of the most striking changes 
in the annals of the pastime. 
It is as well to note how the rule which is al¬ 
ready in force in England and France, and will 
be introduced in Germany on Jan. 1, 1908, will 
affect American yachts desiring to race in Europe. 
The rules will not affect old yachts built be¬ 
fore June 13, 1906. A yacht built before this 
date will be allowed to race in England according 
to special conditions of time allowance allotted to 
by the Y. R. A. up to Dec. 31, 1909. 
