5*4 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[April 13, 1907. 
ing through it, whether climbing up a wave or 
running down it, is plain enough for any hay¬ 
seed to comprehend. 
DIAGRAM SHOWING HOW RESISTANCE INCREASES IN 
HUMPS AND POSITION OF HULL. 
Boston Letter. 
In the absence of any very striking news this 
week it may do no harm to record in a dispas¬ 
sionate way a few facts concerning one phase of 
the racing rules; a phase that momentarily 
threatened to saddle Class Q with interminable 
strife of a nature that could only engender bit¬ 
terness. Such a situation was avoided by the 
magnanimity of Mr. B. B. Crowninshield in can¬ 
celing his order for a Class Q yawl. In a splen¬ 
did spirit of true sportsmanship he preferred to 
bow to the opinions of those who disagreed with 
his interpretation of the rules rather than to 
insist upon his own construction of them even 
though there were quite as many yachtsmen who 
upheld Mr. Crowninshield’s contention, as there 
were those of the opposite opinion. This gener¬ 
ous recognition of an honest hostility will not 
deprive Class Q of a possible boat, for Mr. 
Crowninshield has already placed an order for 
a sloop-rigged twenty-two rater, but neither does 
it decide the question at issue. 
The point involved by the yawl design and 
which divided our local yachting world into two 
parties with irreconcilable opinions was, briefly 
stated this. Is a boat whose gross rating meas¬ 
urement exceeds 22 feet eligible for Class Q by 
reason of the fact that the allowance for her 
rig, if she be a schooner or yawl, would give 
her a net rating (a racing measurement), when 
in competition with sloops of less than 22 feet? 
If the answer be in the affirmative then a 
schooner rating at 25.88 feet or a yawl rating 
at 23.65 would be entitled to race in Class Q. 
Those who denied the right of such boats to 
compete in Class Q laid emphasis on two things: 
First, that before a boat should receive any arbi¬ 
trary allowance for her rig she must first qualify 
for the class in which she was entered; and 
second, that were such a boat permitted to enter 
a class and should some day have no sloop com¬ 
petitor then she would clearly be ineligible for 
a prize, since having no sloop competitor she 
could not receive any allowance for rig, her 
actual gross rating would apply automatically, 
and she would therefore be entitled only to com¬ 
pete in the class to which she belonged by force 
of her actual rating measurement. There were 
also some minor objections that are not really 
material. 
One strong reason for answering the mooted 
question in the affirmative is that the Yacht Rac¬ 
ing Association rules provide that “yachts of 40 
feet rating measurement and under launched after 
Jan. 1, 1905, shall rate at the highest limit of 
class.” Or, in other words, no time allowance 
shall be given. If then a yawl is to be entitled 
to an allowance for rig and yet can receive no 
time allowance (and everyone agrees to the ad¬ 
vantage of sailing races flat) what course is 
open to her designer but to so construct her 
that her net rating measurement closely ap¬ 
proaches the class maximum? This, however, is 
not the strongest reason for answering the ques¬ 
tion affirmatively. 
Our institutions are all based, as nearly as 
we can base them, upon the experiences of our 
predecessors. Always growing, always meeting 
new conditions, man nevertheless attempts to ad¬ 
just his beliefs and his social and political fabric 
by the logical deduction of what has heretofore 
been his experience and belief. If history affords 
any precise parallel for a present day complica¬ 
tion, that historical decision is generally regarded 
as an irrefutable answer as to the manner in 
which the proper solution is now to be reached. 
Whether we approve it or not we are largely 
the slaves of precedent. No less in yachting than 
in any more serious part of life do we determine 
our actions by precedent. And there are prece¬ 
dents by which the question in hand can be deter¬ 
mined. 
If we compare the present racing rules with 
those in force prior to the adoption of the rat¬ 
ing rule we find surprisingly similar language. 
Thus: 
Rating rule: “Class Q yachts not over 22 
feet and over 18 feet, rating measurement.” 
Old rule: “Class S cabin yachts not over 21 
feet and over 18 feet, racing length.” 
Rating rule: “When yachts of different rigs 
race together a schooner shall be rated for time 
allowance at 85 per cent, of her rating measure¬ 
ment; a yawl at 93 per cent., and a sloop at her 
actual rating measurement.” 
Old rule: “When yachts of mixed rigs race 
together, schooners and yawls shall be rated at 
seven-eighths of their racing length.” 
Neither rule says, “Class Y sloops over 21 
feet, etc.,” but both use the generic word “yacht” 
so that the classes are clearly open to any rig. 
Under the old rule a schooner, Bud, was de¬ 
signed by Messrs. Small Bros, and won the 
championship in Class S in 1898. She was nearly 
24ft. on the waterline, or 8/7 of 21 feet. And 
under the old rule one or more yawls were built 
and allowed to race in classes whose maximum 
racing length they exceeded by 1/7, so that 7/8 of 
their actual length just brought them within the 
class limit. 
There were two objections to allowing such 
boats to race against sloops under the old rule, 
one of which does not apply to-day. The old 
scantling restrictions were arbitrary and non¬ 
elastic. Thus the 24ft. yawl had a lower ratio 
of constructional weight to displacement than did 
the 21 ft. sloop. This situation was met by an 
amendment requiring heavier construction in yawls 
than in sloops. But under our present agree¬ 
ment scantlings are no longer fixed by set tables 
based on the maximum length of each class, but 
are determined for each boat by her own size. 
The other objection is that the rig may be 
a farce—the mizzen may be a mere dish cloth. 
That, however, was as true in the past as it is 
now. It is a question of rule cheating. If we 
applaud the cleverness that cheats a rule by hull 
peculiarities why denounce the ingenuity that 
beats a rule by juggling with the sail plan? Is 
our indignation due to the fact that one evasion 
is hardly discernible, while the other is patent 
to everyone? It would appear so! 
One thing should result from Mr. Crownin¬ 
shield’s waiver of a right to stand upon prece¬ 
dent-—the Y. R. A. should now, when the field 
is clear, determine definitely just what the status 
of the yawl and schooner really shall be. Not 
that the new rule is any more vague than the 
old, but that no indefiniteness whatever may 
exist. 
In conclusion, as a long derided advocate of 
the yawl rig, I cannot conceal a derisive smile 
when I think of the panicky alarm with which 
many of those who have so often told me that 
a yawl is, per se, hopelessly slow, viewed the 
possibility of having to compete with a yawl. It 
is to laugh—is it not? 
William Lambert Barnard. 
[The general decision among New York yachts¬ 
men is that the yawl rig is barred. 
The three words for time allozvance seems to 
decide the whole case. 
The rule does not say the yachts for classifica¬ 
tion shall be rated at 85 per cent, or 93 per cent., 
but merely in reference to time allozmnce is it so 
stated.— Editor.] 
Mr. Charles Sweeney, rear-commodore of the 
Columbia Y. C., has purchased the steam yacht 
Czarina from Mr. C. S. Bryan and changed her 
name to Emeline. 
Hydroplane at Monte Carlo. 
Comte Lambert’s hydroplane attracts atten¬ 
tion. The preliminary experiments made with 
this craft and a small aerial propeller at Sevens 
a short time ago showed that a speed of thirty- 
six to forty kilometers an hour could be counted 
upon, though, owing to the propeller breaking 
under the strain, it was impossible to judge ac¬ 
curately of the capabilities of the boat. A new 
three-bladed propeller, which has been fitted, is 
untried, but it is of a much more powerful 
nature than the former one. Aeronauts are fol¬ 
lowing the experiments with this propeller most 
closely, for if it proves of any value it will be 
adopted in aeroplane work. 
Yacht Sales. 
The raceabout Tartan has been sold by Mr. 
John T. Pirie, of Sea Cliff, N. Y., to Rear-Corn. 
Chas. Longstreth, of the Corinthian Y. C., Phila¬ 
delphia, Pa., through the agency of Stanley M. 
Seaman, 220 Broadway, New York. Tartan won 
the race championship in 1905 and will be raced 
on the Delaware with other boats recently pur¬ 
chased by members of the same club. 
The same agency has also sold the sloop Rube 
to Mr. Wm. Latta, Jr., Philadelphia, Pa., for 
Mr. G. P. Granberry, of the New Rochelle Y. 
C. Rube was champion for the first division of 
the handicap class of Long Island Sound in 1906. 
Her new owner will race and cruise her at 
Rockland, Me. 
Hollis Burgess,' yacht broker of Boston, has 
sold the auxiliary cutter Edith, owned by Rod- 
man Paul Snelling, of Needham, Mass., to A. 
W. Erickson, of Swampscott, Mass. 
He has also sold the 25ft. yawl Omar III., owned 
by William H. Bacon and Frederic R. Bogardus, 
of Boston, to George C. Curtis, of Roxbury, 
Mass. The 21ft. knockabout Remora, owned by 
Edmund H. Sears, of Weston, Mass., to John 
Briggs, Jr., of Boston. The 21ft raceabout Jack 
Ernest Keepers, of Boston. The 21ft. knock¬ 
about Lai, owned by F. L. Dunne, of Boston, to 
John S. Farlow, df Boston. The gasolene launch 
Nautilus, owned by J. D. Crosby, to B. J. Roth- 
well, of Boston. The sloop El Sabio, owned by 
H. B. Buck, of Boston, to Miss Elizabeth Bur¬ 
gess, of Boston. The 21ft. knockabout Dorothy, 
owned by Herbert F. Otis, of Brookline, to Sid¬ 
ney W. Burgess, of Boston. The 21ft. knock¬ 
about Comet, owned by Harry B. Greene, of 
Boston, to Samuel E. Morrison, of Cambridge, 
Mass. The 18ft. knockabout Maribou, owned by 
John S. Farlow, of Boston, to Frank M. Clark, 
of Boston. 
* * * 
The Gas Engine & Power Co., and Chas. L. 
Seabury & Co., of Morris Heights, have turned 
out a very useful type of power tender for Com¬ 
modore E. W. Clark, of Philadelphia, Pa. A 
handsomely balanced sheer with cabins of pro¬ 
portions that please the eye, she will be a familiar 
sight wherever Irolita. Commodore Clark’s new 
racing sloop, is seen. Zipalong will be her name 
and she is 55ft. over all, 10ft. beam, 3ft. 6in. draft, 
powered with a 4-cycle 65 horsepower Speedway 
engine. 
* * K 
The sonder class, from all appearances, is 
going to be a very popular one this year, judg¬ 
ing from the rumors we hear. 
About thirty boats are being built to race in 
the trvine out at Kiel in June to select the three 
defenders to race the American boat on Aug. 25 
for the Emperor William cup. 
If all these boats materialize Kiel waters will 
look about like Oyster Bay did in the days of the 
old half-raters. 
W *? * 
Like an old friend the twenty-ninth yearly 
issue of The Yachtsman’s Annual Guide is again 
circulated among boat cranks. It is a concise 
encyclopedia of valuable nautical information, 
including tide calendars, folded charts, yacht club 
flags in colors, and a long list of club officers, 
sailing directions, tables of distances,, etc. To 
realize how much useful information it contains 
you have to see it. 
