784 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 18, 1907. 
be anticipated, or else strong breezes, accom¬ 
panied by rain, which is not very pleasant. 
However, the yachtsman who makes up Ins 
mind to “go the whole round” should have an 
eye for the picturesque and enjoy the soft blue 
hills of Bute and lovely scenery of the birth 
generally. Eight or nine races for the first 
class are held in the Clyde Fortnight, so when 
the fleet go south again on June 30 they will 
have just ten days to get to Dover and race 
again at Deal, having sailed twenty races m all. 
There is always a.very nice match at Deal under 
the auspices of the Royal Femple Y. C. ie 
member two years ago I was on board the 
American schooner Ingomar when she won it 
in a very light wind, Capt. Barr giving a very 
clever exhibition of handling the ship with the 
balloon canvas just full. A breeze aloft but 
none on the Water and a devil of a tide running 
in Deal Roads. I think the tides here always 
worry American captains. 1 wo races at Den er 
follow Deal, one is over a triangle and the 
other across the channel to Boulogne and back, 
but since the huge walled harbor has been con¬ 
structed at Dover, the starting arrangements in 
the tideway are very uncomfortable One must 
take the rough with the smooth, however, in 
the course of a British season extending over 
1,500 miles of water. „ , , • 
The ocean match from Dover to Ostend is 
the next event, and on arrival at ()stend the 
yachts go into a fairly comfortable and im¬ 
proved dock and remain for a week. I hose who 
feel inclined may haul out and race on three 
days of the week, one or two rounds over a 
short triangular course in the open sea and 
ground swell, where a hot tide runs along the 
Bank of Ostend, but the races are not taken 
very seriously, and Ostend has its attractions 
ashore Generally after Ostend the largest yachts 
make straight for the Isle of Wight to have a 
scrub and overhaul before the fashionable sea 
son at Cowes. They may, if they are very keen, 
go to Havre, but it is wiser to leave the skipper 
a few days to clear up. for the vessel will want 
it after twenty-six races and thirteen hundred 
■ miles of passages round the rough coast ot 
Britain. , . » 
Cowes week begins this year on Aug 5. 
There are eleven matches for the first class 
yachts in the Solent at Cowes, Ryde, Southamp¬ 
ton and Southsea during the time when yachts 
of every size and kind and from every clime 
assemble inside the Isle of Wight 
The races here are historic. I he Kings cup, 
German Emperor’s cup for cruisers, the R. Y. 
S cup, the Cowes Town cup, the Commodore s 
cup of the Roval Victoria, the Ryde i own cup 
and the Albert cup are among the best known 
trophies; with exception of the first named, 
which is confined only to members of the Royal 
Yacht Squadron, and the German Emperors 
cup, which is not open to class racers, all the 
matches are open to yachts of all nations. Alter 
the close of the Solent season the racing fleet 
proceed to the west of England, where if an 
owner keeps on to the end he will hnd, toi a 
first class cutter, one race at Weymouth, two at 
Torquay, one at Dartmouth and two to finish 
the Summer in the first week in September at 
Plymouth. . . . 
This is the complete programme ot a bntisn 
yachting season. It seldom varies. As I have 
given it, a first-class yacht (23 metres, 75.4R. > 
might sail forty-three races. The Prince of 
Wales' famous cutter Britannia, in 1893, actually 
sailed exactly this number, but allowing _ for 
slight mishaps, adverse weather and the various 
matters which may cause an owner to alter his 
arrangements, it is generally improbable that a 
first class cutter will compete in quite so many 
races. In 1906, when the racing was good, but 
not so keen as in Britannia’s day, the cutter 
White Heather (a 75-footer) sailed thirty-seven 
races. This is regarded as by no means an un¬ 
common number for a season. In 1894 
Britannia actually started forty-eight times, and 
in 1895. fifty times, but these numbers included 
the Mediterranean regattas in _ which His 
Majesty’s vessel was also a competitor. 
Of course some yachtsmen give up racing at 
the close of the Solent season and do not con¬ 
tinue to the final regattas in the west of Eng¬ 
land. This, I think, is a mistake; it only means 
a fortnight more, and at that time of year—the 
end of August—the southwest coast is lovely. 
Personally, I never put in to Dartmouth with¬ 
out thinking it the most beautiful spot on the 
coast. 
Nothing would give British yachtsmen greater 
pleasure than the visit of a 75 ft- American 
cutter, but a yacht owner from your side bring¬ 
ing a vessel across should note firstly that she 
must be classed R by British or German Lloyds 
or the Bureau Veritas for scantlings; and sec¬ 
ondly, accord with the International Rule and rate 
23 meters. She must have a solid wooden mast. 
' Visiting the British coast she could then race 
in all the races I have named, without any 
handicap or time allowance. Is there any likeli¬ 
hood of an American cutter coming over for 
the months of June, July and August in 1908? 
In that season the 23-metre class at Kiel would 
also be open to her. 
B. Heckstall Smith. 
Boston Letter. 
Now that the formal opening of the season, 
in the shape of the South Boston Y. C. s annual 
memorial day race on May 3 °- is so close at hand 
the racing men are beginning to stir around in 
spite of the unseasonable weather that has so 
long delayed fitting out. A two hours snow 
squall on the tilth of May is unusual, but the 
elements cannot longer postpone the rush to be 
ready for the first starting gun. 
Class Q will be the principal attraction on the 
racing cards, and it is quite possible that the full 
strength of the class will come to the line on the 
thirtieth. Of the two Herreshoff boats, that for 
Messrs. F. L. Gay and Hollis Burgess, Dorothy 
Q., had her trial trip May 5 and is now on her 
way to’Marblehead, having left Bristol the tenth. 
The other, now named Eleanor, has been launched 
and should start around the Cape in charge of 
her owner Mr. Francis B. Fabyan, the last of 
this week. Sally IX., designed and built by 
Messrs. Burgess & Packard for L. F. Percival, 
Esq., had her initial sail at Marblehead the 12th 
in a light easterly air. Essex, designed by Mr. 
B. B. Crowninshield for himself, and Mr. J. G. 
Alden, is to be launched May 15, and her owners 
expect to leave Pulpit Harbor with her by the 
18th and will push straight through for Marble¬ 
head. Little Rhody II.. designed by Mr. George 
Owen, for Mr. C. F. Tillinghast, is nearly com¬ 
pleted at East Boothbay, Me., by Hodgdon Bros, 
and should be fit as a fiddle by the 3°lh, while 
the champion Orestes is already in commission 
and quietly tuning up. The remaining boat of 
the class, designed by Mr. R. C. Simpson, of the 
Crowninshield office, for Mr. F. L. Slade, of the 
Winthrop Y. C., will have the closest call in 
getting ready for the South Boston event, but 
it is hoped that she may be on hand. 
Of the new sonder boats the Corinthian, de¬ 
signed by F. D. Lawley and built at the Lawley 
yard, only awaits favorable weather for her trial 
trip. Mr. Tower has not much the start of the 
other Lawley built boat, however, as she is 
practically completed. She is the Gardner de¬ 
signed craft for the Messrs. Agassiz. The 
Crowninshield designed aspirant Marblehead is 
also nearly completed and Mr. Sumner H. Foster 
should soon bring her up from the Hodgdon 
Bros, yard at East Boothbay. She is the most 
dangerous looking of all the new boats and 
stands an excellent chance of selection for the 
European trip. I use the word European rather 
than German, for the Eastern Y. C. has defi¬ 
nitely accepted the Spanish invitation for a team 
match off San Sebastian in early September. 
Entries for the Eastern Y. C. trial close June 1 
and the boats must be measured by the 8th. 
Those selected will be shipped from Boston to 
Hamburg by the S. S. Sylvia due to sail from 
the former port June 29. They should thus reach 
Kiel in time for four weeks of preparation before 
the first race on August 15. 
A notable addition to the ranks of Boston 
yachtsmen is none other than our very popular 
ex-Governor William L. Douglass, who has just 
purchased through the agency of Mr. B. B. 
Crowninshield the steam yacht Machigonne. This 
splendid little vessel was built in 1904 for Mr. 
C. H. K. Curtis, of Philadelphia, by the Gas 
Engine and Power and Seabury Co-. She is 
115ft. length over all, 95ft. waterline, 16.5 breadth, 
7.5ft. draft and has a triple expansion engine that 
gives her a cruising speed of from 12 to 14 
knots. The accommodations consist of a fore¬ 
castle for eleven men, separate staterooms for 
sailing master and engineer, a bath room the 
full width of the ship from which open two 
large connecting staterooms, just forward of the 
saloon, aft of which is a double stateroom. The 
dining room and pantry are in a deck house over 
the galley and she steers from a bridge deck 
over this dining room. She is lighted through¬ 
out by electricity. 
At Shiverick’s yard, at Kingston, Mass., the 
18ft. knockabout for Jamestown, R. I., is com¬ 
pleted and that for Dr. William H. Potter, of 
Duxbury, is in the finishing stages. This, the 
only new boat for Class I, is 31 ft. over all, 7 ft- 
6in. on the waterline, and of 2ft. 9'u. draft, with 
centerboard up. She is much like the previous 
Shiverick boats, and indeed the rule has been so 
well developed that no great latitude for origi¬ 
nality is now left. Where she differs from her 
predecessors, however, is in the reverse curve to 
her forward overhang and the very low and very 
flat after overhang. Her midship section shows 
quite a hollow curve in the lower part of the 
frames, but the garboard is not filled out. The 
other new Shiverick work consists of two 
launches, one 25ft. over all, of 5ft. ij4in. breadth 
and 19m. draft for Mr. C. F. Bradford, of Ply¬ 
mouth. She has a 9 horsepower Phillips Duplex 
double opposed engine with horizontal cylinders 
installed just forward of amidshios under a 
hinged hatch in the after end of a turtle back 
deck. The other is a working boat for W. H. 
Higgins, of North Plymouth, • 22ft. 6in. by Oft. 
with a 5 horsepower Eagle engine. Power is 
fast relegating sails to the museum among the 
Plymouth Bay lobstermen. and Edward A. Ran¬ 
som, also of Kingston, and formerly the builder 
START OF AN ICE YACHT RACE ON THE SHREWSBURY. 
