Yachting Fixtures for 1908. 
SEPTEMBER. 
19. Larchmont Y. C. 
19. Manhasset Bay Y. C. 
19. Atlantic Y. C. 
26. Handicap Class, annual. 
26. Bensonhurst Y. C. 
THE OUTLOOK VERY BRIGHT. 
The outlook for the coming building season 
from the builders’ and designers’ point of view 
is exceedingly bright. Already new classes are 
being planned. The success of Dorello has at¬ 
tracted much attention, and a class of yachts 
similar in size to that yacht is to be built, and 
it is understood that they are to be turned out 
by Herreshoff. These boats are for F. C. Hen¬ 
derson, Clifford Mallory, Roy Rainey and J. L. 
Blair. These yachtsmen are all well known and 
men of experience in the racing arena, and that 
insures their being well handled, and they should 
furnish some fine sport. It seems rather too 
bad, though, that yachtsmen will keep to the 
one-design classes. These are good only for 
one thing. They develop good sailors because 
the boats are so evenly matched that everything 
depends on the handling, and in facing in one- 
design classes the owners get very keen. If 
these men built to the regular class and each 
went to some different designer there would be 
more than handling in the class. Each designer 
would turn out the best and fastest boat accord¬ 
ing to his ideas that he could and yacht de¬ 
signing and building would be much benefited. 
Another class is being promoted by Stuyve- 
sant Wainwright who now owns Mimosa III. 
This, it is said, is to be a class of 33-footers, 
but the plans are not completed yet. 
Down the lower bay there is talk of a 22ft. 
one-design class. It has been proposed that four 
or five of the yachtsmen there who want new 
boats should have them built by Herreshoff to 
race in the regular class, and those who prefer 
some other designer should go to that particular 
man. There is no doubt that the 22ft. or Q 
class will be boomed this year. Yachtsmen do 
not want to see Eleanor take another leg for 
the Thompson cup and will try to keep Mr. 
Bedford from winning next season. It is under¬ 
stood that Joy has been sold to the Lakes. Com¬ 
modore W. H. Childs will have a new yacht. 
E. F. Luckenback is talking of having a new 
Q boat and there are others who think that the 
Q class is the best for racing. 
The Cut and Set of Sails. 
The keen and clever yacht-sailer is learning 
more and more to appreciate the importance of 
varying the “draft” or flow of a mainsail to 
suit different wind pressures. It is becoming 
clearly recognized that this has as much to do 
with a boat’s consistently good performances as 
has the shape of the hull. The sail that is flex¬ 
ible or adaptable in the matter of position and 
depth of “trough” is likely to be the sail of the 
future. The flat sail which is desired in a breeze 
becomes relatively less effective in light winds. 
The Belgian 6-metre boat Zut had a guniter 
mainsail which was much admired, and one of 
its special features was its loose luff-rope. The 
crew, by increasing or decreasing the tension 
on this, could alter the flow of the sail at will. 
Of course, it would not do to put such an 
arangement in the hands of duffers, for that 
would soon ruin the best sail in the world. 
A year or two ago an ingenious contrivance 
for either curving or straightening out the main- 
boom—which was flexible—was fitted by Mr. 
Percy Tatchell on his Redwing Coot, and also 
to some sailing dinghies. The results were ex¬ 
ceedingly satisfactory. In this connection, why 
does not somebody try a sprit-sail? The pre¬ 
vailing objection to the extra weight and wind¬ 
age caused by the large spar is a valid one, but 
in these days of hollow spars of any desired 
section, the resistance and weight could be 
largely descreased. Any one can make a sprit- 
sail as flat or as baggy as he may wish, and it 
would not require any elaborate gear to arrange 
for doing this to one’s entire stisfaction and to 
any extent. Interesting and sustained experi¬ 
ments in the Redwing class—to name only one- 
have shown that the performance of a boat de¬ 
pends quite as much on the sails as on the shape 
of the hull, and N. G. Herreshoff was about 
right when he appraised the elements of success 
in a yacht in the following order: “First the 
man, second the sails, third the boat!” It may 
probably be a troublesome matter to deal with 
the man, but the sails can be made amenable..— 
The Yachtsman. 
Puritan Enters Trade. 
Another famous yacht has been turned into 
a trading vessel. Puritan, successful defender 
of the America’s Cup against Genesta, in 1885, 
has passed from the fleet of pleasure craft to 
the squadron of Cape Verde packets, and in 
future will be engaged in the transportation of 
passengers and some cargo from Brava to 
Providence. 
Puritan was built from designs by the late 
Edward Burgess, of Boston, for a syndicate 
headed by the late J. Malcolm Forbes, by 
George Lawley & Son at South Boston. She 
was really the first large yacht turned out by 
Mr. Burgess, and her dimensions were 94ft. 
over all, 89ft. loin, on the waterline, 22ft. gin. 
beam, 8ft. ioin. depth and 8ft. gin. draft without 
her centerboard. 
At the time Puritan was built, Priscilla was 
constructed for a New York syndicate from 
designs by A. Cary Smith, and the two met in 
the trial races which were to decide the yacht 
to be selected to meet the cutter Genesta, 
owned by Sir Richard Sutton. Puritan won the 
trials, and in the races for the cup she defeated 
Genesta. The first race sailed over the inside 
course, starting off Owl's Head, and it was won 
by Puritan by 16m. 19s. The second race was 
started off Sandy Flook and was to be to wind¬ 
ward and return. Puritan 011 the port tack 
tried to cross Genesta on the starboard tack 
and fouled her, so that Genesta lost her bow¬ 
sprit. The committee disqualified Puritan at 
once and offered to allow those on Genesta 
time to make some repairs and then sail over 
the course; but Sir Richard said he came for 
a race and on a sailover, and so the yachts met 
two days later in the final contest which proved 
to be one of the best, if not the best ever sailed 
for the cup. 
The course was 20 miles to leeward and re¬ 
turn, and was sailed in a strong wind. Down 
the wind Genesta did the better work, and she 
turned the outer mark well in the lead. 
Genesta carried a topsail and Puritan had her 
topmast housed. Beating home, Puritan caught 
the cutter and finally won the race by im. 38s. 
That year Puritan won the Goelet cup for 
sloops and twice afterward she finished second 
in a Goelet cup race. Once in 1886 to May¬ 
flower, the new cup defender, when she was 
beaten 4m. ns., and again in 1890 when she was 
beaten by Volunteer by 31m. 13s. 
Soon after the cup races of 1885, the yacht 
was sold at auction on behalf of the syndicate 
and was purchased by J. Malcolm Forbes, who 
had been the managing owner. Mr. Forbes 
kept the yacht for some years, and in 1896 
changed her rig to that of a schooner. In 1898 
she was purchased by John O. Shaw, Jr., and 
was for some time the flagship of the Eastern 
Y. C. Her next owner was C. H. W. Foster, 
also of the Eastern Y. C., and in 1905 she was 
purchased by O’Connor Brothers, of Boston, 
who later had an auxiliary engine installed. 
She was sold this year to be broken up, but in¬ 
stead has been turned into a trader and as such 
she will end her days. 
With American yachtsmen it is doubtful if 
any other cup defender has been so popular as 
Puritan, and not only with the yachtsmen, but 
with the general public who took an interest in 
the race. She defended the cup successfully 
against one of the crack British cutters when 
there were not many fast yachts of her size in 
this country, and when many had given up hope 
of keeping the cup here. 
Cruising Yacht Cristina. 
Cristina is the largest of this year’s cruis¬ 
ing power boats, and is owned by Charles E. 
Fletcher, of Providence. She was built by 
Lawley from designs by Henry J. Gielow, and 
is for use cruising along the coast and in south¬ 
ern waters during the winter. She is built of 
steel throughout. Her dimensions are 110ft. 
over all, 103ft. 5in. on the waterline, 17ft. 6in. 
beam moulded, and 6ft. draft. The motive 
power consists of two 6-cylinder 4-cycle motors, 
each developing 120 horsepower, which gives a 
speed of 14.5 miles an hour. 
The deck is virtually flush and extends in an 
unbroken sweep for 72ft. and then it drops 
2ft. on each side for a width of 3ft., leaving a 
central trunk which extends 20ft. further aft. 
Forward there is a deck house 20ft. long and 
12ft. wide on the inside. This house is de¬ 
pressed i6in. below the main deck, and up to the 
lower sides of the windows is built of steel plat¬ 
ing and finished with teak panel work on the 
outside and inside. Aft of this is a steering 
bridge 7ft. by 8ft. The deck house is the dining 
room. Aft on the starboard side is a stairway 
leading to the stateroom and cabins, and on the 
port side two steps leading to the deck. 
Forward is the forecastle 14ft. long. There 
are staterooms for the captain and engineer. 
Then comes the engine space, 12ft. long and 
inclosed in steel watertight bulkheads. Aft of 
the engine room is the galley, having a floor 
space of about 75 sq. ft. A passageway from 
the starboard side of the galley leads to the 
dining room on deck and the saloon and state¬ 
rooms below, and between this passageway and 
the sides of the yacht are large closets, bins and 
■-helves for storing provisions. 
Amidships is the gasolene tank, which is in¬ 
closed in a watertight compartment. It has a 
capacity of 2,100 gallons, which is sufficient to 
give the yacht a cruising radius of 1,100 miles 
at full speed, or 2,000 miles at ten miles an 
hour. 
The saloon, 11ft. long and the full width of the 
yacht, comes next. There are two double state¬ 
rooms and two single rooms, all well and com¬ 
fortably furnished. The yacht is lighted by 
electricity, is steam heated and has all modern 
conveniences, and is a most up-to-date craft in 
every detail. 
