Rules for Sonder Class Boats. 
Henry Howard, chairman and secretary, 
Charles Francis Adams 2d and Louis M. Clark, 
the German-American Race Committee of the 
Eastern Y. C., have announced the conditions 
to govern the construction and racing of the 
boats that are to meet the German visitors next 
summer off Marblehead. 
This will be the third match that has been 
sailed. Once off Marblehead, Vim, the Amer¬ 
ican yacht, winning. Last year at Kiel, the 
German boat wining. This race will conse¬ 
quently be all the more interesting, as each 
country has now won a series in home waters. 
The conditions this time are somewhat dif¬ 
ferent from those that governed the first match 
sailed in 1905. Then there were no restrictions 
as to cost, use of centerboard, crews, etc. This 
time the boats must not cost more than $2,400 
each, are limited to two suits of sails for the 
season, must not be hauled out to clean during 
the series and each member of the crew must 
be an amateur and a member of a yacht club. 
In 1905 one professional was allowed, and as 
soon as a race was ended the yachts were hauled 
out and left to dry and then were polished and 
cleaned before they were put in the water for 
the next race. This was hardly in keeping with 
the spirit of the rules, but as no restrictions 
had been named in the original conditions, they 
were perfectly legitimate. Now the racing will 
be strictly for amateurs and the cost will be 
limited, so that the boats will be within the 
reach of men of moderate means, and there 
should be many boats built for the defense of 
the trophy to be offered. 
Mr. Howard is very anxious that boats should 
enter from all parts of the country. The con¬ 
ditions and rules will be sent to all yacht clubs, 
and as there are some good designers who build 
boats on the lakes and many good sailors on 
those waters, it would make the contests much 
more interesting and representative if some of 
those would build for this class and take part in 
the races. The conditions are as follows: 
GENERAL CONDITIONS. 
The races are open to such number of Ger¬ 
man yachts, not exceeding three, as may be 
selected by the Kaiserlicher Y. C. and to an 
equal or smaller number of American yachts 
selected by the Eastern Y. C. Each yacht must 
be designed, built and all sails and fittings 
made in the country to which such yacht be¬ 
longs. A yacht may make good any damages 
in the country where she happens to be. Haul¬ 
ing out during the races is prohibited except to 
repair damages, and with the consent of the 
committee. 
AMERICAN CONDITIONS. 
The Eastern Y. C. will hold trial races off 
Marblehead during the month of August to 
select the American competitors. 
To allow for the differences in the specific 
gravity between the water at Kiel and Marble¬ 
head, the measurer when measuring the boats 
must place amidships in each boat a weight 
equivalent to one sixty-fourth of the displace¬ 
ment. This additional weight shall not be 
carried during the trial races or final races. 
The date and rules governing these trial races 
will be announced later on. Entries for the 
American trial races will close on Saturday, 
July 17, 1909, at 8 P. M. They must be sent to 
the German-American Race Committee of the 
Eastern Y. C. Entries shall be restricted to 
boats completed and launched. 
MEASUREMENT. 
Length on waterline, plus extreme beam, plus 
extreme draft, must not exceed 32ft. (975 
metres) with complete outfit on board ready for 
racing, but without crew. 
There will be no time allowance. 
DISPLACEMENT. 
Displacement must not be less than 4,035 
pounds (1,830 kilograms) without crew. 
All yachts must be weighed. 
COST OF CONSTRUCTION. 
The total cost of construction of the American 
yachts, including two suits of • sails, must not 
exceed 10,000 marks ($2,400). 
CONSTRUCTION. 
The hull must be built of cedar, mahogany or 
heavier wood, copper fastened (this term in¬ 
cludes brass or composition bolts and screws). 
Double planking not allowed. 
The deck may be pine or any other wood. 
Deck and planking must not be less than fyi'm. 
(16 millimetres) thick, no diagonal or riband 
carved planking nor composite building and no 
centerboard or leeboards allowed. The cockpit 
must not exceed 8ft. (2.24 metres) in length. 
The restriction on composite building does not 
prevent the use of a metal plate for a fin or of 
metals for interior trussing and bracing. 
RIG. 
Rig optional. No hollow or built-up or bam¬ 
boo spars allowed. Sail area must not exceed 
550 sq. ft. (51 square metres) measured accord¬ 
ing to the International Yacht Racing Union. 
Yachts must carry at least one entire outfit of 
spars, and at least one complete suit of sails 
on board during each race. 
CERTIFICATE. 
Every yacht must produce an official meas¬ 
urer’s certificate stating that she has been built 
in accordance with the above conditions, a fact 
which shall be ascertained by the race commit¬ 
tee before the beginning of the races. 
CREW. 
The crew must be made up of amateur mem¬ 
bers of the yacht clubs which are admitted to 
the trial races, and shall consist of not more 
than three persons, who must be citizens of the 
country in which the yacht was built. 
CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE RACES. 
The races will be sailed acording to the rules 
of the International Yacht Racing Union under 
the joint control of the Kaiserlicher Y. C. and 
the Eastern Y. C. 
PRIZES. 
Announcement as to the prizes and the man¬ 
ner of awarding them will be given later. 
COURSES AND DATES OF RACES. 
The course will be alternately triangular and 
windward and leeward. 
The racing will begin on or after Monday, 
Aug. 30, 1909, at Marblehead. Final details re¬ 
garding the 1 courses and the dates will be 
arranged by the two managing clubs. 
All American yacht clubs interested in the 
racing of sailing boats on either salt water or 
fresh, will be invited by the Eastern Y. C. of 
Marblehead, and the Kaiserlicher Y. C. of Kiel, 
Germany, to participate in the trial races for 
the International Sonder class match, to be held 
off Marblehead next year. 
Preliminary circulars giving general condi¬ 
tions for the match, and the rules under which 
boats for the Sonder class can be built, were 
sent out from Boston a few days ago, to yacht 
designers and others interested in the German- 
American matches, which have now become an 
international fixture in yachting. These are be¬ 
ing followed by a similar circular sent to sec¬ 
retaries of yacht clubs with which is combined 
an official invitation to each club to take part 
in the races. The form of this invitation fol¬ 
lows: 
“Kiel, Boston, October, 1908. 
“To Secretary of the New York Y. C. in New 
York City: 
“We have the honor to submit to you here¬ 
with the preliminary terms of the German- 
American races to be held off Marblehead, 
.Mass., in the season of 1909. 
“We request that you kindly make these terms 
known to your members and we beg to invite 
them to take part in the race, and hope that 
your esteemed club will also enter a yacht for 
the race. 
“Yours very truly, 
German-American Race Committee 
of the 
Kaiserlicher Y. C. Eastern Y. C. 
Kid. Boston.” 
In sending these invitations to all American 
clubs, the committee is following out a policy 
agreed upon, in principle, by both sides to the 
contest, namely, to make the representation in 
the American team of boats that will meet the 
Germans, national in the broadest sense. The 
American committee adds that it hopes the 
three boats selected by them, after the trial 
races, may represent three different parts of the 
country, as the east, or Atlantic seaboard, the 
south, or Gulf coast, and the Great Lakes, the 
inland lakes, or the Pacific coast. 
To this end Chairman Henry Howard, of the 
committee, is also sending out personal letters 
to the commodores of clubs active in small-boat 
racing, as at Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, New 
Orleans, Milwaukee, Oshkosh, San Francisco, 
San Diego, and San Pedro, besides the official 
heads of the well-known clubs and racing as¬ 
sociations on the Atlantic seaboard, asking them 
to lend their influence toward the promotion of 
a large class from which to select the team of 
American boats to meet the Germans. 
Two of these International matches have 
been sailed, each side winning one. Next year’s 
match will therefore be more keenly contested 
than either of its predecessors. 
As in the contest in 1906 off Marblehead, and 
that of last year at Kiel, provision is made for 
three boats on a side to compete. The match 
will be sailed off Marblehead, beginning on or 
after Monday, Aug. 30. Trial races for the 
American contestants will be held in August, 
on dates to be announced. Entries for the trials 
close July 17, and must be made with the Ger¬ 
man-American Race Committee of the Eastern 
Y. C. 
As in the former matches, the German yachts 
will sail under the direction of the Kaiserlicher 
Y. C., of which the German emperor is the head. 
The American contestants will sail under the di¬ 
rection of the Eastern Y. C. 
The races shall be sailed according to the 
rules of the International Yacht Racing Union 
(of Europe), to be issued by the committee 
later. 
An American boat for the class shall not cost 
more than $2,400 with two suits of sails. A 
Sonder boat must weigh not less than 4,035 
pounds. The measurement rule provides that 
the waterline length, breadth and draft of a 
boat, combined, shall not exceed 9.75 metres, 
or 32ft. 
Herreshoff Shops Open. 
The Herreshoff shop at Bristol have resumed 
work, affer having been shut down for two 
months. Work has been started on a 40ft. 
auxiliary sloop for an eastern yachtsman. This 
boat will be similar in model to the Marchio¬ 
ness. The sloop Istalena, G. M. Pynchon, the 
sloop Avenger, Robert W. Emmons 2d, and the 
steamer Florence, A. H. Alker, are among those 
wintering at Bristol. 
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