To Challenge for Seawanhaka Cup. 
The Canadians are to try to take the Sea¬ 
wanhaka cup for small boats away "from the 
Manchester Y. C., where it has been held since 
it was won in 1905 by Manchester. Two mem¬ 
bers of the Royal St. Lawrence Y. C. have 
signified their intention of each building a 
challenger and to send the better of the two 
boats to Marblehead to try and win the cup 
again. The formal challenge has not yet been 
received by the Manchester Y. C., but when it 
is received, that club will set to work to defend 
the trophy. 
This will make two international races to be 
sailed in eastern waters next summer. The 
Sonder boats of the Germans will meet Ameri¬ 
can craft off Marblehead, the races being man¬ 
aged by the Eastern Y. C., and the Manchester 
Y. C. will attend to the match with the Can¬ 
adians. 
This cup was first offered by the Seawanhaka- 
Corinthian Y. C. in 1905. Spruce IV. came 
from England and raced against Ethehvyn. The 
cup was successfully defended. The next year a 
challenge was received from the Royal St. 
Lawrence Y. C., and Glencairn came to race 
against El Herie, and she was successful and 
took the cup to Montreal. It remained there 
for nine years, and although there was a chal¬ 
lenge each year and an American craft went 
to Lake .St. Louis to race, the Canadian boats 
were too fast. In 1897, Momo, representing the 
Seawanhaka-Corinthian Y. C., was defeated by 
Glencairn II. The next year Challenger was 
•sent, and she was beaten by Dominion. Con¬ 
stance followed in 1899, and she was beaten by 
Glencairn IV. Then Minnesota, a boat from 
the Lakes, went after the cup, and she was 
beaten by Red Coat. In 1901 Grey Friar, from 
England was sent across the Atlantic, but 
Senneville, of Canada, was too fast for the 
British yacht. The Bridgeport Y. .C. tried hard 
to win the cup in 1902, sending Tecumseh to 
Montreal; she was beaten by Trident. Then 
Kolutoo, from the Lakes, was beaten by Torella, 
and the next year White Bear was beaten by 
Noorna. In 1905 the Manchester Y. C. had 
Manchester built from designs by E. A. Board- 
man, and she defeated Alexandra in three 
straight races. 
These boats are out and out freaks. Alex¬ 
andra. was 37 feet 9^2 inches over all, 26 feet 
10V2 inches on the waterline, 8 feet 4 inches 
beam and 5 inches draft of hull. She spread 
497 square feet of canvas. Manchester was 39 
( ^et 11. inches over all, 24 feet 8}4 inches on the 
waterline, 8 feet 4 inches beam and 5 inches 
draft. She spread 483 square feet of canvas. 
_ 
Records of 57-Foo<ers. 
The best and most consistent racing of the 
past season was in the 57-foot class, and what 
! is rather singular is the fact that not one of the 
three yachts racing failed to finish a race in 
which it started or met with a mishap of any 
kind in a race. There were three yachts. Com¬ 
modore Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Aurora, G. M. 
Pynchon’s Istalena and Robert W. Emmons 
2d's Avenger.. Aurora and Istalena are of one 
design. Three of these yachts were built, but 
Winsome, owned by H. F. Lippitt was not in 
commission. These two rate very nearly at the 
top of the class about 56.85. Avengqr is of 
different design. She is more of a racing nfodel, 
lightly built, fitted with hollow spars and rates 
at the bottom of the class 48,1. Aurora and 
1 Istalena met throughout the season as one- 
j design yachts. In addition to these races, there 
were those in which Avenger took part, and 
when she raced she met the other two in the 
regular Class K, while they were also com¬ 
peting for the one-design prize. 
What makes this class of more than ordinary 
interest is the fact that they were always sailed 
by amateurs. In many of the races the owners 
themselves sailed, and sometimes, particularly 
in the cruise and races of that time, Aurora 
was sailed by, W. Butler Duncan, Jr. Each 
yacht has a competent professional skipper on 
board whose duties are to see that the yacht is 
kept in good racing trim and to attend to set¬ 
ting of sails during the races, but these skippers 
never had the tillers during the races. 
Thirty races were arranged for these boats, 
not counting the races of the Eastern Y,. C. and 
other eastern organizations where Avenger met 
Doris and some other older craft. In these 
races Avenger had little to beat. 
Of the thirty races one was not sailed be¬ 
cause there was no wind, and Aurora and Ista¬ 
lena sailed in twenty-nine events and Avenger 
in twelve. 
Only once during the season did Aurora de¬ 
feat Avenger and that was when the fleet of 
the New York Y. C. raced from New London 
to Newport, when the wind was light and fickle 
and there was lots of fog. 
Of the twenty-nine races sailed by Aurora and 
Istalena, Aurora won nineteen and Istalena ten. 
Aurora also won two special prizes—the trophy 
for the series of the Larchmont race week and 
the rear commodore’s cup for the run from 
New London to Newport. In these races are 
considered the contests for the Astor and 
King’s cups, which were not won by Aurora or 
Istalena and for which they received no prizes, 
but they are taken into consideration for the 
season’s record. 
In all, these two yachts sailed 871.5 nautical 
miles. The time for Aurora was I35h. 56m. 48s., 
and for Istalena I37h. 20m. 57s. Aurora con¬ 
sequently beat Istalena ih. 24m. 9s. in the total 
distance sailed. 
Early in the season the races were sailed in 
light, fluky winds, and in several of these races 
Aurora was lucky enough to get the wind at 
the right time and finish far ahead of Istalena. 
The first race was won by Aurora by 23 seconds. 
Then Aurora won six more races which were 
sailed in light, fluky winds, so that in some of 
them there was a wide margin between the 
yachts at the finish. Then Istalena won a race 
at Larchmont, beating Aurora by 2 m. 22s. over 
a 30 j 4 ~mile course. During race week each 
yacht won three races and tied for the series 
prize. This was sailed off in September and 
Aurora won. 
During the cruise of the New York Y. C. 
Istalena did much better. She carried a new 
mainsail which had eleven inches more hoist 
than that' of Aurora, and this enabled her to 
run and reach faster than Aurora, but still on 
the wind Aurora was the better of the two. 
The sailing of these two yachts during the 
cruise, leaving out the fluky run to Newport, 
was remarkably close. When the yachts came 
back to the Sound Aurora did the better work 
and won several races. 
Avenger sailed twelve races against Aurora 
and Istalena in the regular 57-foot class and 
won all but one of these. She rated at 48.1, or 
the bottom of the class, and was allowed a little 
more than 29 seconds a mile. 
Avenger, Aurora and Istalena sailed in all 
392-14 miles, and the elapsed times of these 
yachts over that distance was: Aurora, s6h. 
37m. 15s.; Istalena, 57h. 8m. 2s.; Avenger, 6oh. 
53m. 58s. This shows that Aurora beat Istalena 
30m. 47s. and Avenger 3I1. 45m. 56s. The allow¬ 
ance to Avenger would be 3h. 9m. 46s., so that 
in the total distance sailed Aurora saved her 
time. 
One race, that from New London to New¬ 
port, was sailed in very light, fluky winds, and 
it is not fair to take it into consideration when 
comparing the records of these boats. If that 
race is left out. then they sailed together 352J4 
miles and the elapsed times were: Aurora, 49I1. 
37m. 53s.; Istalena, 49I1. 55m. 10s.; Avenger, 5ih. 
33m. 58s. On this distance sailed Avenger had 
an allowance of 2h. 49m. 50s., so that on cor¬ 
rected time she beat Aurora 53m. 45s. 
Since the racing season has closed, the time 
allowance rule has been changed from 70 per 
cent, of the so-called full allowance to 60 per 
cent. This would cut the allowance of Avenger 
down to 2h. 25m. 34s., so that Avenger would 
still be a winner. 
I 
AURORA AND ISTALENA IN A CLOSE CONTEST. 
