1026 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Dec. 26, 1908. 
part in the race can then return to this port by 
way of Chesapeake Bay and the canals. Several 
boats are now being built that will be eligible 
for this contest. The conditions are now be¬ 
ing framed and will be published very soon. 
Florida Power Boat Races. 
Pleasure craft have been heading for South¬ 
ern waters for several weeks, and the outlook 
for the Southern season is a very good one. 
At St. Augustine there is already quite a large 
fleet of steamers, power boats and house boats. 
After staying at that port for a few days they 
usually proceed further south. 
The completion of the canal gave a great 
impetus to pleasure cruising along the East 
Coast last season, but this year promises to 
eclipse all past records in yachting history of 
the Florida East Coast. 
Among the latest arrivals at St. Augustine is 
the handsome auxiliary yacht Whim, owned by 
Mrs. M. D. Terry, of New York. After her 
visit here the Whim will proceed south along 
the East Coast and thence along the gulf to 
Galveston. The party abroad will devote con¬ 
siderable of the season to tarpon fishing. 
The yacht Luzen, of Atlantic City, with the 
owner, F. B. Morse, and party aboard, was at 
St. Augustine and left for Palm Beach. The 
house boat Roughhouse has also left for the 
south. 
There will be the usual racing at Palm Beach 
in March, and Chairman Theodore D. Wells, 
of the Palm Beach Power Boat Association’s 
regatta committee, has issued the programme of 
the sport. The classification in the races will 
be as follows: 
Class A, all boats, American Power Boat As¬ 
sociation rating rule; Class B. 32 feet and 
under, 1 . w. 1 .; Class C, 32 feet and over, 1 . w. 1 .; 
Class BC, all boats 1 . w. 1 .; Class D, 17 miles 
speed and under; Class E, 17 miles and over; 
Class DE, all boats, speed. 
Handicaps or time allowance will be figured for 
Class A, in accordance with ratings obtained 
under the American Power Boat Association 
measurement rule, and for Classes B, C and 
BC; D, E and DE; the endurance run and con¬ 
solation race in accordance with the actual 
speed ability system used by Theodore D. Wells 
in the four previous annual regattas. Motor 
boats not equipped with mechanical means for 
going astern, will not be allowed to contest in 
the different events of the regatta. Those boats 
with less than twelve miles speed ability will not 
be allowed to contest in the general racing, but 
will have two races, one on Wednesday and one 
on Thursday. 
Boats eligible for the speed contest for 
Florida boats must be designed and constructed 
in Florida, and certificate so stating must be 
filed with the regatta committee by March 8. 
The trophies for the speed records—average 
of six trials over the mile course—and the speed 
contest for Florida boats will not be awarded 
unless the record-making boats complete 75 per 
cent, of the remaining general races of the re¬ 
gatta for which they would be eligible, or ex¬ 
cused from the remainder for cause. The length 
of races and speed requirements are in nautical 
miles. The schedule follows: 
Tuesday, March 9—10:30 A. M.—Speed record 
trials: average of six trials over the mile course; 
Palm Beach cup. 2:30 P. M.—Speed contest; 
Florida designed and constructed boats only; 
no time allowance; 9 miles; Pabst cup. 3:30 
P. M.—Class A, all boats, A. P. B. A.; Handi¬ 
cap; 9 miles. 
Wednesday, March 10^-10:30 A. M.—Contest 
for boats under 12 miles speed; 4^2 miles. 11:00 
A. M.—Class B. contest for boats under 32 feet, 
1 . w. 1 .. d r A miles. 11:30 A. M.—Class BC, con¬ 
test for boats over 32 feet, 1. w. 1., 414 miles. 
3:00 P. M.—Class BC, contest for boats of all 
lengths, 9 miles. 
Thursday, March 11—10:30 A. M.—Contest 
for boats under 12 miles speed: 4^2 miles. 11 
A. M.—Class D, contest for boats under 17 
miles speed; 4 1 / miles. 11:30 A. M.—Class DE, 
contest for all boats over 12 miles speed. 2:30 
P. M.—Class E, contest for boats over 17 miles 
speed; 9 miles. 3 P. M.—Contest for all boats 
over 12 miles speed; 13^4 miles. 
Friday, March 12.—9 A. M.—Endurance con¬ 
test for all boats; 90 miles. Closing event; con¬ 
solation race; all boats over 12 miles speed; 4^2 
miles. 
The officers of the Palm Beach Association 
are: H. M. Flagler, President; William K. 
Vanderbilt, Jr.. First Vice-President; Frederick 
Sterry, second Vice-President; Leland Sterry, 
Secretary and Treasurer. 
The Sonder Class. 
The Sonder class or Sonderklasse, as it is 
called in its home in German waters, will be 
the chief interest in yachting circles next sea¬ 
son. It is growing fast; at least it is growing 
on paper, but so many yachtsmen have ex¬ 
pressed a desire to have a boat in the races, 
that even if some of these withdraw, the class 
will still be a very large one. Sonder class is 
an Americanization of the German Sonder¬ 
klasse. which means special or particular class, 
and as there are so many special classes on this 
side of the Atlantic, the Eastern Y. C. mem¬ 
bers, who have promoted the class here, thought 
it would make the name as distinctive as the 
boats if the German word was used to desig¬ 
nate it. This for the benefit of a newspaper 
that recently wondered why it was sometimes 
spelled Sonderklasse. 
In 1906 when the first race was arranged there 
were seventeen boats in the trial races. It 
looks now as if that fleet would fall into in¬ 
significance as compared with the fleet that will 
cross the line in the races next August. Two 
boats have been ordered to represent New 
York. These are for Commodore William H. 
Childs and Fred M. Hoyt. There will be a 
boat from the Great Lakes and possibly more, 
a boat from the Southern Y. C., possibly one 
from Chesapeake Bay, several from Buzzard’s 
Bay and four yachtsmen from Massachusetts 
Bay—Vice-Commodore F. Lewis Clark, of the 
Eastern Y. C.; C. H. W. Foster, who has had 
a boat each year since the class was promoted; 
Caleb Loring and Charles W. Foss have placed 
orders. Many others are having plans made 
and will soon announce their plans. 
The class has attracted attention wherever 
there are yachts. The type of boat is not gen¬ 
erally commended, but the restrictions give the 
designers lots of leeway in turning out what 
they think will be fair types of boats and speedy, 
too, and the chief attraction is that they are 
within the reach of men of moderate means; 
their cost is limited, and they are handled by 
amateurs. 
Recently the Yachtsman, of London, said: 
“The trite phrase ‘the sport of kings’ has never 
been more aptly applied by yachting than in 
the case of the Sonderklasse, which owes its 
origin to the German Emperor. This wonder¬ 
ful class now stands alone as exemplifying all 
the bad features of the racing machines which 
the best yachtsmen of Europe and America 
have agreed in discarding—save in the case of 
the America’s Cup.” 
The Yachtsman then quotes from the con¬ 
ditions governing the races, and after particu¬ 
larizing about the clause relating to home-made 
sails, says: “It follows naturally that the cot¬ 
ton used by the German sailmakers should be 
grown in Germany, and that German silkworms 
should evolve any silk used in this highly Inter¬ 
national contest. But where, we wonder, does 
King Alfonso come in? He, too, we thought, 
was interested in the class.” 
After publishing this sarcastic comment, the 
Yachtsman received Forest and Stream, 
which told of the match arranged in 1910 with 
the Spanish yachtsmen, and commenting on 
that, it says: “Our contemporary fully 
acknowledges that Spain has won the right to 
take some part in the forthcoming Sonder¬ 
klasse matches in America: but, as it has al¬ 
ready been explained, the Eastern Y. C. is not 
quite able to deal with an Emperor and a King 
in the course of a single season. King Alfonso 
therefore has a golden opportunity. After the 
Kaiser has been properly beaten—as we have 
not the slightest doubt he will be—Spain has 
no less than a year to consider the reasons why 
he was beaten. It may be found that the fault 
lies with German cotton, silk, cloth-makers, sail- 
makers, sailors, or, last of all, yacht designers. 
In any case these causes of failure must be 
sifted carefully by the yachtsmen of Spain be¬ 
fore 1910.” 
Pacific Coast News. 
San Francisco, Dec. 5. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: The weather during the past two 
weeks has been such that no yachting has been 
done on the bay at all. Almost all of the yachts 
are now laid up for the winter, but a few en¬ 
thusiasts, such as Fulton Berry, will keep their 
boats in trim all winter and take advantage of 
some of the splendid weather that is usually ex¬ 
perienced immediately after the first heavy rains 
of the season. Several other yachtsmen have 
decided not to lay up their boats, and there will 
be a season of winter sport for a few of them, 
but no club regattas. Before the next season 
opens it is quite likely that there will be a 
thorough revision of the rules in vogue here, as 
the present regulations have been found to be 
inadequate in many cases. 
A notice has just been issued from the Seattle, 
Wash., Customs office by Ross E. Chestnut, 
Deputy Collector in charge, that is of particular 
interest to owners of yachts in northern waters. 
He calls attention to the increase in number of 
yachts on those waters, and of the practice of 
sailing to British Columbia waters. His notice 
explains the duties of owners and masters of 
yachts in reference to complying with the Cus¬ 
toms regulations. He says: “As the practice of 
visiting British Columbia ports has consider¬ 
ably increased during the past season among 
American yachtsmen, and as there have been 
violations of the navigation laws of the United 
States in connection with the voyages of these 
vessels to foreign ports and return, your at¬ 
tention is respectfully called to certain pro¬ 
visions of law which should be carefully ob¬ 
served. 
“Licensed yachts may proceed from port to 
port within the United States, and from an 
American port to a foreign port without enter¬ 
ing or clearing at the Customs House, the pay¬ 
ment of fees or tonnage tax, but upon return 
home from a foreign port it is the duty of the 
master or person in charge of a yacht to report 
his arrival at the Customs House within twenty- 
four hours. Failure to make such a report 
incurs a liability to a penalty of $1,000 and the 
vessel is liable to seizure and forfeiture. Yachts 
of five tons net or over, not documented, upon 
proceeding to a foreign port, are required to 
enter and clear at the Customs House, and are 
subjected to the same fees and taxes as the 
merchant vessels, and, in addition, are subject 
to the payment of alien tonnage tax as un¬ 
documented vessels.” A. P. B. 
Chicago Sonder Boat. 
Chicago is to be represented in the Sonder 
class races next summer. The Eastern Y. C. 
has received an intimation that one and per¬ 
haps more boats may be built for Chicago 
yachtsmen. Morrill Dunn, who had thought of 
building a boat for the Lipton cup, is con¬ 
sidering building in the Sonder class instead of 
for the local races, and if he does, the boat will 
be the best that he can get, and he will have 
good talent to sail it. 
Dervish Sold. 
Commodore Henry A. Morss has sold his 
schooner yacht Dervish, twice winner of the 
race to Bermuda, to Robert Toland, of the 
Philadelphia Corinthian Y. C.. This sale was 
made through the agency of Frank Bowne 
Jones. Dervish was built by Lawley in 1906 
from designs by Clinton H. Crane and has taken 
part in many races. The sale of this yacht will 
be a loss to eastern yachting. Commodore 
Morss intends to make a tour around the world 
and will take no part in the sport next season. 
— 
