New Schooner Named Westward. 
Alexander S. Cochran has named his new 
schooner yacht Westward. She is now being 
built at Herreshoff’s, and early in the-spring 
is to be taken across the ocean, and in care of 
Capt. Charles Barr, will take part in the races 
in German and British waters next season. Mr. 
Cochran has outlined his plans in the London 
Field, and that paper expresses a hope that 
some British yachtsman will have a new vessel 
built to meet the American. The Field says: 
“There is a very good prospect for schooner 
racing next season. Doubtless if arrangements 
are made to give sufficient races for them in 
the Solent, the schooners will not only sail at 
Cowes, but for the remainder of the Solent 
fortnight. Since the big schooner Ingomar 
came to our shores in 1904 no American first- 
class racing yacht has visited British waters 
for the special purpose of taking part in our 
regattas. Next year Mr. Alexander Smith 
Cochran will bring over a Herreshoff-designed 
schooner built under the international rating 
rule for class A. Her length on waterline is 
about 69 feet and her rating 28 metres. Her 
name is the Westward, and Capt. Charles Barr, 
who commanded Ingomar, Atlantic, and the 
America Cup yachts Reliance and Columbia, 
will have charge of her. Now, the great Ger¬ 
man schooners Germania and Meteor, vessels 
of some 400 tons, rate 31*4 metres, and the 
British schooner Cicely, 263 tons, rates about 
2654 metres, so it will be seen that the West¬ 
ward is between the German and British yachts. 
Of course, Cicely will be at some disadvantage 
in competing against these vessels. Meteor 
was launched 1909, Germania 1908, and West¬ 
ward’s date will be 1910, whereas Mr. Cecil 
Whitaker’s schooner was built as long ago as 
1902. Fife designed the Cicely under the old 
rating rule, and while she fits the new rule 
pretty well, she is not such a modern form of 
yacht as the German-owned schooner Susanne, 
which the same designer built for the German 
rule in 1904. 
“It is particularly noticeable that Cicely’s 
bow lines are much finer than those of the 
modern yachts, and when pressed she prob¬ 
ably does not attain the same speed as a yacht 
of the same size with an entrance and body 
form like Shamrock. It has been rumored that 
Mr. Fife had an order for a new schooner to 
compete with the new and magnificent vessels 
which have been built abroad, but we have 
heard no confirmation of the report. If no 
British-built vessel is forthcoming, it will re¬ 
main for Mr. Cecil Whitaker to do his best 
with Cicely to keep the supremacy of our yacht¬ 
ing in the van. The Westward will be read}'' 
to race in the Nore to Deal match if the Cicely 
is prepared to meet her under the burgee of 
the Royal Thames Y. C. on Saturday, June 4. 
Then Westward will go to Germany to com¬ 
pete at Kiel regatta against the German Em¬ 
peror’s Meteor and Herr Krupp von Bohlen’s 
Germania. She is expected to return in time 
for the Royal Temple regatta at Deal on July 
14 and the other races at Dover and Ostend. 
If the owners of the schooners follow the prac¬ 
tice recently adopted by the owners of yachts 
in other classes and announce their willingness 
to race, say, on June 4 and on July 14, 15 or 16, 
at an early date, it is probable that the clubs 
will be able to offer them several cups, particu¬ 
larly because a meeting between such vessels 
creates much excitement among many lovers of 
yacht racing. If, on the other hand, their 
movements are left doubtful until the time 
comes to make up the Thames, Deal and Dover 
programs, it is more than possible that A class 
races will not be included in the programs of 
these meetings, because the clubs already have 
to provide prizes for the 23 metres and 15 
metres international classes and one handicap 
class. In German waters no doubt they will 
find pleny of sport, and it is hoped that the 
Solent will provide them with races. 
“Unfortunately, we think, there is still, as 
applied to schooners, a vestige of the old handi¬ 
cap spirit remaining in certain quarters in the 
Solent. Slowly but surely this spirit has waned, 
and the more healthy system of sailing on the 
fixed international scale of time allowance has 
superseded it. It must not be assumed that we 
altogether disapprove of handicap racing for 
these vessels, and wish to totally abolish it. 
Far from it; an occasional handicap is a pleas¬ 
ant incident in a season, and it affords sport 
to a few good sportsmen who like to race now 
and again, but do not possess a yacht fast 
enough to tackle Westward, Cicely, or Meteor 
on level terms. It is only when the chief races 
or the majority of races are handicaps that the 
system is so hard on the owners who have 
built very fast vessels. We well remember how 
in 1904 the American schooner Ingomar was 
handicapped to give British yachts no less than 
three times the allowance to which they were 
entitled by Y. R. A. rules. This was just be¬ 
cause in a handicap race it was the duty of the 
handicapper merely to adjust the allowance ac¬ 
cording to the estimated probable speed of the 
yachts, irrespective of their size. 
“It was of the nature of a high compliment to 
the American yacht that she should have been 
thus penalized; but, on the other hand, we do 
not think it augurs well for the sport when, in 
the majority of our races, we penalize our visi¬ 
tors with double and treble the time allowance 
to which they are entitled by their rating meas¬ 
urement. What credit accrues to an out¬ 
classed British schooner should she manage to 
win the prize from a Westward, a Meteor, or 
an Ingomar merely because the local handi¬ 
capper has given her double the time allowance 
allotted to her by the Y. R. A.? We should 
prefer to see the schooner fleet small and 
select than endeavor to augment it in such a 
manner. In the international class A for 
schooners the time allowance is is. per mile for 
each quarter of a metre of rating, i. e., 4s. 
per metre. If a foreign schooner can come to 
our shores and defeat our schooners on this 
international scale, we can at least have the 
satisfaction of saving that we gave our visitor 
a fair race for his prize. That would not be 
the case if we sheltered our vessels with a 
handicap. 
“The Cicely is a good boat, and Embling 
handles her well, and although she is at a dis¬ 
advantage, owing to her age, we hope she may 
give Westward a hard and close race. It will 
be the greater credit to her if she succeeds in 
lowering the colors of the American clipper. 
The little Susanne, too, if she is present, will 
prove a tough customer in light weather. Is 
there no yachtsman in England, Scotland or 
Ireland who can build a modern British 
schooner of about 28 metres to beat the West¬ 
ward? There is time yet to turn out such a 
vessel in a Scotland shipyard before next sea¬ 
son. Herreshoff is not altogether pleased with 
our rule of measurement; its tendency is to 
cause the yacht to have too big a body to suit 
his ideas. Herreshoff’s favorite boat is quite a 
different type; a harder O. G. section, and 
much deeper keel, more weatherly as a ma¬ 
chine, less comfortable as a yacht. Moreover, 
it may be that our rule has forced him to step 
the mainmast of Westward further aft than he 
would have done had he been left a free hand. 
Here, again, the Yankee goes solely for speed, 
while our rules tend toward checking the “two- 
masted cutter” style of schooner. Of course, 
many excellent arguments may be advanced in 
favor of both systems. We have confidence 
that a new Fife schooner would uphold the 
supremacy of British yacht designing, even 
against the attack of the Westward; but if such 
yacht is not forthcoming it is probable that the 
American schooner will be the proudest vessel 
in Cowes Roads next season. The visit of Mr. 
Alexander Smith Cochran’s clipper will be 
welcomed by all yachtsmen in this country, for 
it will afford pleasure to thousands to watch 
her career in the Solent. We can only hope 
that the Solent clubs will give their matches 
for these schooners under the international 
i ules and scale of time allowance, so that the 
best boat may win.” 
Seawanhaka Cup Races. 
The Royal Canadian and the Manchester 
jacht clubs have agreed on the conditions to 
govern the next series of races for the Sea¬ 
wanhaka challenge cup, and the first race will be 
sailed on Massachusetts Bay on July 25. C. H. 
Routh, W. C. Finley and F. W. Sherwood 
acted as committee for the Canadian Club, and 
they have agreed with the representatives of 
the Manchester Y. C. on the conditions to 
govern the races. 
Now that the races are assured, several 
prominent Canadian yachtsmen announce that 
they will instruct their builders to construct 
boats that they hope will figure in the capturing 
of the famous trophy. 
One of the leaders in the movement to com¬ 
pete in next year’s races is J. P. Black, who is 
the Rear-Commodore of the club, and it is 
more than probable that a syndicate will be 
formed to build another cup challenger. It is 
planned to have the Thorella act as trial tackle, 
and it is thought that with these three boats 
a formidable representation will be had, and 
that the club will be able to recover the cup 
the States yachtsmen lifted in the last races. 
Another man particularly interested in the 
building of the new boats is Mr. Duggan, the 
boat builder. The new boats to be constructed 
will in most all likelihood be made under Dug¬ 
gan’s supervision. The Black boat, however, 
will be designed by F. P. Sherwood. 
The races for the famous cup are of particular 
interest to Canadians inasmuch as it is an im¬ 
portant small yacht cup race. And in view of 
the fact that the first race in the series will be 
contested in Massachusetts Bay on July 25. 
local interest will not be lacking. Already a 
number of the members of the Royal St. Law¬ 
rence Y. C. have announced that they intend to 
make the trip to the States to witness the races. 
It is announced, that the restrictions govern¬ 
ing the construction of competing yachts will 
be practically the same as those which hitherto 
existed. In all respects but one they will re¬ 
main the same. That is that the sail area has 
been increased from 500 square feet to 625 
square feet. At first it was thought that the 
increasing of sail area would necessitate the 
building of stouter and stronger boats, but 
men acquainted with the winds which prevail 
on Massachusetts Bay declare them to be of a 
light variety and that no change will have to 
be made in competing boats. The winds of 
Massachusetts Bay, in fact, are much lighter 
than those which prevail on Lake St. Louis. 
The St. Lawrence yachtsmen declare that 
they are not going to take any chances on the 
wind question, but will probably take two boats 
down with them, which they will try out on the 
spot and select the one which suits the local 
wind conditions. 
Since the sail area has been changed the 
alteration will necessitate a change in crews. 
Under the conditions which governed the last 
contest there was a fixed weight limit for crews. 
