744 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[May 7, 1910. 
in smooth water. This it accomplishel most 
effectively, as can be seen from the following- 
example. Taking for instance two boats, one 
rating 15 and the other 30, using the formula 
with the constant 15, the 30-footer would allow 
the 15-footer 8 minutes 20 seconds, but by 
changing the constant to 18. the rating of these 
two boats would be 18 and 36, respectively, and 
the time allowed by the larger to the smaller 
boat 6 minutes 56 2-3 seconds, or a reduction 
of 1 minute 33 1-3 seconds per mile. From the 
foregoing example, it will be seen that the 
change of the constant from 15 to 18 reduced 
the time allowance all along the line, so that 
the larger boats were no longer handicapped by 
the original piece of good intention on the 
part of the writer to compensate for the disad¬ 
vantage under which the smaller boat would be 
in a heavy sea when racing against a boat of 
larger dimensions. By the change of a “5” into 
an “8”, this result was accomplished; whereas 
an alteration of the whole table of time allow¬ 
ances would have involved much labor and ex¬ 
pense; although it did open the gates to critics 
who found more satisfaction in finding fault 
than in searching for the truth. 
During the next year the automobile racing 
boat became a factor, and some modifications 
of the rules were necessary to meet the new 
conditions; for it should be borne in mind that 
when the original rating formula and rules in 
connection therewith’ were prepared, it was the 
intention to enable yachtsmen who had cruising 
motor boats to get together in different classes 
and indulge in the friendly sport of racing, 
“catch as catch can”; but when specially de¬ 
signed high-speed boats, intended simply for 
racing, were produced, new conditions were 
brought about and had to be provided for. The 
horsepower formula for the four-cycle engine 
became piston area, multiplied by the number 
of pistons receiving direct explosions, divided 
by a constant, which meant that the formula 
contemplated an engine having a mean effective 
pressure of 66 pounds per square inch, and a 
piston speed of not less than 1,000 feet per 
minute. It was also understood that, in the 
very fast boats, the position of the midship sec¬ 
tion is further forward, and, in view of the fact 
that these boats would be out of the water from 
time to time, it was thought best to take the 
actual midship section wherever found, the 
balance of the formula remaining unchanged 
At the end of the 1906 season many of the 
yachtsmen expressed their desire that the auto¬ 
mobile boats should be weighed, particularly in 
the races for the Gold challenge cup. and, in 
order to provide for this contingency, the writer 
prepared a further paragraph, covering the case. 
It was based upon the fact that the prismatic 
co-efficient of most racing boats is not far from 
55 per cent., and this was borne out by actual 
tests made the following summer, when the 
boats were weighed, and the weight reduced to 
an equivalent midship section, as provided in 
the formula, and then the actual measurement 
of the midship section taken. It was found that 
the two agreed to within one or two per cent., 
and proved conclusively that the formula had 
been prepared on fundamentally sound and 
correct premises. 
Since then only a few minor’additions have 
been made to the rules, and these were pri¬ 
marily for the purpose of preventing a technical 
interpretation of the rules being used to obtain 
an advantage over the well designed motors by 
nieans of some freak device that would result 
in a too low rating. 
In preparing these rules for the American 
Power Boat Association the writer’s aim was to 
construct them, so that they should rest funda¬ 
mentally on correct scientific principles, and 
that they should be as simple of application as 
such principles would permit. There is every 
reason for believing that with a careful appli¬ 
cation of these rules every boat racing under 
them will get a fair chance and everything to 
which it is iustlv entitled. 
It is to be regretted that so many boat own¬ 
ers have an entirely wrong impression relative 
to the functions of a measurement rule. The 
prevailing impression seems to be that if any 
number nf boats are measured and rated, under 
a rule their correct time should be all exactly 
the same when the race is finished. If the rule 
fails to accomplish this, “it is no good” in their 
estimation. Now, as a matter of fact, this is 
exactly what the rule will not do, for the rule 
assumes an ideal or perfect boat, and as such a 
craft has not yet been produced, it is clear that 
the boat with the poorest model, motor, pro¬ 
peller, etc., must inevitably make the poorest 
showing. We are all striving for something 
higher and better, and any rule that places in¬ 
feriority on the same level with superiority is 
wrong in principle and practice. 
In one of the Gold cup races on the St. 
Lawrence five out of the seven starters on cor¬ 
rect time finished the 30-mile course within two 
minutes of each other. Certainly a splendid 
showing for the rule, particularly as there was a 
wide divergence in the sizes and ratings of these 
boats. At the present time there is a class of 
one-design power boats being built for use on 
the St. Lawrence River during the coming sum¬ 
mer, and the writer ventures to predict that if 
seven of these boats will race over the same 
30-mile course that the difference in time be¬ 
tween five of the boats closest together will be 
more than two minutes. It cannot be a very 
bad rule that will match half a dozen boats of 
different speeds and dimensions as closely as 
an equal number of one design boats. 
The Bermuda races during the past three or 
four years were held under the rules of the 
American Power Boat Association, using 60 
per cent, of the time allowance table, but in the 
coming Havana motor boat race the formula 
and time allowance table will be used as it 
stands. As most of the committee men who 
managed the Bermuda races are also connected 
with the Havana race it means that the Amer¬ 
ican Power Boat Association measurement 
formula, rating rule and table of time allow¬ 
ances. have proven their worth under the 
crucial conditions of long distance ocean racing. 
Henry J. Gielow. 
Local Sections of the American P. B. A. 
BY H. T. KOERNER, PRESIDENT. 
It was a wise and farseeing action which the 
council of the American Power Boat Associa¬ 
tion took last year, when it incorporated in the 
articles of association, the formation of local 
sections. It is difficult to conceive, theoreti¬ 
cally, a more comprehensive and efficient plan 
to produce positive and lasting results. That 
section of the articles of association paves the 
way for attainment of the hopes and aims that 
at best have had but a sporadic and precarious 
•existence. These underlying hopes and aims 
consisted largely in an endeavor to bring motor 
boat men into closer touch with one another, 
to weld into a concrete form varied, and, at 
times, apparently opposed methods, without 
sacrificing the vigorous development of the 
purely local life. All efforts that have produced 
the rapid rise of motor boating, have up to a 
recent date, been purely local and have formu¬ 
lated for the specific purposes of local appli¬ 
cation. 
Individual endeavor, however good and how¬ 
ever persistent, naturally has its limitations and 
must in the end fail of broad, permanent suc¬ 
cess. The very fact of its being individual is 
the heaviest drawback, when the wlnfle field 
of motor boating in the United States is the 
theatre of action. Working at cross purposes, 
local jealousies, the petty ambitions of medi¬ 
ocre, men, the unwarrantable meddling of selfish 
special interests, have all conspired to prevent 
healthy and uninterrupted national progress to 
concerted action. Added to these, were the ex¬ 
acting duties of club development and the great¬ 
est anomaly of all, the multiplication of national 
organizations urged upon the bewildered motor 
boat men. Fostered by men with supposed 
ideas and doubtful ambitions, each of such or¬ 
ganizations became “national” in its effects, not 
to uplift and combine, but to separate and dis¬ 
integrate combined endeavor. The strangest 
subterfuges were resorted to in some cases to 
justify the existence of such ephemeral and 
noisy combinations, but from the very nature 
of things, they will subside with equal speed 
and much less noise. 
The American Power Boat Association, far 
apart from such methods, does not and will 
not depart from the dignified course it has so 
consistently shown during the years of its ex¬ 
istence and will continue to operate for the best 
there is in the motor boat activities of the 
country. In the articles of association, the ob¬ 
ject of the association is set forth clearly and 
specifically, and is as follows; 
“The object of the association is to formulate 
the use of power boats and the improvement of 
their design and power construction, to formu¬ 
late rules to govern trials of speed and endur¬ 
ance between such boats and to further the in¬ 
terests of the clubs composing its membership.” 
Nothing more, nothing less. It is ample. It 
is elastic enough to give free rein to its officers 
and council. It is comprehensive enough to 
hold within its body, the whole tremendous 
vitality of the sport and it is powerful enough to 
maintain the normal development of the whole 
field of motor boating, against the constantly 
recurring assaults levelled against it from either 
its supposed friends or known enemies. 
Bearing on the formation of local sections, 
it can be best described by comparing it with 
Federal, State and Municipal activities. The 
“Municipal Activity” representing the actual 
business and social life of each individual motor 
boat club. The “State Activity” representing 
these individual clubs in the local section of 
five or more clubs. The “Federal Activity” be¬ 
ing the representatives of these local sections, 
together with the officers of the parent organ¬ 
ization, who, together, form the council of the 
American Power Boat Association. Each local 
section is to elect its own officers, adopt its 
own distinguishing name and conduct its busi¬ 
ness in its own manner. Each section shall 
be composed of five or more clubs. Each local 
section shall have the power to adopt such local 
rules and regulations as it sees fit. The chair¬ 
man of such local section becomes a vice-presi¬ 
dent of the American Power Boat Association. 
It can be readily seen that a council of such 
representative men from every section of. the 
country will very nearly approximate an ideal 
condition. 
This council will use its collective power 
against any and all assaults and speedily neutral¬ 
ize any detrimental efforts affecting the best in¬ 
terests of motor boat users. It will thwart all 
legislative attacks, either sectional or national. 
It will lay a strong hand on obnoxious exploi¬ 
tation by selfish interests, and these grafting in¬ 
fluences will be obliged to operate on the petty 
larceny basis, instead of boldly flaunting their 
insolence as highwaymen in the motor boat 
world at large. Finally each vice-president as 
chairman of his local section, will bring to the 
council the needs and requirements of his own 
particular section, and a clear understanding and 
appreciation of what the motor boat users need 
in every part of the country will naturally re¬ 
sult. Sectional feeling, based on geographical 
location, can have no place in this arrangement. 
The needs of the Middle West, the require¬ 
ments of the coast, the desires of the Great 
Lakes and the activities of the Atlantic sea¬ 
board, will all be brought to a common melting 
pot, and the action of the council thus consti¬ 
tuted, will probably come nearer to a happy, 
concrete result for the betterment of motor 
boating at large, than anything ever attempted 
in its whole history. 
Gold Cup Challenge. 
The Cheppewa Bay Y. C. has challenged the 
Thousand Islands Y. C. for a race for the Gold 
challenge cup of the American Power Boat As¬ 
sociation, and the dates set for the races are 
Aug, 4, 5 and 6, on the course of the Thousand 
Islands Y. C. on the St. Lawrence River. 
This cup was offered by the American Power 
Boat Association in 1904 and was raced for 
twice that season, being first won by Standard 
and later by Challenger for the Chippewa Bay 
Y C., which successfully defended it against 
all comers until the summer of 1908, when it 
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