March 18, 1911.] 
AND 
STREAM. 
FOREST 
423 
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El.CO EXPRESS LAUNCH, 35 FEET; 24 MILES 
New 18-Footers. 
The summer of 1911 will be a busy season for 
the 18-foot knockabouts wherever the class is 
raced, for besides the championship racing there 
are two important matches that are likely to 
take place, according to the Boston Globe. 
The dates for one of these, that between the 
Massachusetts boats and the Narragansett Bay 
boats have been, arranged. The other for the 
La Belle cup, postponed from last summer, will 
be sailed probably this summer. This latter 
match is to be between the champion of the 
lakes and the Massachusetts Bay champion. 
Of all the restricted classes that were brought 
out between 1890 and 1905 the 18-footers are the 
only boats that will be raced as a class in 1911. 
This class was originated in 1900 and reached 
its greatest popularity in Massachusetts Bay in 
1904, when the class numbered more than twenty 
racers. Since that year, although a very few 
boats have been built for the local racing, the 
class has spread out to other yachting localities. 
In 1907 several of the eastern boats were bought 
by Cleveland yachtsmen and the class was 
started on the lakes. The following year their 
champion sailed a match off Marblehead in 
which the Massachusetts Association boat was 
defeated. A return match was sailed in 1909 
on the lakes and the local champion, Dorchen 
II., easily defeated the home boat. 
This same year, 1909, the Narragansett Bay 
18-Foot Knockabout Association was formed, 
with a class composed of former Massachusetts 
Bay racers. This naturally produced rivalry 
between the two associations and resulted in a 
match off Marblehead last summer. The Massa¬ 
chusetts team, composed of Dorchen II., Aurora 
and Kittiwake V., defeated the visiting team, 
Bat, Arrow and Hugi. As the racing was very 
close throughout the match, the match this 
summer which will be sailed on Narragansett 
Bay July 31, Aug. 1, 2 and 3, will be for blood. 
The Narragansett Bay yachtsmen will have 
two new boats for the class, the first to be built 
for those waters. Both of these racers are 
completed and only await warmer weather to 
be tried out. One of these boats has been built 
in home waters by the Narragansett Bay yacht 
yard, while the other is the production of 
Massachusetts design and build. This racer, 
for Fred D. Wood, is from the designs of John 
F. Small, who has had a number of very suc¬ 
cessful boats in the class. 
A couple of years ago John Small retired from 
yacht designing, giving up his office in Boston 
and removing to South Harwich on Cape Cod. 
This 18-footer, which has been named Dorothy, 
is the- first racer that Small has designed since 
leaving Boston. Dorothy, which White, of 
Manchester, has built, is very much like Dor¬ 
chen II. and Hayseed, designed by Small, two 
winners of championships. She is double 
planked with cedar and appears to have finer 
ends than either Hayseed or Dorchen. 
In the local fleet of 18-footers there will prob¬ 
ably be two additions to the class, both of which 
are old boats. Cheroot, a Boardman-designed 
boat, which has not been in the active racing 
for a number of seasons, was purchased last 
fall by H. L. Bloomfield, who later bought 
Moslem II. This latter boat, also designed by 
Boardman, and built in 1904, is the yacht that 
Mr. Bloomfield probably will race this summer, 
as she is rather an unknown quantity, never 
having been raced actively by any of her former 
owners. 
Some Hints on Calking. 
So many boatists ruin their craft by recalking 
them too often, and generally too hard, that a 
few hints on the subject given in the Washing¬ 
ton Star might be of some help to the “first- 
timer.” 
After the old paint has either been entirely 
burned off or smoothed down to a good, clean 
surface, examine the seams from bow to stern, 
and mark every soft spot that might need re¬ 
calking or fresh putty, with a bit of black chalk. 
A putty knife is a handy thing with which to 
test a seam, and where the old cotton shows 
signs of rot or hangs out in places so that the 
blade sinks well into the spot, it is time to 
recalk, but if the cotton has any life left in it, 
it is only necessary to work a little putty into 
the seam and go over it with a flat knife, as 
the seams will swell when the boat goes over¬ 
board. 
But it is usually unnecessary to recalk a boat 
every spring, and if the wood has not dried out 
too much, most of the seams will be hard and 
a little putty will suffice. 
To recalk thoroughly it is best to get all the 
old cotton out, cleaning the seams well with a 
knife. 
If you find that the seams are too tight to re¬ 
ceive the blade of the knife, the old cotton may 
either be pushed through with an iron and a 
mallet or a calker’s wheel be pressed into 
service. For any craft under 35 feet, with 
planking averaging y 2 to of an inch in thick¬ 
ness, cotton is preferable to oakum, as the latter 
is too coarse. 
To do the calking, you must have a mallet 
and two calk irons or a small calking wheel 
made of brass or steel set in the end of an oak 
handle. Better results will be obtained with 
the old-fashioned iron, as the more modern 
wheel is apt to do indifferent work. Drive the 
cotton in well at the start and keep twisting it 
as you work along the seam. For small boats 
cotton calking can be bought in ball form and is 
handier to use than the ordinary twist. If the 
seams are small and uniform, a small thread 
of cotton may be twisted and laid along them 
with a wheel until it is about a quarter of an 
inch below the surface of the planking. But if 
the seams are large in places, a thin iron must 
be used, and the cotton, instead of lying in a 
straight line, should be drawn back at intervals 
to form little loops, so that more of it may be 
forced into the seam. 
Drive it in at several places two or three 
inches apart along the seam and finish up by 
driving it all along. 
Last of all, put plenty of thin paint on the 
cotton to keep the water from it and then either 
pay all seams with white lead putty or with a 
good quality of marine glue. The latter has 
been used with remarkable success on several 
local yachts. 
Motor Boating . 
Bermuda Race Conditions. 
The special committee of the Motor Boat 
Club of America, F. K. Burnham, Charles P. 
Tower, H. R. Sutphen and James Craig, Secre¬ 
tary F. N. Morley and Thomas Fleming Day 
representing the Royal Bermuda Y. C., have 
reframed the conditions to govern the annual 
motor boat race from New York to Bermuda. 
This race will be started on Saturday, June 17, 
and this year is open to boats 40 to 100 feet 
over all length. This change in the conditions 
which enables good sized boats to compete is a 
wise one. While there has been no serious ac¬ 
cident in former races it is rather hazardous to 
allow boats under 40 feet in length to race over 
such a course as that from New York to Ber¬ 
muda, which takes the boats out of the course 
of stearners and across the treacherous Gulf 
Stream. The new conditions are as follows: 
Race.—From a starting line established in 
Gravesend Bay, New York, to a stake boat off 
St. David’s Head, Bermuda, placed by the Royal 
Bermuda Y. C. 
Prizes.—The possession of the James Gordon 
Bennett challenge cup to the boat finishing first 
and $1,000 in cash. A second prize if three or 
more boats start, and a third prize if five or 
more boats start. 
Boats.—Open to seaworthy boats not over 
100 feet over all nor under 40 feet over all. A 
seaworthy boat is a substantially built, full 
decked vessel, having engine and living accomo¬ 
dations housed in and being equipped with all 
WHIRLWIND, CRUISER; III FEET LONG. 
