Some News and a Little Gossip. 
Elena has been launched. She was put over¬ 
board at Bristol last Monday afternoon, and 
Commodore Morton F. Plant and several of his 
friends were present. It was the 70th birthday 
of John B. Herreshoff, the president of the 
company that has turned out so many famous 
yachts and the launching was a part of the day s 
celebration. Mrs. Plant christened the yacht 
Elena, which is the name of the Queen of Italy, 
after whom Commodore Plant has named the 
yacht. Elena is a handsome craft and her con¬ 
struction is a very fine piece of work. She is 
96 feet on the waterline and will sail in Class B 
against Irolita, formerly Queen, Corona, West¬ 
ward and others. Capt. William Dennis is to be 
her skipper, and he was on hand with several 
of his crew ready to rig the vessel and get her 
ready at once. She will have a trial next week. 
The defender of the Fisher cup. now held 
by the Royal Canadian Y. C., is being built by 
Hodgdon Brothers at East Boothbay, Me., from 
designs by George Owen. The Rochester Y. 
C. has challenged for a race and will send 
Seneca to Toronto next August to meet the 
best of the Canadians. The new boat fits Class 
P. and this is the third boat of the class built 
at that yard this year from the designs ot 
George Owen, the other two are for the Massa¬ 
chusetts Bay class. The latest boat, unlike the 
other two, is not built to freeboard, cabinhouse 
and scantling restrictions, but will be rather an 
out and out racer. 
After being launched and tried out at East 
Boothbay, by Mr. Owen, the yacht will be taken 
to Bath" and from there shipped by rail to 
Toronto. The crew of the racer will have all 
summer for tuning up of the yacht, as the cup 
match is scheduled to commence Sept. 2. 
The Fisher cup races constitute the only in¬ 
ternational yachting event to be sailed this sea¬ 
son in American waters. The Rochester Y. C. 
will depend on the Herreshoff sloop Seneca, 
owned by Eric C. Moore, which probably will 
be sailed by Addison G. Hanan, who won the 
Canada Cup in 1907, with this yacht. 
Class Q will be one of the most attractive in 
the racing on Gravesend Bay this year. Last 
year’s champion, Grayjacket, will be out again, 
and Soya and Spider, built respectively for W. 
A. Barstow and Hendon Chubb, are having 
some alterations made which are expected will 
improve their speed. Two new boats are being 
built, one for Commodore Edgar F. Lucken- 
back, of the Crescent Athletic Club, and one for 
Gherardi Davis, of the Atlantic Club. The 
former is from designs by Charles D. Mower, 
and the latter from designs by William Gardner. 
These new boats are almost ready and will be 
in commission early for their tuning up. One 
of the first important events for which they will 
be required will be the Childs’ trophy. Commo¬ 
dore Childs, of the Indian Harbor Y. C., in¬ 
tends to challenge early and try to take the 
trophy to the Sound, but he will find that he will 
have to win from a hot bunch of boats on 
Gravesend Bay. 
Class S. too, has received quite a boom. Since 
this class was boomed four years ago, when the 
Bensonhurst won the first Lipton cup, the class 
has been popular and last year there were ten 
starters in the Lipton cup series. The boats 
of this class are well suited to afternoon sailing 
and require only two men and the helmsman to 
handle them. Twelve S boats were built for 
yachtsmen who live in the vicinity of Glen Cove, 
five for Manhasset Bay yachtsmen and mem¬ 
bers of other clubs took kindly to the class. 
More boats are being built for this year's rac¬ 
ing and the Lipton cup is again the incentive. 
D. G. Whitlock, of the Brooklyn, Y. C„ has 
had a boat built by Herreshoff, and Dr. C. L. 
Atkinson, of the Bensonhurst and Crescent 
clubs, has had one built from Gardner designs. 
The Herreshoff built boat has been named 
Wink and is now at anchor in the lower bay. 
She was sailed up the Sound last week by Mr. 
Whitlock’s son and reached Bridgeport last 
Thursday. The new boat for Dr. Atkinson wdl 
soon be launched and got in racing trim as fast 
as possible. These two new boats with several 
of the older ones will boom the S class again. 
There is likely to be some lively times at the 
next meeting of the Brooklyn Y. C. The Board 
of Governors has passed a resolution suggest¬ 
ing to the members that the name be changed 
from Brooklyn to National Y. C. Many of the 
older members of the club will oppose the 
change. They have belonged to the cluD 
chiefly for its old associations and stood by it 
in all its varied troubles. They will bitterly op¬ 
pose the change of name. The Brooklyn Club 
is the oldest incorporated yachting organization 
in the country. It was incorporated in 1864, or 
one year before the New York Y. C. was in¬ 
corporated. The New York Y. C. was or¬ 
ganized in 1844, but was not incorporated for 
twenty-one years. The Brooklyn Club was or¬ 
ganized in’1857 and was incorporated seven 
years later. In point of age, too, the Brooklyn 
Y. C. is one of the oldest in the country. The 
dates of organization of the oldest clubs are: 
New York, 1844; Royal Bermuda, 1844; South¬ 
ern, 1894; Royal Canadian, 1852; North Caro¬ 
lina. 1853; Brooklyn, 1857. 
The Atlantic, Gravesend Bay and Benson¬ 
hurst yacht clubs all sprung from the Brooklyn 
Club, and while of late years it has not been 
very successful, its offspring are all very 
healthy. 
The racing season of the Fall River Y. C. will 
open May 30 with the customary open regatta 
at Fall River. The other dates are as follows: 
June 20, water carnival, Fall River; July 8. club, 
Tiverton; July 13, club, Tiverton; July 22, club, 
Tiverton; July 27, club, Tiverton; Aug. 3. club, 
Tiverton; Aug. 10, open race week, Fall River; 
Aug. IQ, club, Tiverton; Aug. 24, club, Tiverton; 
Sept. 2, club, Tiverton; Sept. 14. open, Fall 
River. The races at Tiverton are for power 
boats, but also for sailing yachts if the classes 
fill. 
At a largely attended meeting of the Bay State 
Y. C. last week it was decided definitely to take 
advantage of the offer of the company erecting 
the new building at Elliott Circle. Revere, to 
provide quarters for the club. These quarters 
will be on the ocean end and southerly side of 
the head house on the pier. A large lounging 
and assembly room will occupy the center of 
the easterly end, and opening from this will be 
a smoking room. The lockers are on the same 
level as the clubroom and the location is ex¬ 
ceptionally good, as the outside row opens to 
the ocean. From the club floor is a stairway 
which leads to a piazza on the wharf level, which 
is for the exclusive use of club members. The 
floats will be placed along side and in such a 
position as to be of easy access, and so pro¬ 
tected as to be in smooth water in all conditions 
of the weather. The anchorage is amply pro¬ 
tected by the breakwater built a few years, ago 
by the State at an expense of $55,000 and is of 
sufficient area to care for a large fleet of boats. 
There is good water for yachts drawing up to 
eight or nine feet. The membership of the club 
will be limited to such a number as can be prop¬ 
erly cared for in its new quarters in the belief 
that the comfort of members is more essential 
than a large membership list. 
A case of interest to yacht owners was de¬ 
cided by Judge Elliott in Baltimore recently 
Dr. Albert H. Braecklein won a suit against C. 
Durm & Son, yacht builders, which ends one 
of the most interesting cases that local yachts¬ 
men have ever watched. In the fall of 1909 . Dr. 
Braecklein contracted with Durm to have a 50 - 
foot power boat built. The contract stipulated 
that the boat was to be complete, with the ex¬ 
ception of engine and interior joiner work, and 
that all material and workmanship were to be 
first class. 
By the late spring of 1910 the hull was nearly 
complete and all of the contract money had 
been paid in. Durm, however, then declined to 
put any more work on the yacht and also de¬ 
clined to surrender the vessel as it was. 
Dr. Braecklein obtained possession of the 
boat by means of a replevin, to which Durm 
filed a "legal reply, claiming that there was yet 
due on the boat for extras a considerable sum. 
The case was heard in the City Court some 
weeks ago and on Thursday last the judge 
handed down his decision, which was in favor 
of Dr. Braecklein with damages of one cent. 
The interesting feature of the case as far as 
yachtsmen are concerned is on the extras 
feature. Every one familiar with the sport 
knows that extras are the little things that cost 
much. In building these extras make their ap¬ 
pearance, so that on a basis of a contract read¬ 
ing “complete boat” Judge Elliott has estab¬ 
lished a precedent that is much appreciated by 
yachtsmen. 
Yachtsmen May Lose Home. 
The city of New York has brought suit 
against property owners at Sea Gate to recover 
several acres of land and rentals amounting to 
almost $1,000,000. Papers in the case have been 
filed in the County Clerk’s office, Brooklyn, by 
A. R. Watson, Corporation Counsel. The prop¬ 
erty in question is a strip of water front at the ■ 
extreme western end of Coney Island, where 
many prominent New York men have summer 
homes and where the Atlantic Y. C. is situated. 
Mr. Watson, in explaining the situation, says: 
“It is not our intention to try to get pos¬ 
session of all Sea Gate for a public park. The 
present case involves only a few broken strips 
of land which was originally under water and 
which has been filled in. 
“A great many years ago the Town Board of 
Gravesend granted land to various property 
owners. It is alleged that they granted certain 
privileges which it was not within their legal 
power to give. Now, owners of water front 
property are entitled to all land which accrues, 
that is, land which is made by the action of the 
sea or other natural agents. In the present 
case property owners have a clear title to land 
which has been formed rapidly within the last 
few years by the washing of sand by the ocean. 
Some of them have, however, anticipated this 
accruing of land and have built retaining walls 
and filled in to a distance further from the 
original shore line than has been reached by 
the natural growth of their property. 
“For instance, where a man has built a re¬ 
taining wall and filled in to a distance of twenty 
feet beyond the original shore line, and the 
ocean has deposited sand each side of his prop¬ 
erty to such an extent that his artificial land 
does not project beyond the new shore line, 
thus created, we cannot bring suit against, him. 
He is within his rights. Where this artificial 
land juts beyond the natural shore line we claim 
we are entitled to the ownership of the land. 
“That is the only property involved. The 
