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Yachting in California. 
San Francisco, Feb. 7. —Editor Forest and 
Stream: About the only activity among the 
San Francisco yachtsmen at this time is the 
election of officers of the various clubs, and 
formation of plans for the coming season. So 
far few of the clubs have completed their plans, 
but the San Francisco Y. C. intends to make 
ocean races a feature of the season, including 
the regular Philips cup race around the Farra- 
lone Islands. A race around the lightship is 
also being talked of. The club will meet in 
March to arrange plans for the season. 
There is little building going on as yet, but 
a good many alterations are being made in 
various yachts about the bay. J. R. Hanify’s 
new schooner Martha is having her masts 
trimmed down, and will be fitted with hollow 
gafifs. Commodore Phillips, of the San Fran¬ 
cisco club, is well satisfied with his new Mon¬ 
soon, which he purchased at the end of last 
season, and he will have her in all the races 
of the coming season. Her masts and canvas 
are being cut down. 
The sloop Emma, which has for several years 
flown the flag of the Corinthian Club, has been 
purchased by L. C. Knight, E. F. Evans and 
Herbert Hauser, of the Aeolian Club. She will 
be the fastest boat in the Aeolian fleet. 
The Sequoia Club, of Eureka, Cal., is con¬ 
structing two fast boats, and is expected to send 
a challenge to the Corinthian Club, present 
holder of the San Francisco challenge cup. G. 
W. Henderson, president of the Sequoia Club, 
is discussing with San Diego yachtsmen the 
possibility of entering one of these boats in 
the competition for the Lipton cup. 
The Corinthian Club elected its officers last 
week, Frank Stone being chosen Commodore. 
The Villejo Yachting and Rowing Club held 
its election Jan. 30, J. P. Scully taking the 
office of Commodore. 
One of the most graceful motor boats on the 
bay was launched last week from Crowley’s 
wharf. She was built for a resident of the Mis¬ 
sion, and is on torpedo-boat lines, and fitted 
with 20-horsepower engines. A. P. B. 
A race between 18-footers is being arranged 
between Massachusetts Bay men and members 
of the Lakewood Y. C. near Cleveland. 
The western boats are to come east and race 
this summer with the promise that the eastern 
men will return the race out west in 1909. Two 
boats of each locality are to race, and everything 
is now settled but the date. 
Three new 18-footers are being acquired by 
Boston yachtsmen. One is building for John 
A. McKee, of East Boston, from the designs of 
John F. §mall. A. E. Whittemore, wdio raced 
the Aspinquid IV. last "season, will this year 
have Ivittiwake V., a Shiverick craft, that has 
been raced at Duxbury. The third newcomer, 
which will be sailed by H. S. Bloomfield, is a 
couple of years old, although never raced in the 
bay. 
* * * 
Ice yachtsmen have been right in their ele¬ 
ment recently. The prolonged cold snap has 
given excellent ice, and it has been well taken 
advantage of. Several races have taken place 
on the Shrewsbury, some of them for the cham¬ 
pionship and some informal scrub affairs. 
On Orange Lake the much talked of races 
between a scooter and an ice yacht are being 
sailed for $500 a side. The ice yacht must sail 
two feet to the scooter’s one to win. 
The scooter Eagle won the first race. 
« * * 
John Conner Barron, M. D.. a well known 
New York yachtsman, died recently at the age 
of 71 years. Mr. Barron owned at various 
times the yachts Wave, Athlon and Clara, and 
was a prominent member in the New York, 
Seawanhaka and Corinthian yacht clubs. 
* * * 
Gus Diem, it is reported, will handle the Leah 
in her races on the excellent ice that has formed 
in Manhasset Bay. and the doctor will be 
there to mend any broken bones. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Canoeing. 
Fragments from the ’88 Meet. 
Continued from page 266. 
The second and last week of an American 
Canoe Association meet is the regatta week; and 
as there are five record events, two trophy races 
and fifteen other contests to be got through in 
that time, it' is a period of hard work for the 
racers. In fact, during the hours of daylight, 
unless the regatta committee is kind enough to 
go across to the mainland for dinner and delay 
its return, no one in camp has time to do much 
besides race or watch the races, and eat. The 
chairman of the Regatta Committee of this year 
was Mr. C. B. Vaux, the captain of the ever 
victorious Dot of famous memory, and of Lassie, 
the winner of the New York International 
trophy, and the success of the regatta was due 
in great measure to the energy and ability with 
which he directed the races. In the evenings the 
non-racing men get an opportunity to take part 
in such events as an illuminated procession of 
canoes, a camp-fire, and a general meeting; but 
their principal occupation is to look on and take 
photographs. The amateur photographer is now 
a feature at any open air gathering, and he is a 
regular nuisance at an A. C. A. camp. No one, 
from the commodore to the last new member, is 
safe for a moment; that is, unless he preserves 
the even tenor of his way with so much resolu¬ 
tion that he never makes himself a remarkable 
object. The man who is daring enough to go 
down to the landing stage for a swim in a some¬ 
what airy costume, who undertakes to explain 
the mysteries of his camp kit to a Squaw Pointer, 
or to come to grief within shooting distance of 
the shore, is pretty certain to hear the click of 
the shutter just at the wrong moment, and to 
know therefrom that he will henceforth figure on 
imperishable gelatine in a ridiculous position. 
The racers did one thing, and they did it well; 
they destroyed the enervating dolce far niente 
that had crept over the camp. Although not 
one-fifth of the men in camp raced, the energy 
that was evolved by that one-fifth had its effect 
upon the lazy majority, and the whole camp be¬ 
came, if not a hive of industry, at least an ac¬ 
cumulation of activity. The twenty-two events 
that make up an A. C. A. regatta programme 
may be divided into three groups; the sailing 
races, of which there were in all nine, and one 
sailing-paddling race; the paddling races, of 
which there were -eight, and the expert events, 
such as sailing and paddling upsets, hurry-scurry 
canoe gymnastics; and there were five of these 
special contests. The course for the sailing races 
is a triangle of one mile and a half, and for one 
race, the trophy, this had to be covered no less 
than five times. The paddling races were all 
straightaway, and with two exceptions (the 
exempt and the trophy race, which were over 
a mile course) were thousand yard spurts. Al¬ 
though no one can win aught but honor and a 
flag at an A. C. A. meet, there are three great 
prizes, the sailing trophy, the paddling trophy 
and the record. The record is very much of 
the same nature as the grand aggregate at a 
rifle match. Five races, three paddling, one sail¬ 
ing, and the sailing-paddling races, are set apart 
as record events, but contestants, who must use 
the same canoe in each race, are debarred from 
entering more than three races. The winner in 
each event scores ten points, the last man in 
scores one, and intermediate men their proper 
proportion. The object of this event, and the 
“one man one canoe” rule, which applies in gen¬ 
eral to all the events, is to prevent the honors 
of the Association from going to racing machines 
pure and simple. If the record has not done 
this as perfectly as could be wished, it has done 
a good deal in that direction. 
The sailing trophy is a fine silver cup, which 
goes to the winner of a seven and a half mile 
race for the year; and as it must be won from 
the best fifteen canoes in the Association, it is 
an honor to be coveted. The paddling trophy 
has to be won on the same condition from the 
best eight paddlers in the Association. This 
year, the winner of the two trophy races and 
[Feb. 22, 1908. 
of the record were presented with large flags, 
which they are permitted to hoist over their 
tents at all the A. C. A. gatherings as indisput¬ 
able proofs that they were once the winners of 
the scalps at a meet. The prizes for all the other 
races are simply silk bannerets, as useless, as 
pretty and valueless as possible, apart from their 
significance as prizes. In this matter of prizes, 
and of betting, the Association has kept well with¬ 
in the lines laid down by the founders. The in¬ 
terest taken in the result of every sailing race 
and of every paddling race was intense, but if 
there was a bet made in the camp it was so 
jealously kept a secret that no one but the 
criminals knew of its existence. 
Great white clouds, too soft and fleecy to do 
more than veil the sun. were chasing themselves 
across a deep blue sky and a strong northwest 
wind was dotting Lake George with whitecaps, 
when the red flag that started the. first race of 
the regatta—the great unlimited sail area race— 
went up to the masthead of the stake boat. No 
less than thirty canoes, everyone of which rep¬ 
resented as much care, study, attention to detail 
and fine workmanship as so many racing yachts 
would have, were standing back and forward 
to windward of the line when the signal was 
given and across they went in a bunch. The 
Englishman, Mr. Walter Stewart, of the Royal 
Canoe Club, the challenger of the international 
trophy, secured for his canoe, Charm, the coveted 
honor of being first across. He did not long 
keep the lead, however, for from the first it was 
evident that the lighter American canoes with 
their standing rigs could sail about one-third 
faster than could Charm. There is nothing 
prettier that floats, not even a fleet of schooner 
yachts, than a fleet of sailing canoes. There is 
a subtle charm about the canoe, a daintiness 
savoring of that of a miniature, and yet modi¬ 
fied by the adaptation of the canoe to its work 
of carrying its cargo of one that makes it singly, 
or in groups, the most interesting of sailing craft. 
Certainly, a more beautiful sight than that fleet 
of white-winged crafts standing off from the 
starting line toward the west shore of the lake 
could hardly be imagined. Far out to windward 
the bodies of their skippers and crew were poised 
—one hand on the sheet, the other on the tiller 
—every change in the speed of the wind, every 
motion of the boat, being met by a correspond¬ 
ing motion on the part of the living ballast, and 
withal' every sail was trimmed to perfection, every 
canoe was steered as closely as a racing yacht 
with a crew of forty men. If that fleet had been 
composed of crafts as good as they were beautL 
ful it would have been a sight to make glad a 
canoeist’s heart; but the melancholy truth is 
that, with the exception of one or two canoes, 
the whole of that beautiful fleet were made up 
of racing machines. 
[to be continued.] 
A. C. A. Membership. 
new members proposed. 
Atlantic Division—Frederick W. De Hort, 
Raritan, N. J., by Lloyd Vosseller. 
Eastern Division—Ralph H. Keay, West 
Medford, Mass., by F. H. Houston; W. S. 
Palmer, Manchester, N. H., by Frank S. Chase; 
Earl S. Clark, Edgewood, R. I., by Edward T 
W. Proffitt. 
Northern Division—W. W. Bennett. Ganan- 
oque, Can., by C. V. Ketchum; W. J. Wing, 
Gananoque, Can., by A. B. Munro. 
Western Division—Arthur T. Brown. Alfred 
A. Carlson, Stewart H. Crumb and Homer 
Litchfield, all of Rockford, Ill., and all by H. 
F. Norris. 
new members elected. 
Atlantic Division—5448, Le Grand Harvey, 
228th street. Kingsbridge, New York city; S449. 
Fred W. Baldwin, 463 W. 166th street, New 
York city. 
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