Sept. 3, 1910.] 
FOREST AND STREAM 
383 
“The Chicago precedent has never been rec¬ 
ognized,” the Chairman explained, “and there 
is no rule authorizing a judge, or any other 
race officer, to interfere with a yacht during a 
race. It would be a dangerous thing to do; 
suppose a judge made a mistake? It would cre¬ 
ate an awkward situation.” 
“The judges would need to be competent, ot 
course,” said Simmons, “that is an important 
point. ’ I believe it is not easy to obtain the 
services of experienced race officers at all.” 
“You can always get good men if you make it 
worth their while,” remarked Van Dyke, “at 
least it works that way in business.” 
“But this is a different thing,” the Chairman 
explained, “race officers are members of the 
club, and serve without pay. Sometimes, when 
a man is asked to officiate at an important race, 
outside his own club, his expenses are paid, 
that is all.” 
“Well,” said Van Dyke, “it might be better 
to have paid officers, and insist on a standard of 
efficiency.” 
But the Chairman thought otherwise. It 
would tend to professionalize the sport; the 
present system assumed that every yachtsman 
was trying to sail fairly and obey the rules. 
If a foul occurred, it was carefully and deliber¬ 
ately investigated. A paid officer might indeed 
have more experience, and a better knowledge 
of racing, but he could not be allowed to order 
a yacht off the course for any cause. 
“But on a clear case—the rights of starboard 
tack, for instance?” inquired Simmons. 
“Is there ever a clear case?” 
The speaker was a young man. Three years 
before, he had built the 30-footer selected as a 
challenger for the International Cup, and had 
sailed her in the races, winning two and losing 
three. 
“The reason why I ask is this,” he continued, 
“I have known most experienced and accurate 
observers to be mistaken, in what appeared to 
be the simplest of cases—the rights of star¬ 
board tack. The man was Baldwin, one of the 
judges in the races for the International Cup; 
you all know him.” 
“Let’s have the story,” said Van Dyke. 
“The incident occurred in the fourth race, 
which my boat won, tying the score. The first 
leg was to windward; the start was close, my 
competitor going over at one end of the line 
on the starboard tack, while I crossed the other 
end on port tack. 
“The two boats were drawing together on op¬ 
posite tacks, and I knew very well that I must 
go about at once! My jib-sheet man threw off 
the turns, and was awaiting the word to let go, 
when the sheet slipped through his hands. The 
boat luffed, but he instantly trimmed down 
again. I was about to put down the helm, when 
to my surprise, my competitor spun around on 
the port tack, thus placing his boat a little 
ahead and to leeward. There was no call for 
me to throw away the weather gauge, and so I 
hung on, eventually making good, and leading 
around the first mark by half a minute. The 
wind was light, and the boats were never closer 
to one another than ten yards. 
“Baldwin, from the judges’ boat, had seen the 
unexpected tack of my opponent, and at once 
jumped to the conclusion that I had forced him 
about. Williams, the judge appointed by our 
club, was inclined to agree with him; the other 
judge said he was not sure. As we won the 
race, it was necessary to settle the question, 
and the moment we landed the judges called 
the crews together to obtain evidence. 
“I asked Carrington, the skipper of the other 
boat, if he had made any protest, and was as¬ 
sured that he had not, and did not know what 
the judges were intending to investigate. 
“We soon found out. Baldwin took the chair 
and described what he had seen: the start on 
the opposite tacks; the luffing of my boat as it 
J3 0 ®bout; the sudden and unexpected tack 
of Carrington’s boat, as though to avoid a col¬ 
lision. Baldwin put everything-as nicely as he 
could, but he was evidently very serious about 
it. T was rather bewildered at first, for in the 
excitement of winning the race, I had pretty 
well forgotten the start. My jib-sheet man ad¬ 
mitted the luffing, and that we were expecting 
to go about immediately. As for me, 1 could 
only say that at no time in the race was my 
boat near enough to the other to create any 
danger. 
“The issue, therefore, hung on the distance 
between the boats, and pretty nearly everyone 
had something to say about it. Baldwin had 
assumed either an actual contact, or such close 
quarters that Carrington was forced about to 
prevent a collision. But I noticed that he 
seemed to be playing a lone hand, for the other 
judges said very little, and the evidence of the 
crews did not confirm his theory. It looked like 
a Scotch verdict, but I was having a bad quar¬ 
ter of an hour. If my boat were disqualified, 
and the race given to Carrington, it meant that 
the match would come to an untimely end, in 
the worst possible way, for he had already won 
two. and this would make a third. 
“What little reputation I had for skill and 
fairness would be overboard and lost. Of 
course, I never had any intention of exceeding 
my rights on port tack, but it was possible that 
I had made a miscalculation, and actually forced 
the other boat around without realizing it. 
“So far Carrington had said very little. Prac¬ 
tically everything depended on the attitude he 
would take. I knew him for a good fellow, and 
attributed his reticence to motives of delicacy. 
A lull in the discussion brought him to his feet. 
“ ‘Mr. Chairman,’ he said ‘it has taken me a 
few minutes to collect my wits, and recall ex¬ 
actly what happened at the start. Of one thing, 
however, I am quite sure: I started the race 
with the fixed intention of working over to¬ 
wards the shore, in order to get a better wind, 
and for that reason, and no other. I took the 
port tack as soon as I crossed the line.’ 
“There was a moment of silence; Carrington 
stepped across the room and grasped my hand; 
and then everyone began to talk at once. Bald¬ 
win, of course, had simply been mistaken, and 
owned up to it like a man. As it happened, 
Carrington won the next race, so that the af¬ 
fair could in no way be construed as affecting 
the result of the match. 
“But it was a good example of how difficult 
it may be for even a trained observer like Bald¬ 
win to make sure of what he sees in a yacht 
race. He had viewed the incident from an angle 
which made the boats appear much closer to¬ 
gether than they really were, and the little, af¬ 
fair with the jib-sheet had strengthened the illu¬ 
sion that I was deliberately refusing my com¬ 
petitor his rights on the starboard tack. 
“So you see,” he concluded, “it would not be 
safe to allow judges to order a yacht off the 
course for an apparent breach of the rules.” 
William Q. Phillips. 
Motor 'Boating . 
Motor Boat Fixtures. 
SEPTEMBER. 
3. Atlantic Y. C. 
3, 4, S. Taunton Y. C. 
4, 5. Larchmont Y. C.. long distance race. 
5. Hudson River Y. R. A., Ossining. 
17. Taunton Y C. at Dighton 
Pioneer in Hard Luck. 
The ill luck which lost the British Interna¬ 
tional Cup race for the British boat Pioneer 
stuck to her and her companion Zigarella in the 
races on the St. Lawrence River. Pioneer and 
Zigarella were taken to the Thousand Islands 
to take part in a series of three races against 
Dixie, Squaw and other American boats, but 
Pioneer, after showing some of her remarkable 
speed, struck a submerged log, which broke her 
shaft, and Zigarella had more engine trouble. 
The first race <vas set for Thursday afternoon, 
August 25. Dixie and Squaw were on hand to 
meet the British pair. Early in the afternoon 
Dixie dropped her fly wheel and the start was 
postponed for two hours while she made re¬ 
pairs. They were sent away to go over a course 
three times around a triangle, or 32 miles in 
all, at 6 o’clock. Zigarella was first 5 seconds 
after the gun, Dixie II was 3 seconds later. 
Squaw was 2 seconds astern of Dixie and Pio¬ 
neer, moving very fast, was handicapped 25 sec¬ 
onds. Pioneer at once took the lead and then 
steadily drew away from Dixie II. the second 
boat, and led by more than half a mile at the 
end of the first round. The times there were: 
Pioneer, 6.17.54; Dixie II, 6.18.50; Squaw, 
6.19.31; Zigarella had withdrawn. 
On the second round Pioneer struck a log 
and it was thought that she had thrown a blade 
of her propeller. She stopped and Dixie took 
the lead. The times at the end of the second 
round were: Dixie II, 6.37.20; Pioneer, 6.37.42; 
Squaw, 6.38.55. 
Towards the end of the third round Squaw 
backfired and caught fire. Captain Robins on 
Pioneer at once went to the assistance of those 
on the Squaw, withdrawing from the race. 
Dixie II finished alone at 6.55.11. having made 
the course in 55 minutes 3 seconds actual time. 
The fire on the Squaw was put out and the boat 
towed in not much injured, but the engineers 
had some nasty burns. 
The next morning Pioneer was hauled out 
and it was found that she had broken her shaft 
and the damage was beyond repair. 
Dixie II raced against Flaming Arrow the 
second day, but finished alone. Her time was 
56 minutes 4 seconds for the 32 miles. 
The third day Dixie had a sail over, as none 
of the other boats could be got ready in time 
for the contest. The British boats were crated 
at once ready for shipment home. 
In the race for the British International Cup 
Pioneer was timed up to the time of her acci¬ 
dent by several yachtsmen and they have fig¬ 
ured out that but for her accident she would 
have made the first ten miles in 15 minutes, 
which is at the rate of 40 miles . an hour—the 
fastest time ever made by a motor boat under 
40 feet in length. The accident was caused 
through her drawing some seaweed into the 
scoop of her intake pipe. Water is pumped 
around the cylinders to cool them. The en¬ 
gines became overheated and caught fire and 
when the fire was put out it was found that the 
insulation had been burned off the wires ot 
three cylinders and she continued the race with 
only nine of her twelve cylinders working and 
then made 10 miles in 17 minutes 31 seconds. 
Scotch Fishery Boats. 
Consul Rufus Fleming, of Edinburgh, has sent 
the following report of the advantages of auxil¬ 
iary motor boats and steam drifters in Scotch 
fisheries, .which is published in the Daily Con¬ 
sular and Trade Reports: 
“The main advantage of the steam drifter as 
compared with the auxiliary motor boat, at pres¬ 
ent, are its greater speed, its greater flexibility 
or power ot regulating the speed, its ability 
to make a passage more or less direct 
against a heavy head sea (a motor auxiliary 
would have to tack), its power to work in 
weather when a motor auxiliary could not, its 
larger propeller with fewer revolutions, imply¬ 
ing less wear and tear of machinery, and gener¬ 
ally its better seagoing qualities. As against 
these advantages the motor auxiliary boat, com¬ 
pletely fitted, costs only about half the price of 
a steam drifter—say, $6,813 to $7,300, as com¬ 
pared with $13,626 to $14,599—its speed with 
from 60 to 75 horsepower is little less, the en¬ 
gine can be worked by one of the crew, thus 
saving the wages of an engineer and a stoker— 
about $19.50 a week—the cost of running is 
considerably less in ordinary weather (sail 
power is always available when the wind is fa¬ 
vorable), while any motor of good make, de¬ 
signed for automatic lubrication, requires less 
attention than a steam engine. One drawback 
of the motor, which does not yet appear to have 
been overcome, is its failure to work the cap¬ 
stan satisfactorily, the result being that a small 
steam boiler has to be installed for that pur¬ 
pose. 
“The advantages held by the steam drifter un¬ 
doubtedly result in a larger annual catch of 
herrings than is obtained by the auxiliary motor 
