British Yachting. 
The British yachting season was a very good 
one and was boomed very much by the presence 
of the Herreshoff-built schooner Westward, 
owned by Alexander S. Cochran. That yacht 
made a remarkable showing, winning eleven 
races and beating such yachts as the German 
Germania, Meteor and Hamburg, the French 
Susanne and the Cicely of England. It is omy 
fair to say, though, that the English repre¬ 
sentative Cicely is ten year's old and a much 
smaller craft than Westward. The British 
yachtsmen, however, knew that the American 
boat was to visit their shores and had plenty 
of time to build had they wished to do so, so it 
is their own fault that the visitor captured all 
the prizes. However, the visit of Westward 
has stirred them up, and it is very probable 
that before next season a British schooner will 
be built. It has been intimated that King 
* George will build. If he does, it will be an 
example which yachtsmen on the other side 
will surely follow, and it will give such a boom 
to the sport that has not been had since the 
late King Edward had Britannia to sail against 
Valkyrie, Calluna and Satanita in the big class 
of cutters. 
Westward has been praised everywhere not 
only because of her model, her construction 
and her speed, but also because she has been 
well sailed and has won everything she went 
for without having to rely on time allowance. 
Some did find fault with Mr. Cochran because 
he would not sail in the handicap classes. 
Under the handicap rules of Great Britain 
Westward would have had to allow so much 
time to other fast yachts that she would in all 
probability have been beaten. 
The Yachting World, in referring to the sea¬ 
son's sport in the schooner and handicap class, 
says: “The A class for schooners and yawls 
exceeding 23 meters rating is in practice a 
schooner class pure and simple, as the yawl rig 
has of late years fallen out of favor for racing 
vessels. As the yachts vary considerably in 
size, they sail under a time scale of four seconds 
per mile for each meter of rating, an allowance 
that experience has proved to be entirely satis¬ 
factory. But this time allowance is of a very 
different nature from that of the ordinary handi¬ 
cap, for it attaches to the rating and not to 
the individual yacht. Unfortunately, this coun¬ 
try can at present boast of but one A class 
schooner, Mr. G. Cecil Whitaker’s Fife-designed 
Cicely, and she is a vessel built to an obsolete 
rule and now getting into years. The class, 
however, is an international one, and, with 
competitors hailing from Germany, France and 
the States to swell the number, the fleet of 
schooners made a brave show on the few oc¬ 
casions that sport was provided in English 
waters. 
“The feature of the racing was the brilliant 
form of the American schooner Westward, a 
new Herreshoff creation that carried the colors 
of Mr. Cochran. In addition to Cicely, the 
Yankee clipper had as opponents the German 
yachts Meteor, Hamburg and Germania, and 
the British-built but French-owned Susanne. 
Before coming to the Solent, the yachts com¬ 
peted in German waters with the result that 
Westward completely routed her rivals, win¬ 
ning every race without calling upon the time 
allowance to which she was entitled. When 
the venue was charged to the Solent the su¬ 
periority of the American flyer was maintained 
and she captured the German Emperor’s cup 
and the valuable Gold cup of the Royal Vic¬ 
toria Y. C. Her performance in the match for 
the latter trophy will long be remembered, for 
she gave an extraordinary exhibition of light 
weather sailing, beating her nearest attendant 
home by more than two hours, although but 
half the course was covered. As Westward 
had been specially built for the A class, her 
owner did not care to race ; her in handicaps 
and the only occasion on which he made a de¬ 
parture from this policy was in Germany, when 
his vessel lost on time allowance, but won a 
special prize for being the first yacht home. 
In class races the schooner was never beaten 
and she is certainly the speediest vessel of her 
rig ever seen in European waters. But with 
no desire to belittle her brilliant performances, 
we must point out that the yachts of British de¬ 
sign that she met were both old craft of obso¬ 
lete design, and it is possible, even probable, 
that a large schooner built under the Interna¬ 
tional rule from designs by Fife, Mylne or 
Nicholson would prove a dangerous antagonist 
to the Yankee two-sticker, and we sincerely 
hope that a British sportsman will come for¬ 
ward and give one of our leading naval archi¬ 
tects the opportunity of designing an A class 
schooner for next season. 
“The records of the A class are: Westward, 
11 starts, 11 firsts; Cicely, 7 starts, 3 firsts, 1 
second: Germania, 10 starts, 5 seconds; Ham¬ 
burg, 6 starts, 2 seconds, 2 thirds; Meteor, 7 
starts, 2 seconds; Susanne, 4 starts, no prizes.’’ 
The Field recently commenting on the past 
season and the outlook for next, said: “There 
was a good deal of discussion during Cowes 
Week upon the possibility of a revival in 
British yacht racing next year. It is to be 
hoped that a lead will be given to the sport by 
the construction of a royal racing yacht. As 
we have frequently stated, the interest in the 
sea and in maritime sport has been allowed to 
wane since the decade when King Edward raced 
his cutter Britannia. Yacht racing is a pastime 
with which no fault can be found. A man of 
moderate means can buy a little boat for a few 
pounds, and race her in one of the numerous 
Corinthian classes that sail in our estuaries; if 
his purse allows he can build a 6-meter or 8- 
meter boat, and enjoy international racing in 
the Y. R. A. classes, while if he is a man of 
some wealth he can race in the larger classes 
which go round the coast. In any case, the 
value of his prizes will not be a very heavy 
offset, compared with the cost of his yacht and 
the expense of running her. There is no money 
to be made in yacht racing. There is, however, 
health to be gained* the pastime affords endless 
variety and sport to the owner, and amusement 
to thousands of spectators. 
“We hope, therefore, that the 23-meter class 
will be augmented by another cutter in 1911, for 
no finer vessels than Shamrock and White 
Heather have ever raced in our waters. We 
trust, also that the new owner and Mr. Stothert 
will find the third competitor they look for to 
start the 19-meter class for 1911, and there is 
little doubt that the 15-meter class will con¬ 
tinue to flourish. The view has been expressed 
that if there are three classes of large cutters 
the clubs will fail to find prizes for them, but 
we cannot agree with this idea. The history of 
yachting points to the reverse being the case. 
When the yachts are few then it is difficult to 
find the money for prizes. When the sport in¬ 
creases and there are many yachts, then prizes 
are forthcoming. In Britannia’s day there 
were the yachts of her class, also the 40-raters, 
the 20-raters, and 10-raters, as well as the 
Solent classes. Why should there not be now 
23 meters, 19 meters, 15 meters, and 12-meters 
to correspond with them? The classes will not 
be allowed to lie idle in the Thames or at Har¬ 
wich, Deal, or Dover; they will certainly not 
remain at anchor in the Clyde for want of prize 
money, and they are sure of prizes on the 
Solent. In other districts the clubs are not so 
well off for funds; but if new yachts are built 
and the classes augmented, and particularly aug¬ 
mented by the presence of a new royal yacht, 
then new men join the clubs and generous and 
wealthy sportsmen will be found who will sub¬ 
scribe to the prize funds' and there is really no 
reason to suppose that western and Irish clubs, 
which, if less wealthy, are not less keen than 
the rest, will not come forward and give races 
for any classes that visit the port. 
“Yachtsmen look forward to the vessels be¬ 
ing built for 1911. If the 19-meter class is 
opened, probably a German 19-meter yacht will 
be built for it, because the year will see the 
First International Festival of international 
yacht racing given by Great Britain and her 
colonies. 
“This regatta—which was postponed on ac¬ 
count of the death of King Edward—will prob¬ 
ably attract yachts from all nations to England 
in the August of 1911. It is interesting to note 
that India and Australia are giving prizes to 
the festival. Some members of the Royal Bom¬ 
bay Y. C. have given a very artistic old Indian 
silver bowl to be raced for at the regatta, and 
it is reported that the leading Australian yacht 
clubs will combine to present an Australian cup 
to be sailed for during the first British festival.” 
The 23-meter class was, however, one of the 
chief attractions in British waters, because the 
yachts of that class are all British-built and 
British-owned, and in spite of their having 
already raced through two seasons, they had 
been altered and were practically new boats. 
During the winter they had been hipped out, 
so that they were able to spread more canvas 
and still come in the class under the rule. When 
the season opened, there were Sir James 
Pender’s Brynhild. Myles B. Kennedy’s White 
Heather and Sir Thomas Lipton’s Shamrock. 
Brynhild had not been out for two seasons. 
She is Nicholson-designed, while the other two 
are from Fife’s board. In 1908, according to 
the Yachting World, the Nicholson vessel had 
proved a rare good boat in a breeze, and when 
the water wraith shrieked in the rigging she 
was perhaps the best of the class. But the 
heavy-weather craft is at a discount in an av¬ 
erage summer, for she seldom has quite the 
conditions of wind and water that she loves. 
Sir James Pender, therefore, decided to have 
certain alterations effected with a view to en¬ 
hancing his yacht's speed in light and moderate 
breezes. The keel was removed and recast to 
a different shape, and the vessel’s midship section 
padded out to reduce the heavily-taxed “d" factor 
in her measurement. By these means sufficient 
margin was obtained in the cutter’s rating to 
allow of a considerable increase of sail. When 
she came out Brynhild carried approximately 
ten thousand square feet of canvas, a huge 
area for a yacht of her size. Shamrock also 
had some modifications effected and her sail 
plan enlarged, but White Heather came out in 
the same trim as in 1909. 
The yachts started their first race in a vicious 
squall that hove them down to a great angle, 
but it was noticed that Brynhild, despite her big 
sail area, was still the stiffest of the trio, and 
had she not subsequently been badly served 
by the wind it is probable that she would have 
won. Although she ultimately finished - last, it 
was evident that the yacht had been improved 
by alteration, and it was the general impres¬ 
sion that she would prove a dangerous an¬ 
tagonist to the Fife boats. But the fates de¬ 
creed otherwise, for in her second race the 
Nicholson cutter was dismasted, and, the heel 
of the great solid spar piercing the vessel’s hull, 
she rapidly filled, and within a quarter of an 
hour lay buried deep beneath the waters of the 
North Sea. 
After the loss of Brynhild, Shamrock and 
White Heather were left to sail a series of 
duels, and the racing lost much of its interest. 
That wonderful equality in speed which had 
existed between them in i9°9 had been de- 
