Some News and a Little Gossip. 
The annual meeting of the Atlantic Y. C. will 
be held at the Hotel Astor on Dec. 12. It will 
be preceded by the annual dinner, and Secre¬ 
tary Bullock announces that some special enter¬ 
taining features will help make that dinner at¬ 
tractive. The ticket is as follows: Commodore, 
William H. Barnard, steamer Sagamore; Vice- 
Commodore, George W. Titcomb, schooner 
Uncas; Rear-Commodore, Francis M. Wilson, 
motor boat Sumida; Secretary, Harry A. Bul¬ 
lock; Treasurer, P. H. Hart. Trustees (for 
three years)—Gherardi Davis, William A. 
Barstow. Membership Committee—Charles B. 
Ludwig, Chairman; Herbert L. Jones, Kenneth 
Lord. Nominating Committee—Ernest E. Mal¬ 
colm, Chairman; S. Edward Vernon, Robert W. 
Speir, A. McIntosh, C. H. Eagle and E. J. 
Graef. 
The delegates to the Yacht Racing Association 
of Massachusetts recently had under considera¬ 
tion a proposition to change the basis upon 
which the season’s championships are figured. 
Under the present system of figuring, it is as¬ 
sumed that a yacht has started in at least two- 
thirds as many races as the yacht having'the 
largest number of starts in her class. A sug¬ 
gestion was made by some delegates that this 
should be changed so that all percentages 
should be figured as if all yachts started in all 
races sailed. The proposed change after a fair 
discussion was left for final disposition at the 
annual meeting. The Boston Globe said some¬ 
thing is needed in the by-laws of the associa¬ 
tion of this nature, but it is thought by several 
yachtsmen that the amendment as offered is too 
radical. Of late years there has been a tendency 
on the part of many owners of racing yachts 
to stop racing when their yachts have the cham¬ 
pionship won. This has worked a hardship on 
the clubs that hold their open events toward 
the close of the season, as it has necessarily 
cut down the number of starters in those re¬ 
gattas. Therefore, some scheme should be de¬ 
vised whereby a full attendance of all racing 
yachts at all the open regattas could be held 
to the end of the season. On the other hand 
the proposed change of figuring percentages 
for all races upon all events sailed seems to be 
carrying the compulsory attendance rather tod’ 
far, as it will work against several yachtsmen 
entering their vessels in the races. Some lee¬ 
way should be allowed, so that if one or two 
races during the season are missed the boats 
will not be thrown out of all chance of winning 
a championship. It is not often that a racing 
yacht of Massachusetts Bay is so far superior 
to others in the same class that it can miss a 
couple of events and still win the championship. 
Take, for instance, the midsummer series of 
the Boston Y. C., which, with the open races of 
the Quincy and Hingham yacht clubs, give a 
week of racing in Hingham Bay, a yacht losing 
her mast in the first part of the week would 
surely be out of the next day’s race, and most 
likely the day following that. This, if the cham¬ 
pionship were figured upon all the races sailed, 
would take away all chance of the boat winning 
the championship, as it would not only mean 
a zero mark for the race in which the accident 
happened, but also for at least one or two of 
the races following. Thus a compromise be¬ 
tween the two extremes, the present one of two- 
thirds of the races sailed and the proposed 
amendment of all races sailed, might be ac¬ 
ceptable to all. For the last two years the 
Yacht Racing Association of Massachusetts 
championships season has consisted of seven¬ 
teen open events. Using this as a total of races 
sailed with an 80 per cent, basis, a yacht would 
have to take part in fourteen or more races for 
the season to obtain the full benefit of all 
starts, on an 85 per cent, basis fourteen races 
would still be required, and with a 90 per cent, 
basis the yachts would be figured as having 
started in fifteen races. This would give an 
owner a chance to miss two or three races and 
still have a chance to win the championship. 
It would also in all prabability carry the fight 
in each class right through to the end of the 
season. 
The schooner Queen has been sold by J. 
Rogers Maxwell to Commodore E. 'Walter 
Clark, of the Corinthian Y. C., of Philadelphia, 
who will race the yacht as much as possible 
next season. Commodore Clark will change the 
name of the yacht to Irolita. All his yachts 
have been named Irolita. He owned a sloop 
which sailed in the old 50-foot class first, and 
which is now the yawl Polaris. Then he had 
the schooner Irolita built by Herreshoff and 
which has raced with fair success, and now he 
will try to win honors with a vessel in the 86- 
foot class and meet the new Herreshoff boat 
building for Morton F. Plant, the Westward 
and Elmina. Queen was built by Herreshoff in 
1906, and Mr. Maxwell hoped to be the' first 
to win the King’s cup, but Effort, a Gielow- 
designed sloop, captured that trophy, beating 
Queen by just 9 seconds. Queen was success¬ 
ful the next year, and has been very successful 
in her racing. She was not in commission last 
summer. She is 126 feet over all, 92 feet on 
the waterline, 24 feet beam and 15 feet 1 inch 
draft. While yachtsmen generally will be glad 
that this fine yacht is to be raced again, they 
will be disappointed that Mr. Maxwell has 
disposed of the yacht. Perhaps this veteran 
yachtsman has plans for another racing craft 
which may appear in some other class. 
This year will long be remembered as one 
when many of the most famous racing yachts 
of these waters were broken up. Vigilant and 
Volunteer, two cup defenders; Gloriana and 
Wasp, two of the best of the 46-footers, and 
several others have gone to the junk heap or 
gone into trade, and the last to disappear is 
Jubilee, which was built for Gen. Charles E. 
Paine for cup honors in 1893. This yacht has 
been hauled out at the Burgess yard at Marble¬ 
head for several years, and while other vessels 
of her period were changed to schooners or 
yawls and were raced well, Gen. Paine would 
not make any alterations on Jubilee. Once he 
tried the yacht again after her first year. She 
was commissioned and raced against Vigilant 
and Defender in 1895, but did not do as well as 
in her first year. Now the lead has been sold, 
the fin keel taken off, and it is possible that the 
hull may be used for a house boat. Jubilee was 
a queer craft. Her hull proper was almost canoe 
in form. She had a fin through which a center- 
board worked, arid on the fin was a bulk of lead 
weighing about forty-eight tons. Under her 
bow she had another board which was dropped 
when turning to windward, the idea being that 
it would give her a better grip on the water 
and help her to point high. This, however, did 
not work well, and it was afterward removed. 
Her dimensions are 123 feet over all. 8447 
feet on the waterline, 22 5 feet beam and 13.75 
feet draft. She was sailed by the late Capt. 
John Barr, who came here first in the cutter 
Clara and afterward sailed the Scotch challenger 
Thistle. 
When Jubilee was built she had to meet 
Vigilant, built bv PTerreshoff for a syndicate 
headed by C. Oliver Iselin; Colonia, built by 
Herreshoff for a syndicate headed by Archibald 
Rogers, and Pilgrim, an out and out fin keel 
craft built for a syndicate from designs by 
Steward & Binney. Vigilant was the best of 
the four, although some of the races sailed were 
closely contested. Colonia did well under cer¬ 
tain conditions, but when on the wind Vigilant 
was able to beat her. Colonia was a keel vessel 
drawing about 15 feet, while Vigilant had a 
centerboard, and, with her board down, drew 
about 24 feet. Pilgrim was very fast under 
some conditions, but was not well balanced and 
did not always mind her helm. The trouble 
with Jubilee was mostly with her gear aloft, 
which was very light and would not stand the 
strain. Many yachtsmen think that had she 
been properly rigged she would have been the 
fastest vessel of the year. 
Pilgrim was converted into a steam yacht for 
L. G. Burnham. When he died she was 
changed to a hospital ship, and last summer a 
gasolene motor was installed. Vigilant, after 
successfully defending the cup against Valkyrie 
II., was raced in British waters by George J. 
Gould, and then was the trial boat for the De¬ 
fender in 1905. Later she was sold to Percy 
Chubb and raced, and then was purchased by 
William E. Iselin, who had her rigged as a yawl 
and used her until last spring, when she was 
sold to be broken up. Colonia was purchased 
by the late C. A. Postley and rigged as a 
schooner and is now owned by Cleveland H. 
Dodge. She has been one of the best racing 
schooners for several years, and has won many 
fine races. 
The Bangor Y. C. officers for next year are: 
Commodore, Fred A. Porter; Vice-Commo¬ 
dore, Edward R. Adams; Rear-Commodore, 
Charles L. Clark; Treasurer, Howard M. 
Pierce; Secretary, Neil V. McLean; Governors 
(for two years), James Lane and Howatt Brett. 
The newly formed Narragansett Bay Catboat 
Association met last week at the Edgewood Y. 
C. Three new members were admitted, and 
these were elected to the executive committee— 
J. T. Foster. W. E. Simmons and W. B. Streeter. 
The rules of the Inter-Bay Catboat Association 
were adopted without change. The boats are 
to be divided into two classes—E, under 22 feet, 
and L, over 22 feet. 
The committee of the Edgewood Y. C. an¬ 
nounces that more than $1,000 worth of prizes 
have already been offered for next season. The 
club will have nine racing days. Among those 
who have offered prizes are B. F. Markham, D. 
W. Flint, W. D. Wood, Henry Ford, John 
Stone and the Palmer Engine Co. 
Clyde Yacht Building. 
With racing being practiced wherever pos¬ 
sible all over the world now, it is, of course, a 
practical impossibility to follow the work of all 
the yachts, says the Yachtsman. How great 
the entire volume of it must be, however, may 
be gathered from the simple statement that in 
the past season seventy-seven of the boats de¬ 
signed by the two chief Clyde men—Mr. W. 
Fife and Mr. A. Mylne—sailed about 1,802 races 
and won 1,034 prizes. Of the boats thirty-eight 
were Fairlie-designed and they sailed 970 of the 
races and won 605 prizes, which leaves 832 
races and 429 prizes to the thirty-nine Glasgow- 
designed ones. The really wonderful—the 
nature of these figures only becomes completely 
apparent when those for half a century ago 
are set alongside of them. In 1855 only three 
Clyde boats—Cymba, Onda and Evadne— 
figured in the list of winners. Among them 
they sailed fourteen races and won six prizes. 
Eight years later the number was six—TLoIus, 
Brenda. Cinderella, Ripple, Rowena and Swal¬ 
low—and they had twelve prizes in twenty-three 
races. 
