JAN. 13, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 









THE LONDON YACHTING CONFERENCE. 
THE United States will not be represented by 
delegates at the conference on rating rules to be 
held at the Langham Hotel, London, on Jan. I5. 
The conference was arranged by the British 
Yacht Racing Association, and will be the most 
important affair of its kind ever held. All Euro- 
pean countries making even the slightest pretense 
of yachting will be represented. That the United 
States is not to be represented is nothing short of 
a calamity. .For this situation the New York Y. 
C., to whom the invitation was directed, is in no 
way to blame. 
The New York Y. C. on receipt of the invita- 
_ tion, desiring to be perfectly fair to all the yacht- 
ing interests of the country, referred the matter to 
a convention of representative clubs, known as 
the Atlantic Coast Yachting Conference, a body 
made up of representatives of the various yacht- 
ing organizations along the seaboard. 
At a meeting of the Conference, held on Nov. 
20, the invitation was read from the British 
Y. R. A. asking that delegates be sent from this 
country to attend the conference in London, After 
some discussion the matter was referred to a sub- 
committee, who were given only limited powers, 
and after considering the advisability of sending 
delegates to report to the main body. Realizing 
the exigencies of the case the committees pro- 
ceeded on their own initiative and appointed two 
gentlemen to act as delegates to represent the 
American clubs. It was claimed by the main body 
that in this the sub-committee had exceeded their 
powers. 
When the matter came before the main com- 
mittee on Dec. 21, over a month later, it was 
finally decided that no delegates should be sent 
to England. The Conference, however, did agree 
ee at _ es = a2 —— 
t bie Noes aed 
‘on ina 
to draft a letter in which should be set forth the 
attitude of the American clubs regarding the so- 
called universal rule, which had been adopted by 
the majority of the clubs in America. 
All of this is most unsatisfactory. As a yacht- 
ing country the United States leads the world; it 
was imperative that our interests should have 
been protected by competent representatives at 
this most important London meeting, but aside 
from all this we should have sent delegates as a 
matter of courtesy if for nothing else. 
The British Association sent its invitation to all 
yachting countries months ago, and there was, 
therefore, abundance of time to arrange all de- 
tails. Immediate attention was given by the 
yachtsmen of France, Germany, Norway, Austria, 
Italy and Spain; and they are all to be repre- 
sented, 
If what the foreign clubs have to offer in the 
way of rating formula is better than the rule that 
is now in force here, why should we not adopt it? 
This, even conceding that an international rating 
rule is chimercial. We think our present rule a 
good one; yet it is not perfect, and the only way 
we can make progress is to keep abreast with the 
yachtsmen of other nations and discuss what they 
have to propose. 
There are a number of men who might have 
been selected to represent the United States at 
the British conference; men who are not only 
good yachtsmen but who are perfectly well quali- 
fied to pass upon the merits of any rating rule, 
and who could be relied upon not to make any 
blunders, but to care for the interest of their 
country and their sport in a masterly manner, It 
is most unfortunate that two such men are not 
to represent the yachting organizations of this 
country at London. 
DIPPING THE MAIN BOOM INTO A BIG SEA. 
American Coasters. 
BY: Fe fa (ENO: 
FEw people, even among those who dwell upon 
the coast, and who pass vessels at the dock every 
day of their lives, have any idea of the extent 
of our coastwise fleet or of the life aboard. I 
am speaking of sailing vessels and on this coast 
generally, that means schooners. Our foreign 
fleet has disappeared; the tramp has crowded 
the American ship from the sea; but on our 
own coast in the trade which no foreign vessel 
can enter, is a fleet of sailing vessels unsur- 
passed in speed, beauty and profit. The last 
ten years, yes, the last five years have wrought 
great changes in the coasting schooner. ‘The 
Kaplan of 1,024 tons was a big schooner when 
she was built—beside the five and six-masters 
launched last summer she would look like a 
fisherman. Mast after mast has been added; 
length has grown; beam, draft, and cost as 
well, until it is a far cry from the little three- 
master which carried most of the coastwise 
freight in 1880 to the immense coaster of to- 
day. The little three-master of ’80 might have 
measured 400 tons, and could have carried pos- 
sibly 700 tons of coal; the four-master of ’90 
would have measured 1,000 tons, and have 
carried 1.700 tons of coal; the five-master of 
1900 would measure 2,400 tons, and carry 3,800 
or 4,000 tons of coal; the six-master of 1902 
measures 2,900 tons, and can carry 5,000 or more 
tons of coal; the seven-master measures about 
4,500 tons, and can carry almost 8,000 tons of 
coal; the eight-master—but we haven’t reached 
eight masts yet; they may come. The little three- 
master was about 175{t. on top; the seven is 
4o1f{t. on top; that is, from knight-heads to taff- 
rail, not including spars, and takes up a lot of 
room. 
The little three-master cost possibly $10,000; 
the seven $250,000, and yet, to most people, a 
coal schooner is a coal schooner. Our yachts 
and our navy lead the world, and our coast- 
wise fleet is in the same class. No other country 
has anything like it. Growing with our increasing 
commerce it has almost reached the limit of 

WITH LEE RAIL AWASH. 
Snap shots taken on board Endymion during the transatlantic race of 1905 for the Ocean Cup presented by H. I. M. the German Emperor. 
