Oct. 5, 1907.] 

FOREST AND STREAM. 









The Cup Challenge. 
Wuitet the New York Y. C. and the Royal 
Irish Y. C. are corresponding in an endeavor to 
arrange a fourth match for a Lipton cup chal- 
lenger, the yachtsmen throughout the country are 
| discussing the two sides of the case. One side 
/contends the New York ¥. C. is justified in de- 
| manding that the race be between boats goft. on 
the waterline, otherwise unrestricted, and to be 
the fastest sailing craft it is possible to build. 
| Others contend that if the New York Y. C. 
found it necessary for their own good, to adopt 
ja rule that would produce better and safer boats, 
such limitations should be put upon the cup 
‘racers, because the challenger is expected to 
cross the Atlantic ocean under sail, and should 
for that reason be a staunchly put together craft. 
We, on this side of the ocean, have an advan- 
tage because we do not have to build our boat 
so heavy, and in Herreshoff have a man with a 
large experience in the construction and design 
of those immense goft. kites. 
They are nothing more than immense racing 
machines, too expensive to keep in commission 
| when their mission of defending the cup is over, 
unless they are rebuilt and re-rigged. 
The New York Y. C. wants 9o-footers, while 
Lipton wants smaller boats—68-footers. 
As far as the defense of the cup is concerned 
the 9o-footer is a safer size for the Americans, 
|but as for a fair test of racing it would seem 
the defender should be willing to meet on any 
| fairly large size of yacht. 
Sonderklasse News. 
Vice-ComMMoporE F. Lewis Ciark, of the East- 
ern Y. C., of Boston, who returned from abroad 
|}on the steamer Kaiserin Auguste Victoria, bring- 
ing with him six silver cups, won by the Ameri- 
can boats in the sonderklasse races at Kiel and 
'the races at Bilbao and San Sebastian, in Spain, 
says that a strong stimulus has been given to 
yacht racing by the crowned heads of Europe. 
Commodore Clark expressed his deep apprecia- 
tion of the kindly treatment tendered our yachts- 
/men who sailed the American boats, Spokane, 
|Chewink and Marblehead. Spokane, belonging 
|to Commodore Clark, was the most successful 
jof the American boats. 
“In the sonderklasse races sailed at Kiel,” said 
Commodore Clark, “Spokane won two second 
prizes. Our boats were built for light weather, 
and in the Kiel contests we had to sail in the 
heaviest kind of winds. At Kiel the breezes are 
strong; in fact, much stronger than we have in 
April on this side, and while the races were being 
sailed schooners and yawls were with double 
reefs. Spokane was the only heavy weather boat 
we had, and when we go over again we should 
enter a trio of heavy weather boats. The Kaiser 
was very cordial to us, and at a military dinner 
he met all the captains and crews of the three 
American boats.” 
In the international race at Bilbao for prizes 
given by the King and Queen of Spain Spokane 
won the second prize offered by Her Majesty. 
}Chewink won a special race at Bilbao. Com- 
}modore Clark said that the Spanish-American 
races at San Sebastian were sailed in the faintest 
jof breezes and that the Spanish boat Doriga 
|proved to be a marvel for speed in the mild airs. 
{Spokane won one of the San Sebastian races. 


i 
| THERE is some talk going the rounds about 
Manhasset, that won the King’s cup at James- 
town, being over the class measurement. If this 
is so it makes the second instance of this kind 
to happen this year. 
It is most unfortunate for the sport and is 
‘he sort of thing that should be carefully guarded 
ugainst by making all yachts measure in the class 
sefore allowing them to sail. 
| 

Bensonhurst Y. C. Race. 
On Saturday, Sept. 28, the last race of the sea- 
son in Gravesend Bay was sailed under decidedly 
uncomfortable conditions of wind and weather. 
The day was decidedly chilly, and a light wind 
was accompanied by a downpour of rain. The 
boats sailed under sealed handicaps, no one 
knowing how much time they had to allow the 
others until the race was over and the envelopes 
opened. Strangely enough the handicap in no 
way changed the yachts’ positions, except that 
it gave Vingt Trois third instead of fourth 
place. 
Manhasset was the winner in the QO class with 
Nereid defeating Bensonhurst in the QO special, 
and Nancy adding to her already long list of 
victories in the dory class. 
The course chosen by the regatta commitiee 
was the four mile triangle in Gravesend Bay, 
with points off Bensonhurst, Fort Hamilton and 
The dories 
Sea Gate. sailed once around the 

THE MANHASSET, WINNER OF THE KING'S CUP AT 
JAMESTOWN. 
triangle. and the other yachts twice, excepting 
the 22-footers, which went three times around 
the course. 
The start was made midway on the Sea Gate- 
Rensonhurst les, the wind heing south and light. 
It gave the boats a reach from the starting line 
to Bensonhurst, a spinnaker run to Fort Hamil- 
ton and a beat to Sea Gate. Interest centered 
principally in the 22ft. division, which Manhasset 
led at every mark. The summary: 
Sloops, Class Q—Start. 3:19—Conrse, 12 Miles. 

A Finish. Elapsed. Corrected. 
Manhasset. C. H. Robbins.. 5 04 55 1 54 55 1 54 55 
Toy, Wile Childs. 6. vases 5 10 12 2 00 12 1 58 12 
Sisy AML IN GSE SES Gore ae 51060 20050 15905 
Vingt-trois, R. Brown... 5 12 18 2 02 18 1 58 18 
Slonps. © Special Class—Start. 3:15—Course 8 Mites. 
Ondas, J. H. Menton ...... 45442 19942 1299 49 
Stoons, Class S—Start, 3:25—Course. 8 Miles, 
Nereid. H J. Roberts ..... 4 58 52 1 23 A ass 
Bensonhurst, R. A. Moore.. 4 59 40 1 34 40 1 34 40 
Dories. Class X—Start, 3:35—Course. 4 Miles 
Nancy. W. L: Sweet, Jr..... 4 28 23 0 53 23 0 73 93 
Ace, Dr. Atkinson 4 99 21 0 54 21 0 54 06 
Bobs, R. FE. Speir 4 3N 36 0 55 36 0 55 11 
Masque. L, J. Tiemann .... 4 33 45 0 58 45 0 58 35 
Joker, Eagle and Weeks.... 4 34 37 0 59 37 0 59 17 

Lipton Cup in Gravesend Bay. 
Stir Tuomas Lipton gave the cup to the 
Gravesend Bay yachtsmen to race for, but it has 
turned out to’ be a pretty hot cup of tea. The 
whole sum and substance of the matter is just 
this. They were all fine little boats that were 
engaged in this racing, but of course there is 
always one best one. In this case “Dick” Moore, 
sailing Bensonhurst, won the cup, though the 
general opinion is, after watching them race all 
summer, that the M and F is the faster all 
around boat. Some may ask why then did not 
she win? The answer is that Dick Moore is a 
hard man to beat in Gravesend waters where he 
has raced all his life, and besides that Dick has 
a faculty for getting all there is out of a boat 
with but a short acquaintance, while other men 
may sail as well after they get used to their boat. 
But the many victories to Bensonhurst’s credit 
when the races started put her so far ahead that 
when the others did win a race or two they were 
so hopelessly behind they could not possibly win 
Now, after all that season’s excellent racings, 
there are unpleasant rumors afloat that another 
boat legally is entitled to the cup, because none 
of the others complied with the rules. Their 
hulls were all right, spars all right, sails all 
right; but because they lacked from seven- 
eighth of an inch in some boats to two inches in 
others of head room under their cabins a claim is 
now made against all these other boats. 
Why at the last hour is this unpleasant affair 
brought up? If they have been allowed to race 
all season they should not now be disqualified. 
The time to find out such things and do the dis- 
qualifying is before, not after, a season’s race 
It is to be hoped the committee put aside all 
the sea lawyers and decide as sailors. 

Curious Accidents. 
THERE are times in yachting when peculiar ac- 
cidents happen that no mortal man can fairly sit 
in iudgment of. 
Such a time is well illustrated by a short ac- 
count in the “Yachtsman” as follows: 
“One of the daily papers reports that, at the 
start of the 23-metre class in the Royal Torbay 
regatta, Nyria, after some clever jockeying, 
caught her topmast ‘in the mainboom end of 
White Heather. No damage resulted, but it was 
a foul.’ Of course it was, but the committee 
might well be pardoned for overlooking it under 
the circumstances. Nyria was wrong to ‘haul 
down her racing colors and retire almost imme- 
diately.’ Such a foul seems to us to be more in 
the nature of the Admiralty plea, ‘the Act of 
God,’ than a mere infringement of the Y. R. A. 
rules!” 
While this is certainly remarkable, and may to 
some seem impossible, older yachtsmen even in 
this country can recall similar jncidents. It is 
a violation of racing rules to luff up into a boat 
passing to windward of you, but what can a man 
do if he has a hard steering boat and another 
takes all his wind in a crowded start so he can’t 
bear away in anticipation of the luff always 
caused by the windward boat as she passes ahead 
exposing only the after canvas of the blanketed 
boat to the wind. The foul, if the leeward boat 
does hook into the boom end of her rival. is 
really caused by the windward boat, vet under 
the rules the leeward yacht suffers. It is only 
in a crowded start such a condition would occur: 
at other times the leeward boat bears off ex- 
pecting the luff. 
We have seen two boats hook together one’s 
bowsprit into the other’s boom end, go about in 
circles. jibing and luffine as one steers the other 
around in a circle until released. 
We have\also seen incidents where the little 
one-raters and half-raters have been hit by a 
squall and the mast head of one lay right over 
on the weather rail of another boat. 



