FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Nov. 16, 1907, 
























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Capsicum’s Position in. the King’s 
Cup Race. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
In an article printed in the New York Sun on 
Nov. 4, headed “Kine’s Cup for: Mr. Hoyt,” and 
in several other notices which have appeared in 
different papers since the races for that trophy, 
my position in asking for a remeasurement of 
Manhasset seems to have been misunderstood, 
and the inference seems to have been generally 
drawn that my conduct was not altogether sports- 
manlike, and Capsicum has been given little 
credit for the excellent showing made at James- 
town. 
In the above mentioned article it is stated that 
she won “chiefly through a technicality, as it is 
generally conceded” that several of the other 
boats are faster. The picture of Capsicum being 
left to herself to calmly score points must have 
been drawn by somebody who saw the races from 
such distance as New York. That Capsicum was 
little bothered in the first two races is quite 
true, aS an examination of the record will show 
that she was in the lead and in no position to 
be bothered by far the greater portion of the 
time, but I am quite willing to let the question 
of her speed rest on the records. 
In justice to my crew, and to myself, how- 
ever, I feel that it is time, in view of the many 
stories in circulation, to make the whole matter 
public. 
In the first place thé King’s cup is, within my 
knowledge, the most valuable prize that has ever 
been offered in this country, to be won outright 
in a single series, for as small boats as those 
of Class Q. There were ten new boats built in 
this class this year, most with. the avowed pur- 
pose of winning this trophy. In addition to 
these ten there were some six older boats which 
participated in the active racing of the summer 
and the six who journeyed to Jamestown were, 
supposedly, the pick of this fleet of sixteen, and 
only the ones who thought they had some chance 
of winning. We had to travel many hundreds 
of miles, several chartered tenders, and all were 
put to much heavier expense in preparing for 
these races than is ordinarily encountered in rac- 



LINES OF SLOOP PUP, BY C. D. MOWER. 
ing boats of this size, and while in the vicinity 
of Jamestown had to submit to exorbitant ex- 
position charges for any work in connection with 
our boats. On the other hand, we were to com- 
pete for a trophy, very valuable intrinsically and 
doubly so on account of the position and repu- 
tation of the illustrious donor as one of the 
leading yachtsmen of the world. 
The natural supposition would have been that 
the contestants would be subjected to the closest 
scrutiny to see that they complied with all the 
requirements of the class, especially in view of 
the fact that considerable doubt had been cast 
upon the eligibility of some of the entries. The 
boats had been measured in general by different 
club measurers, and owing to the extremely 
loose and ambiguous wording of our present 
measurement rule, and the almost insurmount- 
able difficulties to accurate measurement which 
it presents, should unquestionably have been re- 
measured by one measurer, who would have 
pursued the same method for all. 
Unfortunately, the Jamestown regatta commit- 
tee experienced such difficulty in procuring en- 
tries which might be expected to really mater- 
ialize at the starting line, and had to work under 
such trying circumstances throughout, that they 
were unwilling to impose any conditions which 
they could possibly avoid. They had been un- 
able to get their measurer there on the ground, 
and were evidently too much worried about the 
actual conduct of the.races to look into the eligi- 
bility of the few contestants who appeared. 
On my arrival at Jamestown I was approached 
by the owner of one of the Q boats, who had 
very good reason to believe that one of our com- 
petitors could not measure into the class if prop- 
erly measured. He was extremely anxious that 
we should lay the matter before the regatta com- 
mittee and ask for a remeasurement of all Q 
boats, especially after I told him that I rather 
doubted if Manhasset and one of the other boats 
were within the class limit. We approached the 
committee and were told that they would not 
consider the matter unless we made formal pro- 
tests against the boats we suspected. 
We, however, were averse to singling out any 
boat in particular, and in order to have all meas- 
ured would have had to have protested each other 
and the other four. Under the rules we should 
have had to stand the bill for all who measured 
in, and might well have run up a bill of $200 or 
more apiece, as well as incurring the ill will of 
the other owners owing to the delay in start- 
ing the series which a general measurement would 
have entailed, and I refused to entertain such a 
proposition, stating, however, in the presence of 
the owners of two other Q boats that if at the 

end of the series a protest of the measureme 
of any of the doubtful boats could make a 
difference to Capsicum’s standing, that I shou 
make a request for remeasurement, as I h 
every right to do under the rules. If the co: 
mittee had had all remeasured, any slight exc« 
could have been overcome by alteration befc| 
the races. 
After the second race in the series, when Ma, 
hasset and Capsicum were tied for first place,| 
informed one of the former’s crew that I shot 
ask for remeasurement in case she won, and 
expressed no surprise or disapproval. The thi] 
race was sailed in Manhasset’s weather and s 
finished second to Capsicum’s fourth, thus wi 
ning by two points. Immediately after this ra 
in a perfectly friendly talk with Mr. Corey (w 
sailed Manhasset) I explained my position t 
fore even notifying the committee that I intend 
to protest. Mr. Corey assured me of his w 
lingness to submit to the remeasurement, 
measurement rather, as his boat so far as 
could learn had never been actually measure 
since her designer was also measurer of the cl 
under whose colors she sailed, and he evident 
assumed that she had been built according 
his plans. I informed Mr. Corey that I had be 
sailing about thirty races a season for twel 
years, and had never made but three protests | 
that time, and that I disliked extremely to do | 
in this case, but that I felt that this was a mc! 
important event, and that owing to its pron 
nence some of the absurdities of our clad | 
ment rule ought to be made pretty plain, ai} 
that if Manhasset did measure out, it should cel 
tainly put a stop to the measurement of yach| 
by their own designers, something against whi 
I had been fighting for some time. Mr. Cor 
also assured me of his certainty that Mr. Ro} 
bins would no more want the cup if Manhass# 
were not legitimately in the class, than he wou 
think of claiming a horse race if one of ff 
horses had been found to have run under weigl 
Of course he felt sure that she was in the clas} 
having received as he said the designers’ mo 
positive assurance that “she was in and well inj 
On having reached this friendly understandir 
with Mr. Corey I handed to the regatta commi 
tee the following letter: 
“NorFoLk, Va., Sept. 16.—Chairman Regat# 
Committee, Jamestown Exposition Yacht Race 
Dear Sir—I desire to protest against the awar 
ing of the King’s cup to Manhasset until tli 
said boat has been measured by an imparti 
measurer. This measurement to be made wit! 
out regard to designer’s certificate and drawin; 
as. stipulated in Rule XIX., Section 2, of yo: 
Yacht Racing Rules. 

