'Yvonne,' designed by the famous son of Fife, was narrower and shorter than 'Decima,' and had 45 square feet more sail, which placed her in the van in light weather. But 'Decima' beat her five times in eight starts, and beat 'Doris' eleven times in fourteen starts.
The results for the season are given in the record table.
It was a red-letter year for the 10's on the Solent, nothing like it having occurred either before or since.
Energy in one class is often accompanied by stagnation in another, and the 5's were certainly slow enough during 1889 to satisfy the most exacting Puritan.
'Cock-a-Whoop,' 2½-rater. Designed by A. E. Payne, M.I.N.A., 1889.
The clubs did their duty, as fifteen races were given to the class on the Solent. 'Lollypop,' cut down to a 5, was the most successful boat. Next came 'Thief' (of which boat more anon); then 'Thalassa,' 'Fair Geraldine,' 'Cock-a-Whoop,' 'Blue Bell,' 'Gleam,' 'Ada,' 'Dorothy,' and 'Tar Baby' made up the motley crowd—the four last-named scoring a 'duck' for their figure of merit. 'Gleam,' however, caused a little excitement by capsizing in one race, pitching her owner, Mr. Clayton, with several of his friends, into the sweet waters of Southampton, from which they were fortunately rescued with much promptitude by the blue gig carried on board her Majesty's letter-bag boat, which was steaming past at the time of the accident. The class was nothing more nor less than a harbour of refuge for outclassed boats; and, as the yachts differed in their ratings, the race officers were ever busy calculating their time allowances, and growling inwardly at 'those confounded decimals.' 'Fair Geraldine' was the only boat built for the class, but, curiously enough, when she tried conclusions at the end of the season she found herself 'between the devil and the deep sea,' the 2½-rater 'Cock-a-Whoop,' with extra sail to qualify for the class, beating her in light weather on September 14, and the cruiser 'Lollypop' beating her in a breeze on the 21st.
The broad results of the racing can be seen in the table of records for 1889.