Harper's Round Table, September 3, 1895

by Various

The best playing Ware did during the entire period of the tournament at Newport was in his match with Foote of Yale, whom he met in the third round. Foote won—4-6, 6-4, 6-0, 8-10, 8-6—but it was a hard-earned victory, and gave the spectators some of the best tennis to watch that the tournament afforded. Ware will undoubtedly rank as one of the leading players of the country next year, and I count on him to hold the national championship before he gets out of college. His strongest quality seems to be steadiness, and in addition to this he possesses determination and sand.

THE NEWPORT TENNIS COURTS.

Ware won his first set against Foote by good lobbing and clever side-line strokes. His back-hand strokes along the side-lines were especially fine. In the first game of the second set deuce was called three times before Foote got the score, and several times afterwards there were equally exciting moments. The third set was a love one for the Yale man. He defeated Ware by playing a lobbing game whenever he could. The latter was especially weak in placing his smashes, most of them being returned within Foote's easy reach. This is, no doubt, Ware's weak point, for it was mainly by this that he lost the set.

The fourth set was the most sensational of the five, and it was here that the scholastic player showed the pluck that was in him. In the first game he placed prettily, winning at fifteen, and he scored again in the second by the same tactics, and in the third by wonderful side-line work. Exciting rallies were the features of the next two games, in the latter Ware bringing the score from love forty up to deuce; but after deuce was called four times Foote scored, mainly through his persistent lobbing. Perhaps the best tennis of all was shown in the tenth game, when applause by the spectators was almost continuous. Ware won it, although Foote had him 40-15, and was within one point of the match. Losing that point gave him another set to play. Eighteen games were required to decide this set, which was the longest and, beyond a doubt, one of the most exciting of the tournament.

The fifth set consumed one solid hour of play, and went to Foote—8-6. As in the former sets, Ware gave a great exhibition of pluck, and with the score 2-4 against him, tied the figures. It was then nip and tuck until each man had secured five games. At a critical point, however, and one which probably would have altered the result considerably, Ware was unfortunate in getting an obviously poor decision from one of the linesmen. The whole set was largely a question of endurance rather than of proficiency, and in this the older and stronger player naturally excelled.

This Department has been questioned a number of times as to how the racing length of a yacht is determined. As the International Cup races are interesting every sportsman just now, and as the Round Table this week gives on another page an article descriptive of cat-boat-racing, this seems a particularly apt time to devote a few paragraphs to this very complicated feature of yachting. We all know, of course, that upon the difference between the racing lengths of two yachts depends the time allowance which one boat must allow the other in a contest of speed. This length is obtained by adding the square root of the sail area to the length of the load water-line, and dividing the result by two. The quotient is the racing length.

The load water-line, which is the distance between the points of the bow and stern, exclusive of the rudder-post, is ascertained as follows: Strip the yacht of everything except what she will carry in the race, and assemble amidships the crew which is to man her. Then drop a plumb-line from her bow to the water, and measure accurately the distance between the point where the line strikes the water and the intersection of the forefoot with the water. Repeat the same operation at the stern. Then mark off these distances on the deck, the first being measured back from the bow, and the second forward from the stern. The distance between these two points is the length of the load water-line of the yacht. It is measured on the deck, because the rounding of the hull, of course, makes it impossible to get a straight line from bow to stern on the water.

To get the correct sail area requires more labor. It is determined by the dimensions of the spars and those of the jib-topsail stay. If it were not for the length of the gaff a triangle would be formed by the base-line, the stay and the leach of the topsail and mainsail. Then the area could be easily calculated. But the projection of the gaff spoils the triangle, and so the first thing to do is to measure the distance from the end of the boom to the forward side of the mast. From that point measure to a point on the bowsprit half-way between the jib-stay and the jib-topsail stay. These, added together, give the actual base-line. Then take the height of the mast and the height of the topmast. The length of the gaff is next ascertained, and from this is subtracted eight-tenths of the height of the topmast. The difference between these is added to the actual base-line, the result giving the corrected base-line.

Experience shows that this addition offsets very accurately the number of square feet of sail lying between a straight line drawn from the end of the boom to the sheave of the topsail halyards, and—considering that line as a base—the two legs of the triangle extending from the end of the boom to the peak of the gaff, and from the peak of the gaff to the topmast. Then the length of the corrected base-line is multiplied by the height of the mast, taken from the deck to the sheave on the topmast, and the result is divided by two. After obtaining these measurements, proceed as stated above—that is, add the square root of the sail area to the length of the load water-line, and divide by two. Then you have the yacht's racing length. There is no doubt that it is a complicated problem.