The events of the cruise have shown us that there is quite as much genuine sport in schooner racing as there is in big sloop contests, for two new schooners, the Alert and Sea Fox—the first a heavy keel cruising boat, the second a light centreboard craft, built for racing purposes—have, by their recent performances, shown themselves to be very dangerous antagonists to their class rivals. The Marguerite, Elma, Enone, Tampa, and other new schooners of this year, have not been entered with the crack yachts of their class, so no fair estimate can be formed of their stability or speed, but among the new sloops and cutters the results have been very satisfactory. The Puritan and Mayflower have fought it out nobly to windward and leeward, the Genesta’s rival proving more than a match for the Mayflower under some conditions. In the smaller classes, the old sloop Bertie easily disposed of her class-mates, and, the Pappoose, that famous little cutter from Boston, outsailed everything in her class in all conditions of weather.
The season thus far has given the sloop men and the cutter men plenty of food for thought, and the results bring them back to the question, “Will the English challenge for the cup next year; and if so, with what yacht?”
It is safe to say that an International contest for the Cup in 1889 is a certainty, and that a compromise cutter of Watson design, and one that will sail in our 60-foot class, will be the challenger. Mr. Ralli’s Yarana, for instance, the handsome cutter that ever since her début last spring has been winning races from the Patronilla and the famous Irex, might, if she were sent over, prove a good match for our Shamrock, Titania, or Katrina. Of course we believe that when Burgess or Carey Smith or Ellsworth are called upon to design a sloop to beat the world, each of them will produce something very fast, but it is nevertheless a fact that Watson’s latest production has all the beauty of the Thistle, with none of her faults, and plenty of speed both to windward and before it. So if the public have been disappointed because they saw no international race this season, they may be sure of one next that will amply repay them for waiting.
With commendable enterprise, the New York Yacht Club has decided to have a fall race every season. The first one will be sailed late in this month, when strong breezes and fine racing may be looked for; at any rate, it will bring together most of the new and old fliers, and probably give us better results than the spring regattas have.
J. C. SUMMERS.
* *
*
CANOEING.
THE NINTH ANNUAL A. C. A. MEET AT LAKE GEORGE.
CANOE building is becoming quite as much a science as yacht building. The boat that won nearly all the sailing races and made the highest record ever attained at an A. C. A. meet was built by the same man who turned out Dr. Rice’s paddling canoe, which won the paddling championship—Ruggles, of Rochester. M. V. Brokaw, of Brooklyn, who sailed the Eclipse, did excellent work, but no better than Paul Butler, who sailed canoe Fly beautifully. Never before has so fine a lot of canoes been at the meet and sailed in the races. A large proportion of the canoes that entered the races were well built, perfectly finished, smooth, clear and clean, and very lightly, yet strongly, rigged. The influence of Mr. Barney’s success in canoe Pecowsic in 1886 and 1887 was very clearly seen in the rigs at the meet this year. It will be remembered that the Pecowsic had five sails, all of different sizes, laced to the masts, incapable of being reefed, only two of which were used at one time, or in one race. The power of the wind at the start governed the selection of the two most fitting for the particular day. Once started in the race, no changes could be made. Many canoes this year carried the standing rig, notably Eclipse. The standing rig is a bad thing, more especially if the sail cannot be folded up easily and stowed, as was the case with many. Butler and the Lowell men had by far the best sails in camp—reefing sails, well cut, neatly bent, all of one piece of cloth, with no bites in them, so the muslin spread a perfectly smooth surface to the wind when flattened down by the sheets for work, on trim and scientifically shaped spars.
One lesson Mr. Barney taught the canoeist which has come home very forcibly to the many, and will not soon be forgotten—the very great advantage of lightness in masts, spars and rigs generally, as well as in the canoes themselves, especially lightness aloft. A very general movement in this direction has set in, and many very clever devices were noticeable at the meet to gain this point without loss of strength.