YACHTING NOTES.

Evening Star, Issue 9807, 21 September 1895, Page 2 (Supplement)

YACHTING NOTES.

[Bi- Viftisti.j

Since my last notes yachting matters have become particularly lively. What with the fine weather that we MVe had of late; and the fact that this majority of our first-class yachts have all Undergone alterations of sbmfi sort; also the fact of an order haying been sent to Auckland for a 2^-rater, things have undoubtedly been stirring. Messrs Fancourt and Harty may be proud of the fact that they were the first to launch for the season. Their little craft, the Fleetwing, has been put into the water as spick and span as hands colild make her, and, with the addition of. more lead to her keel, she should give a good account of herself. The Leader of to-day aud the Leadet_ of last season are two very different crafts. The spoon bow which shC has been fitted with and the long overhanging stern her the look of the modern type of craft. Her keel also has been altered; instead df the long keel she has now the fin keel, with a little over two and a-half tons of lead in it. The work was done by Mr Davis, jun., in his Stuart street shed. The yacht was launched on Saturday morning, and a trial was made of her in the afternoon, and also on the following day, when it must have been gratifying to her owners to find that an improvement was noticeable; but to what extent it would be difficult to say until she is better fitted with sails, as her present sails do not suit her. The most noticeable feature of her sailing was her quickness in stays. That, of course, one would expect from a fin keel, but she gets through the water when on a wind much faster than she did previous to the alterations. But more of her anon.

Messrs Bannister and Bloxam disposed of their little Ruru in order that they might go in for something larger. As to what it was to be very few knew until the other week, when it leaked out that there was a yacht being built by Bailey, of Auckland, for Dunedin. Then it was discovered that it was for the above-named gentlemen and Mr Moody. This discovery gave rise to a good deal of consternation among some, who do not like the idea of going from home for such an order, and a movement is on foot to get up a syndicate of £lO a share in order to build a yacht to compete against the Auckland craft. As to whether this move will come to anything I could not say. From the Auckland ‘ Herald ’ I take the following : “ A handsome little yacht has been built by Messrs C. and W. Bailey to the order of a Dunedin gentleman. The yacht was specially designed for sailing in Dunedin harbor, and is a very pretty design, indeed, having a long Overhanging bow and counter, which, with a nice sheer, all add to the appearance of the little craft. Her dimensions are: Length overall, 36ft; load water line, 24ft; draught, 4fb 4in; rating, 2,\. She is diagonally built of two skins, her outside planking and decking being in one length, nob a single butt being found in her. She is fitted with a bulb keel of lead, Which is a beautiful casting, it being without the slightest flaw. The deck fittings are of teak, with brass cleats, chain plates, and rigging screws, the spars being of the best Oregon pine. The sails are by the well-known local maker, C. Reynolds, and are a fine piece of work, sitting splendidly. The little craft has been named the Thelma, and when out for a trial spin appeared to go very well. She was taken out for a long stretch again, with the owner and several friends on board, and acquitted herself even better than on her first trial, and her owner expresses himself as being more than satisfied with her. The Thelma is, without doubt, one of the prettiest boats that has been turned out from the local yards, and has come in for a large share of attention from local yachtsmen, and is generally admired. No doubt when she arrives at Dunedin she will give yachtsmen there a good idea of the class of work which Auckland builders can turn out.”

The Thelma has been shipped on board the Tarawera, and as the steamer will arrive here to-morrow yachtsmen will have a good opportunity of inspecting the new craft before she is put into the water. Oue of her builders accompanies her down. The commodore of the fleet (Mr S. S. Myers) has put his yacht Anouyma into the hands of M'Lellan, who is fitting her with a bow that should prove most advantageous to her. I was always of the opinion that that was where she was most defective. The bow will give her sft more overhang than she previously had, while it will tend to draw out her lines much easier, besides Giving her a much handsomer appearance, he alteration, I feel confident, will have a marked effect upon her, but I should most certainly like to see the addition of as much more lead on her keel as it would be possible to get on. However, it is quite on the boards that the old Anon will prove an eyeopener to a good number, especially in leading winds, as she did at the last Dunedin regatta. The Ravensbourne open boat Carbine is for sale. Hero’s a good chance for someone. Lord Dunraven’s effort to regain possession of the much-coveted America Cup has terminated in a sort of fiasco, he having decided to givo up the contest on the ground that it is useless to race for the reason that the Committee decline to declare aheat void when steamers obstruct the course. A large share of American opinion blames the Committee for declining Lord Dunraven’s proposal to sail the races at Marblehead, and considers that the interests of international yachting are sacrificed to excursionists. His action in the matter has been pretty generally upheld by those who take a keen interest in this great event. As the news that has reached us is rather meagre, I prefer to leave the matter over until the report of the whole affair reaches here. But while on this topic it may not be out of place to give a short account of the history of this race. The fame of the America grows with each contest for the race won by her at Cowes in 1851, and she has long been the most celebrated yacht ever built. Despite this fact, there have been many yachts launched which have been more successful, but the fame of the old America has overshadowed them all, and no other racing vessel can ever be expected to rival the staunch Yankee schooner in the eyes of the yachting historian, who is apt, indeed, to prose a little in the smoking room.

The fame of the America is derived solely from the fact that on August 22,1851, she won the cup, then valued at 100 guineas, in a race round the Isle of Wight, sailed under the auspices of the Royal Yacht Squadron. That cup has since been known in America as the “America’s” Cup and in England as the “America” cup. The owners of the America transferred the cup to the New York Yacht Club as an international challenge cup, but with the repeated attempts to recover it, and the heartburnings caused thereby, it is not my intention to deal, although these, and these only, have made the cup the one great international prize, and the name of the America a name to conjure by. It must not be supposed that the above remarks are intended to detract from the esteem in which the old ship’s exploits are rightly upheld, for she revolutionised to a great extent our system of designing, and imitation is well known to be the, sincerest form of flattery. But writers in America have been too much led away by their natural desire to please readers into uuduly aggrandising the achievements of the old ship, whilst in England historians have been somewhat apt to And excuses where such were possible, and for that matter, indeed, impossible. The story of the America has often been told, and therefore it will only be necessary for me to recapitulate the chief points of it as briefly as possible. She was designed by George Steers, a shipbuilder in Williamsburgh, Long Island, and is believed to have been built in 1849-50, by W. H. Brown, under the stipulation that she should beat everything in American and British waters. Her builder, in that event, was to receive £6,000. She failed, however, to beat Commodore Stevens’s big sloop Maria, and thereupon she was .bought in at £4,000, the price agreed upon with her builder in the event of her not “ whipping creation.” In 1851 she sailed for Havre, fen route for British waters, and Mr Steers, her designer, took passage in her in order to clip her forefoot. Her owners were: J. 0. Stevens, E. A. Stevens, Hamilton Wilkyes, J. Beechain Farley, and George L. Schuyler. Her first match in British waters was lor

tfie celebrated Cupj dud thfeife were fifteen starters?— ... ; , ■ Name. Rig. fils. dwnel 1 . Beatriie schdoJjof idl; Sit P, tfc .tjarew Volenti cuttbr. 48 Mr J. t,.Craiglfe , Arrpiv 84 Mr T. Cnamberliyue. Wyyetn schooner •203‘ Duke of Marlborough lone' - „ 75 Mr A. Hill , , Constance ; „ 218 Marq’s of Conyngham Gipsy Queen •. , , ' 1(50 Sir H. B; Hoghton Alprm cutter 103 Mr G. Weld Mona „ 82 Lord A; Paget , America schooner 170 Mr J. C. Stevens Brilliant 3 mast sell 302 Mr 6! H. Ackers Bacchante : cutter 80 Mr B. H. Jobes Freak ; „ 60 Mr W. Curling Eclipse .„•■■' 60 Mr H. S. Fearon Aurora „ 47 Mr T; Le Merchant The start was made at 10 and the match finished with America first, at 8.35 p.rii. Thus it will.be seep that there was not much or a sailing Hreezle. . As a matter of fact the wind was very light at times, breeding tip now and then. In the light breeze America did iiot do well, but soon started off in the stronger puffs. The instructions said nothing about the Nab, and all the British yachts went outside it, whilst America hauled her wind and went inside. Thus she secured a considerable lead, but in ths light winds the cutters got up to her again. Working along the shore the Arrow got 'aground, and the Alarm and some of the schooners went to her assistance. Volante and Freak were close up to the Yankee off St. Lawrence, but fouled in cross-tacking, and Volante lost her bowsprit. The breeze strengthening, America overhauled Wildfire off Freshwater, and spun out a. good lead. After passing through _ the Needles the wind feu light again, and it was not until 8.35 that she' crossed the winning line. The little Aurora came next at 8.35, and had thete been the usUal time allowance she would have lost by - only two minutes ; and, to push hypothesis further, had the Nab incident not taken place she would have won on time. It will be seen that the great race, after all, was a very poor affair from a racing point of view; bat the America subsequently proved herself to be a speedy craft. Still, the first America Cup race was .in no way satisfactory as a test of speed; had it been so the Aurora could not have made the bold show that she did. The America was next matched with the schooner Titania, 100 tons, and in a race twenty miles to leeward and return gave that vessel a beating of fifty-two minutes. Next year she met Arrow (which had been lengthened) and Mosquito. The race was routid the Isle of Wight for the Queen’s Cup, Royal Victoria Yacht Club. The finish was very close, but the wind was light. Result : Arrow, 6h sf)min 30sec; Alarm, 6h 59min 31sec; America, 7h Imin 20sec.

Her next match was against the Swedish schooner Sverige on October 12, 1852, for £IOO. Course, twenty miles to leeward aud back. The Swede ran America eight and a halLminutes, but At the lee mark broke the jaws of her riiain gaff, and was beaten by tweiily-six minutes. It will be seen, therefore, that America’s claim to reupwn mainly rests, as I have said, on the acquired grandeur of the America Cup. Hundreds of vessels of far greater distinction in the matter of prizewinning have long since silently passed into the hands of the breakcr-up or rotted away in oblivion on the mud. None, however, have done, or can ever do, such service for the sport of yacht racing, and therefore none deserve or can achieve such fame. However, the most important result of this victory of the America was a revolution in the modelling and rig of English yachts. Commodore Stevens’s boat in many ways violated English traditions; and her first appearance caused a sensation. Though at first she was laughed at, yet Englishmen quickly took advantage of the lessons taught them by the America. The schooner rig was at onco modified in important details. 1 shall have more to say on this subject in my next.