THE AMERICA CUP.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 13355, 8 December 1906, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE AMERICA CUP.

SIR THOMAS UPTON'S CHALLENGE. Sir Thomas Linos, who visited New York last October, when interviewed in regard to the design of boat he was likely to challenge with said: —" I have had serious talks recently with both Fife and Mylne, but both men had absolutely refused Jto consider the designing of a boat under the old rule, for the reason, among others, that every year it was 'getting more risky to cross the Atlantic with a lightly constructed boat with tremendous long overhangs.

/ ''It is. not that we .cannot, build a fast boat," said Sir Thomas, ••but it is the danger to men's lives in coming across the ocean. Of course, the. present rule is very different from the international rule:;. The universal rule in use here turns out a very wholesome type of boat." . When asked if he was willing to race under that rule, he replied : ...

"I was never more ambitious to race than I am now, and I am quite willing to challenge to-morrow, if the boat will give me some hope that she will win.''

Sir Thomas said that ho was much in favour of a 70-fodter as a challenger, for, he said, that was a. boat that was likely to bo used"again and' was -therefore, a useful type as well . as a good vessel for international racing. Shamrock 111. is not the type of boat, he said, that he would care to race again. He would much prefer to' build a new one as a challenger. The former ninety-footers, he said, - had developed into such freaks that it was dangerous for men to sail in them and a strain on the.designers to produce them. Asked if he had intended challenging with a schooner, Sir Thomas said that he had not discussed that subject with his designers, but when told of the schooner Queen's performances last summer he said, "That's a splendid type of boat." t He remarked that it was a serious thing to challenge with the challenger's designs and materials ready and an uncertainty existing whether the challenge would be accepted. His idea of a good boat, he said, would be two boats designed by Fife and one by Mylne and these three raced against one another to determine the best one with which to challenge... When asked about the truth of the rumour that the 1 'German '-.'■•. yachtsmen were about to challenge,' he .vaid he doubted the report. He pointed out that for three years. be had given them all a chance to 'challenge, but that ■ nothing ■ but rumours came of it. " :?# [A recent f cable announced that Sir T. JldptOA' bad decided to challenge.J ';