HALF MILLION DOLLARS TO DEFEND AMERICA'S CUP.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12253, 2 June 1914, Page 8

HALF MILLION DOLLARS TO DEFEND AMERICA'S CUP.

Y'acht-racing is the most expensive sport. It has been said 011 good authority that ir. will cost- at least 'half'a million dollars this year to defend the America Cup against Sir Thomas Lipton's .Shamrock IV.

Few persons not directly connected in some way with marine matters understand why it costs so much money to produce a yacht for this race. In the first place the. defence of the .America Cup is an international affair, and is regarded by yachtsman as of such importance that the best design, material and workmanship must be had at any cost in order properly to defend the famous trophy. William. Gardner, 11)0 designer of the cup defender, built to the order of Alexander S. Cochran, recently said to the writer:— "In a cup defender exnen.se is never considered. The very best materials are obtained, and everything that is new in materials is used. What was considered the last word in materials a few years ago is commonplace now.

••As every ounce of unnecessary weight is a detriment to the boat -the prime object of the designer is to reduce the weight to the very minimum, so as to give the maximum amount of lead to the keel, and consequently sail-carrying power. All materials and. all metals esed are thoroughly tested to see that vhev are up to the proper strength. Drawings are made over and over again until the lightest and .simplest details are pioduced. ' ; . There never was such keen rivalry as this year in the,construction of' a defender. it has been years,since . mora than one yacht has been built for the defence of the cup at one time. In the meantime the construction of racing yachts has been improved in many ways. Heretofore the only rivalry has •been,in the construction of the challenger and tlie defender. This year the. competition is among four boats. .Most of the designing of the Gardner boat was done in Mr Gardner's design room in a shed on the roof of 1 Broadway. Mr Gardner's offices are. on the top floor of the building, and ho has a ' private spiral staircase, leading up to his workshop. Until a few weeks before the time set for the launching- of j the boat, it was impossible to get into this room on the roof without a written permit from the designer himself. The same precautions were taken by llcrrcshoff, the designer of the Resolute, t-lfe Xcw York Yacht- Club syndicate boat, and by Owen, who is responsible for the drawings-of. the tricity defender. Until recently one had as much chance O-f breaking into the United States Treasury as of forcing one's way iuto the Herreshoff shop. Every door was locked or bolted from the inside. Every window was screened, and the only method of ingress was through a winding office fitted up with metal partitions." The shed where the eun boat was being constructed had high windows over the water that only a bird could reach.

The first step in the construction of the modern cup defender is the_ moulding of the lead keel. For this some ninety tons or load is used. A wooden trough is built of the size and shape required, into which the molten lead is run. The moment the. contract is signed hurry orders are sent out to firms who furnish steel, so that by the time the keel is run some or all of the frames are generally on the way to the shipyard. Being received in straight lengths, the steel for the frames is made hot at the shipyard, placed on what is known ns the bending platform, and by means of wedges and pins is bent to the shape required by the designer's plans. A long flat piece of steel, called the keelson. reaching the entire length of the var-ht. is first fastened to the lead keel by long bolts, then the stem and stern posts are set up, the stern post being the Part of the frame to which the rudder is later attached.

The middle ribs are generally the ones first fastened to the keel and keelson. the deck beams which are fastened to the upper portions of these frames being put in place at the same time. Twenty inches is the avei'age space between all frames, and as soon as the frames are all in place the riveting or bolting, as the case may be, of the plates begins. A captain and crew of 'some 50 men are engaged and under pay long before the yacht is launched. Their food, pay and clothing go on from six to eight months.