AQUATICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1834, 14 January 1887, Page 27

AQUATICS.

Measuring Racing Craft.

A simple rule for measuring all kinds of racing craft, and one likely to give us a good' all-round type of boat, is not easily arrived' at. -.Some years ago, sail area, or the amount of^ power required to force a ve6»el through .the" water, was proposed as likely to give the best form of hull ; but it was abandoned, as it wonld '.only have led to yachts being rigged and entered to race with small sails, but not. intended tp start unless ib blew half a gale. Length taken at the water-line (or line of flotation) has also been tiied for small yachts ; but while this rule has certainly placed the recent narrow John Oory type of five-tonnera out of the running, it has given us a still more remarkable form of boat, not unlike a cocked hat when seen out of water. Quite a fleet of these little butterfly ships' were racing in tab Solent this season— air of them heavily sparred and sloop-rigged; that is to" say,' so far sloop-rigged as to have their mast stepped forward almost in the eyes of them. But' like most of' the large American slobpB t recently built, these little yachts carry two head-sails in place of one large one, that used to distinguish the. sloop from the cutter. These new-fashioned yachts are built with very projecting stems/ overhanging the water forward, as their counter does aft. When pressed down under sail this makes them really larger and longer vessels ; while a heavy crew of 15 or 20 make-weights jumping into them, according to the strength of the wind upon the race day, also increase's their length upon the load water-line.

In order to meet this arrangement it was proposed to measure these yachts at the' waterline at the time of starting ; but in a lump of a sea this proved impracticable. Such crafts are handy and fast in light winds. But they compare unfavourably as to speed in a breeze with boat 6of a much older type and smaller sail area ; while from the forward position of, the "mast and their fine bow, some of them look, when running before a hard wind, as though about to take a header and go end over end to the. bottom. In all likelihood these little racers will S66n share the fate of the flat-sided yachts they superseded, and be out of date in a season or two. They are chiefly mentioned here to illustrate the difficulty of contriving any good rule of measurement. — St. James Gazette.

In another cruise of the new navy the Atlanta failed, on November 26, to make a sis-hours trip at full speed on the sound. Correspondents from Washington say the reason for the' delay in the issuing of the advertisement for ' the'rest of the new cruisers was on account of the discovery of serious trouble in the construction of the Atlanta and Boston. ' -