St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-04
M|NNETONkA CHAT.
Gossip Floating About the
Hotels and on the
Lawns.
The Various Regattas and
Their Accompanying So
cial Fetes.
The Mosquito Fleet and
Some OF It's Achieve.
mentS.
The Doings Of the Gay Throng
at Minnesota'S Water,
ing Place.

to occupy two rooms, shows what a
clever diplomat the young manager
is. Those who are living at
Hotel St. Louis have pretty good
time. 1t has always had the reputation
of being the jOllieSt hotel on the lake.
The guests are like one great family.
The cliques. who go so far towards de-
stroying the enjoyment at summer re-
sort, are conspicuous by their absence.
There is very little of that pronounced
conventionalism. The Lafayette, too,
is pretty full of people, and there is a
broad smile upon Eugene MehFS face
nowadays. The thing which the hotel
men are praying for nowadays is hot
weather, and if the thermometer keeps
about 50 deg. during August, it will be
without question the gayest and most
brilliant August at the lake. Excelsior,
is full of people. and of course all the
cottages are occupied. The Lake Park
is suffering this season. For some rea-
son, altogether uueXplainable, there are
few people at that beautiful place this
season.
The mosquito fleet have not been very
fortunate this season in their regattas.
when they have one they have no end
of fun. A mosquito boat is large row
boat or skiff rugged out as sail boat.
They have center board and rudder,
and are rugged with leg-of-mutton
sail, or as cat boat. The amount of
wind these little boats will stand is re-
markable. They go out in the hardest
gales, and, if they do not. ship too much
water, they are all right. There are
about twenty in the mosquito fleet, and
~ ln
That belonging to HI. G. Walpole, of
Kansas City, who has a cottage at
Cottagewood is a particularly fine
one and very fast. The regattas of
the mosquito fleet are interesting affairs,
do not have any preparation guns or
starting signals, OF time allowances, and
the crew consists of one man for each
boat. When the wind is high they are
exciting, these regattas. The skipper
percheS himself on the gunwale to =
windWard, and speculateS upon just
how close he can hold to his course
without ge tting half the water in the
lake into his boat. 80
The next regatta of the Excelsior
Yacht club, which takes place Tuesday,
will be one of more than usual interest.
The start will be made with the boats
at anchor and the sails down. The
uuickness with. which the boat will
cross the line will, therefore, depend
upon the crew, and there is some pretty
lively hustling around. Excelsior boys
these days for the crews, are putting III
hard work preparing for the event. -
- y.
Yachts cost money. But then every
thing costs money, bnt there are some
things which do not cost as much as
yachts-chewing- gum, for instance
and there are some people at the lake
who get more enjoyment out of an able
bodied hunk of succulent gum than
they would out of a good yacht. The
boat on the lake which cost the most
money is the Varuna, belonging to E.
j. Phelps. which has won two of the
races of tile MinnetOnka Yacht club.
The Varuna is twenty-three feet long
that is the limit for yachts eligible
not a fancy thing about her,
except her speed. She is very plain
in ali her finishings and appointment.
Anything that looks like decoration
has been studiously avoided. But
everything about her is of the very
best. She costS1, 500, and had she been
finished as are some of the boats at the
lake she would have cost $4,000 easily.
II. J. Burton'S original investment in
the Volante was $1,000. She is hand
SOmely appointed, with no end of little
arrangements and ornaments to make
her attractive. There are dozens of
little things about her which are very
desirable and which cost lot of money.
But the original investment does not
represent the total cost to Mr.. Burton.
He has bought no end of things for her,
including silk balloon jib, which was
imported especially for him. The VO-
lante was built by the famous Burgess,
and she was paid for before she was
tried. Another handsome boat is the
ATLANTA, which belongs to Janney &
Hopkins, and which won the last re-
the last regatta of the Excelsior Yacht
club. She, too, is big boat and beau
tifully finished with those late improve
ments which make the heart of the fas-
tidious skipper glad. She was built by
Capt. John Brooks and cost 5000. The
Aurora, Capt. Brooks last boat, which
is owned by T. e. Gaty, is another very
fine yacht. She is plainly finished. but
everything is of the best. She cost $3.50.
The Tarantula, l.. T. Moore's new boat,
which was also built by Burgess, and
which was recently brought to the lake
from the Massachusetts coast, is one of
the finest on the lake. She has all the
latest improvements. She has some
thing new in copper center board,
which cost SIS alone, ratchet arrange
ment to hold the tiller, the sliding Slot for 4.
the mainsall instead OF coilOrs, and mahy9
other things. Yet she was purchaSed1i
very cheaply. She cost 5000 originally
and it required 500 to ship her here's
One of the boats at the lake which has
attracted much attention is the Chalne 4
plain boat, owned by Neiler & PeaSe.
She is big boat twenty-four feet long Il
and the stiffest boat on the lake. Last 1
Saturday. when it was blowing a gale. !!
and the yachts which sailed the regatta
were under double and Triple retfS-ri
and even three capsiZed-the Cham- i
plain came bowling down the lake car
ryipg all sail, while the yachtsmena |
gazed in wonder. The Champlain car 4
ried the canvas without difficulty and !
she tore along at tremendous speed, j
She sailed over the course once, ;andsI
she had ten or twelve peDple3I
Oh board. she beat the ATLANTA, thert
winning boat, two minutes. Then her |
jib broke and she had to give it up.
~
During the regatta last Saturday, L.
Christian, who has been at the lake
since the memory of the oldest inhab-
liant runneth not to the contrary. made
the statement that no one had ever been
drowned at Lake Minnetonka from sail
boat, unless they were intoxicated. 1t
is common occurrence for sail boat
to capsize, and it is trifie embarrass-
ing, but it is not particularly danger
,uc In tho fret nlaca q Yacht that ic |
about to capsize gives plenty of warm
ing. 1t goes over very slowly, and all
If the boats are filled with air cans SO
that they cannot sink. The other day
nan who has sailed on the lake a great
leal offered to wager that he could cap
Size boat and not even get his feet
vet.
The snecial regain last "Wednesday