Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-16

in this country, in which almost all the
| champions have rowed races at times, such
| as Pinkerton and Nagle, the cham pior
| double-team scullers, Buschman and Palatt
another crack double-team, Stevens, OF the
| New York Athletics, and David Roach, the
veteran instructor OF the New York club
men in aquatics.
FINEST SHELL EVER BUILT HERE.
Plans have been received in New York Of
boat designed by Clasper which will be
| put on the waters of the Harlem in April.
| She will be by far the finest racing shell
| ever built IN this country, and will be in
| every way an ideal boat. Her length will
be 81 feet; beam, % inches; depth, 8 inches,
| and she will closely follow the lines of the
| eights used in the great college regattas on
the Thames. The section plan, which has
| till now been kept close secret, was shown
to the writer recently, and an outline of her
graceful proportions is now published for
the first time. She is calculated for a crew av-
eraging $50 pounds each in weight, and even
with this heavy freightage ber displacement
will be three-fourths of an inch from stem to
stern less than that of paper boat. Her
total weight will be 250 pounds. Her Sec
tion amidships is the same as that of most
of the English race boats. The side rig
will be used, instead of the center rig as
now followed in the American boats. At
first she will be tried on the Harlem, and
then entered in some of the big matches of
the coming season If she fulfills expecta-
tions.
The side rig is new thing in racing
shells. By placing the sliding seats to the
sides alternately, instead of right above the
keel, as hitherto, greater purchase is Sc
cured by the oarsmen, and the motion is
more natural than in the former method,
Crack crews like the Gramercys, the Nom
pareils, the Atalantas, the New York Ath-
letics and Empires are watching the result
of the experiment with much interest, and
the general adoption of the side rig for
racing purposes seems foregone conclu-
sion.
A DELICATE MATTER TO TRIM.
1t will be some time, however, before it
can be taken up by novices for the reason
that with the side rig it is very delicate
matter to trim the boat, and only an expert
crew can work with the steadiness that is
essential to racing form. 1t is an English
idea, but those who have experimental with
it say it is bound to come, and that the
racing shell of the future will have the
side rig pointing inward, and will beat the
speed of the present models several seconds
to the mile.
To-day the fastest time in the world is
made in English boats, which have beaten
the best American shells five seconds on
four-mile course on the Thames. This was
done in a contest between English amateurs
and American professionals. But the CON-
ing American boat, our oarsmen confidently
assert, will be able with its oblique side-rig
to outswim the English by at least an equal
distance.
There is little difference in the cost of
wooden and paper boats. The Atalantas,
the crack New York club and the amateur
champions OF the Z United States. say that the
papier mache craft are more easily repaired
when injured than the cedar boats. A
wooden boat is not nearly so liable to in
jury, however, as the paper shell, which
suffers from abrasions, exposure and the
action of the water. the latter sometimes re-
ducing parts of the shell to a pulpy con-
dItion.
COST OF COMPLETE RIG.
ga good cedar eight. with full set of
sweeps and side-rig will cost $780," said
prominent boatbuilder. "A paper one of
the same dimensions might be had for lit
tie less. regard the paper boats just as
good for all ordinary purposes as the best
wooden ones, but for racing 1t lacks the stiff