Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-08-19
YACHTING IN AMERICA.
The Extent and Cost Of Boating
for Pleasure.
Hundreds of Organized Clubs and Thou
sands of Recorded Yachts Repre-
senting Invested Capital
of Millions of Dollars.

senting an Invested Capital
of Millions of Dollars.
Each advancing year makes more ap-
parent the universally of taste for
aquatic sports among the American
people. Yachting has ever been a grow
ing pastime by the waters of the North
Atlantic coast. We now find white
sails in the least-expected places: Yachts
and yachters where but a few wears 400
the only sailors were the tinid wild
duck and the solemn mudhen: boats m
on waters that have scarcely ceased to
ripple from the agitation of their first
invasion by launched vessel; butterfly
canoes scudding over rivers that not a
decade since knew no alien thing save
the Indians dug-out; lakes upon which
float shapely vessels of pattern so mod
ern that they almost seem uncouth in /
their intrusion upon natures primevalI
Landscapes; SloopS and cutters, schoon-
ers and cat-boats, every kind of sailing
craft, in short, that can be made to ca
ter to the yachters insatiatc desire for
sport. In yachting the United States
takes first rank; her yachts and yacht
erS outnumber and outsail those of all
other countries. Few among the land
lubbers" of the country, and not many
yachters, realize the magnitude of this
national pastime. The Queens Cup
races gave the sport a publicity which
1t never had before, but even these
events did not bring to general public
notice an adequate conception of the ex-
tent Of this interest.
1t Is safe to estimate, writes +. w.
Pangborn in Century, that there is at
least one yacht to every ten thousand
people in the land, and that IN average
yacht Will carry at least ten persons.
This means that there are at least six
thousand yacht owners in the country,
and that sixty thousand people may
participate in pleasurc-sailing; a largo
number, surely, to be devoted to 4 sport
which is necessarily confined to locali-
ties near the water, and which is an cx-
pensivc pastime The public hears
much of vessels of the Volunteer and
Grayling types, champions of the big
boat Glasses, but the real yachterS of
the land are the owners of small boats;
in fact, the biG-boat owner generally
keeps a small yacht in which to enjoy
himself when he feels like being master
of his own craft. A few statistics will
render this quite plain.
Figures that are somewhat incom-
plete show that there are over 200 or
gained yacht clubs in the United
States, which enroll nearly 1000 YACHTS.
OF these, less than Onc-thirtceuth are
steam vessels. launches. etc, and not
sailing-boats at al. OnC-clevcnth are
classed as large yachts including many
steam and sail vessels, big S.hoOncrS and
sloops, all of more t'lcn forty feet wa
tcr-linc measurement. That is to say,
of 1000 recorded yachts, fve-siXths are
sailing vessels under 40 feet. This
shows concluSivcly th2t the ma jprity of
American yachts are small boats that
are managed by theirowners. 1t is safe
to assert that there are at least 1000
more small yachts which are not en-
tered III clubs, and of which no exact
record can be given.
The 200 clubs report membership OF
over 7 900 men. 1900 of whom arc yacht
owners Leaving out onc-siXth of them
as owners of large and very costly YES
sells ranging in value from $1,000 to
perhaps 100000 each, and assuming
the average cost Of the small yachts to
be about $1,000, which is low figure,
one finds that fivc-SiXths of these 900
yachts represent an invested capital of
over $3,300,000; a large sum when it is
remembered that yachts never pay
back anything in profit to their buyers,
and that, like horses and carriages,
they eat up good deal Of money all
the time. The average dues, etc, Of
yacht club are about S25 a year, not
counting extras. This, paid in by 1000
members of clubs, shows revenue of
$175,0G0 per annum, which really repre-
sents no part of the great cost of yacht
ing, for every yacht-owner has to pay
his own expenses, and the club dues
are spent on shore. At a very low est1-
mate the owner of a small yacht will
spend $50 month during the season of
about five months. This means that
the small-yacht sailors OF the country
spend at least 100000 in season.
How much their yachting costs the
owners of the big boats it would be inn
possible to state; the sum is enormous.
The "Finger" Prayer Book.
Thirtyfve or forty years ago some
one issued the famous Thumb Bible"
30 called because it was scarcely larger
than the first joint Of the thumb. Now