The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-02

hor the Saucer. he would anticipate such play
fdl hunor by calling her the Sorceress. Sau-
ceress would have been a more appropriate
name, for in shape the boat Is a saucer, or
American fire tin. 20 feet long and 3 feet wide.
Her water line length Is 1873 feet, and on this
she carries $50 square feet Of sail, divided into
a large lug mninsail and u mall jib. The boat
carries no ballast Of any sort except the crew,
who hike out TO tho weather side to keep
her right side W. The ccntreboard is
n deep. narrow piece of steel, shaped
like the blade Of q pocket knife. with the
sharp edge forward. 1t is said that this board
twists the boat bodily to w~indward, but opinions
on this differ. 1t is quite likely that her up-
right position In sailing has more to do with her
weather!y qualities than the twist OF her centrc-
board. AS boats Of the Sorcercss type will un-
dOubtcdly swarm on British sailing courses next
season, Judging from the number of orders for
small ratcrs already in hand, q sketch OF Linton
Hopes career may not be without interest to
yschtsmen in America, especially as some Of
these boats may find their way to New York
Bay and Long Island Sound,
For so young IA man Hope has had a rather
varied experience. having been by turns a
teacher OF science and art, a gold hunter in
South Africa, u yacht designer, and lastly u
yacht builder. During his early boyhOod in
England he took naturally to boat sailing. His
first boat was n yachts dinghy. which is said to
have been held together chiefly with tar. For
this craft he mad two lug sails, and In the utter
fearlessness of ignorance lie made venturesome
cruises along the coast. 1t was not until 1879,
however, on his return from a trip To the Cape
of Good Hope, that he got into actual Yachting.
This was at Ryde, Isle of Wight. where he
owned a small boat or two and raced them with
Indifferent success. Upon going TO live at Brigh-
ton in 1889, Hope had y l3-foot unballasted canoe,
in which he made q rough passage from Ryde to
L~ittlehampton. Soon afterward he built, sin
gle handed. from his own design a fifteen-foot
cutter. but she did little as a racer. In 1886 he
bought the hull Of an eighteen-foot boat, and
partly rebuilt her TO his own design. II is curl
Gus 20 note that this craft, Saionara by name.
was a plank -on-edge, and the extreme opposite
TO the Sorceress. The plank -on-edge was sue
cessful only in diving and rolling, and she was
abandoned. In the same year he designed Haze
as a single-handed cruiser, and had her built in
the autumn. In the following spring he length
ened her two feet and raced her with moderate
success In the south coast reGattas.
During these years Hope had been successfully
a student at the Brighton School OF Science and
Art, and head master of the school of Science
and Art at Worthing; o. which he was the
at Worthing. and went To seek his fortune in the
South African gold fields. lie had indifferent
luck, and i9 1890 he went up country 70 Masho-
naland in charge OF n prospecting expedition for
the Bechuanaland police. After an unsuccessful
year he resigned and returned TO England. He
took up yacht designing. and became n member
OF the ROYAL Corinthian and Junior Thames
Yacht clubs. Afterward he became a member
OF the London Sailing Club. lie designed sew
noteworthy or which was the cAn0eoyawl
built the Mazoe for, a restricted class, OF
l-rsters on the lower Thames, and tried hard 10
organize the class; but when the class was
started by the Essex Yacht Club the rules ex-
cluded her, Late in 1891 lac organized the
Greenhithe, and became the managing director.
Up TO this time Hope had been ploddinG along.
early In 1894 the performances OF the Sorceress
placed his name at the top OF the list. In the
wake q the Sorceress were TSetse, firatet;
Columbia. He also designed the canoe Dragon
for Il. de Quincy Of the ROYAL Canoe Club, but
the Dragon did not get properly rugged In time
The abnormal beam OF the SorceTess was. TO
some extent, the result OF causes outside OF
ordinary designing, A member OF the council
OF the Yacht Racing Association having said:
Whatever faults the present rule might have,
the unballasted skimmer was Impossible since
prove that he was wrong. The method used
was to carry nut the. beam until the weight OF
the crew on the weather deck would more than
make up for the weight OF the bulb nm or
weighted centre plate In the ordinary type.
Ii Is not necessary TO tell Americans that boats
inches draughi. are best suited TO smooth
waters, as the skimming dish Is very Old typ
IN America. Il vas not expected here hat the
SOrceress would be OF any use In a seaway, but
she does very well indeed IN a hard wind and
lumpy sea, She goes over the waves without
trying TO dive into them. She Il uncomtOrtably
wet, however, even in ordinary sailing, and in
reaching, with the waves brOadside on, she rocks
violently back and forth, the lee deck at times
Portable boat for open-water sailing, but for
speed in smooth water she Is superior TO any,
thing OF her class in Great Britain.