San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-09-21
MIDGET YACHT RACE.
BANTAM CHAMPIONS OF THE DEEP
ARE THESE.
Might be Sailed in a Tub if Old
Neptune Becomes too Play
full Today.
NEW YORK, Sept. 2l.-After the
giants the pigmies While the De.

giants tne plgmleS w nile tne De-
fender and Valkyrie have furled
their sails and silently sailed away,
Ethelwyn and Spruce w., two
tiny sailboats, are to compete for
international honors in series Of
races beginning today, arranged
by the Seawanhaka Yacht club for
cup put up by the club. The
Ethelwyn is the Yankee repre-
sentative and the Spruce sails for
Great Britain. The formers con-
struction is considered we'll nigh
perfect. She is what is known as a
double.skinned craft. Her inside
planking is of white cedar to the
thickness of an eighth of an inch,
her outside planking being Of one
quarter inch Spanish cedar or
mahogany rubbed down to three
sixteenths of an inch. Between
the two plankings is layer Of
union silk, covered with two coats
of white lead paint. In general
dimensions she is 14.6 at load
water-line, and her length over all
is 23.4. Her beam at water-line is
A feet 8 inches, and at the deck 6
feet. The deck is planked with
white cedar three-sixteenths of an
inch in thickness, covered with
white canvass, painted a mahogany
color and rubbed down. The bulk
heads at each end are water-tight,
and the cockpit is non-siDkable.
Her centreboard is of the dagger
variety, modelled after an idea Of
Linton Hope, the English yacht
designer. When down the draught
of the board is five feet. The board
is 26 inches at the widest part, and
tapers down to a point at the lower
edge. The front side is very near
ly straight. The board is OF bronze,
covered with a coating OF mangan-
ese. All in all, the board is one Of
the strongest points of the Amer
can midget.
Ethelwyn is we'll provided for in
rigging. Her mainsail is leg
o. mutton improvement on the
English yard rig. The hoist is all
on the mast. She has 1875 square
feet of mainsail and IS square feet
Of main jib. She carries three
other jibs and large spinnaker.
The light sails are all made of
union silk. The throat and jib
halyards are OF bronze wire down
to the double jig at deck. The
shrouds are of the same material,
one-eighth inch in diameter. w.
p. Stephens is the designer Of the
Ethelwyn, which was built for Cor
nelius j. Field.
Ethelwyn's first race was sailed
at the American regatta on Aug
ust 10, and she was victorious in
her class. She defeated Trilby, a
noted half rater, by Ii minutes,
and the Huntington Brothers
staunch little Question by 40 min
utes. At the Riverside regatta,
August %, she had a walk.oyer,
and also ran away from the 81
footers, winning from them on &C.
tual time in beat to windward.
August "a, at the Horseshoe Har-
Dor Yacht club regatta, the baby
defender capsized. The wind was
very heavy on this occasion.
Fitted with a new suit of sails,
Ethelwyn entered the trial races
and won all three.
Spruce " has fine record, hsv-
ing won 40 firsts out of 60 races.
She is built of cedar and Is "a feet
over all, Is feet, 6 inches on the
water-line, and 5 feet, 6 inches
beam. She has a centreboard
weighted with 300 pounds of lead.
In river and smooth water sailing
she uses a balance lug mainsail Of
100 square feet, but for open-water
racing she has lug mainsail all
abaft the mast, and small roller
jib. Her masts and spars are Of
bamboo, and are very light and
strong. The Spruce's best points
Of sailing is in light weather.
She has shown herself to be supe-
rior to the Herreshoff boat Wee
Win. She has long, easy bow
and q big overhsnging aft. In
running free in a breeze all this
overhsng is in the water. She is
owned by j. Arthur Brand, Of Lon
don. Her total sail area is 200
square feet. She was built by
Harry Smith, of Oxford, and in
every point shows the utmost care
in construction. Her hull is red
cedar, and her oval deck is mahog-
any. The sails are union silk.