New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-09-07
STEERING SWIFT YACHTa
n C. wINTRINGHAM TALKS OF WHEEL
AND TILLERS.
THE Adv MAGE OF THE NEW METHOD own
THE oi.D-sPARs or STEEL, ALUMINIUM AND
woop-oPINIoNs OF AN EXPERT.

THE Adv MAGE OF THE NEW METHOD Own
rup oi,p-spARs or STEEL. ALUMINIUM AND
woop-oPINIoNs OF AN EXPERT.
REGARDING the steering gear OF yachts and thts
"a cne spars and sails. II. c. Wintringham, Of The
Havemeyer Building. who designed ex-Cornmodoy
= Rogers Maxwelrs famous schooner Emerald. and
o,h.r x.el,-known yachts, said to Tribune ~
,or,er Yesterday: II am In favor OF wheels insteal
Of ters for steering yachts Of the size Of the DE-
fender and Vigilant because there is more pov0
with less outlay Of physical strength In wheel
than I'm tlller, and the wheel occupies less room.
The space taken up by the screw wheel OF the
Emerald, including the box, Is less than four feet
SQUARE and the entire steering gear is compact
and out Of every ones way On the other hand
filler Of from fourteen to sixteen feet In length
such as would be necessary for yachts OF the siz~
mentioned, sweeps the deck FOR that distance AM
thereby to some extent at times in'erferes with
the free action Of the crew. take no stock In the
theory that a. man who steers with tler Ia Ia
closer sympathy so to speak, with his boat than
one who steers with a wheel. II a man can operate
a piece of mechanism like a screw wheel with but
little eyertion, 1: stands to reason that he Is 10
better position TO realize the fine results OF such
operation than who is compelled TO operate Q
more primitive apparatus at an outlay OF perhaps
his entire physical strength. never saw the De.
tenders steering gear. and say nothing about
IL.
diamond screw gear and II works very satisfactor-
w. I put the same kind OF gear the Emerald
and II Is the gear which has been most used during
the last nve six years for steering yachts.
so far as steel masts heavy spars con.
cerned, I am in favor OF them for large yachta
Steel spars lighter and OF greater strength thu
wooden ones Of equal diameter. The newspaper
say that Valkyrie III steel lower mas
constructed OF plates only threesixteenths OF inca
thick. Those plates strike me as being very thin
but OF course. don't know the amount and streng.
Of their inside bracng. have also read in the papsn
that the Defender is having a lower mast made Of
aluminium which is metal. in my opinion. less
strong than steel when the plates are OF the same
relative thickness. When Maxim built his flying
machine he went into the matter Of metals very
thoroughly and carefully The result OF his patient
and extensive experiments convinced nm mat. ~
between plates OF aluminium and steel OF equa
thickness the latter were much lighter and stronga
than the former.
THE new style Of cross-cut racing sails for yacht
has not yet been sufficiently tested TO justify any
positive expression Of opinion as TO whether or moi
they an Improvement on the od-fashoned sails
In the cross-cut sails the cloths are arranged per:
pendlcular to the leech while in the old-fashiored
claimed that II a cross-cut sail begins TO split i
@ go S a SeaW snd the In and fen
1t useless. but that has not yet been practically
for sails psca weave
designed TO meet Just such contingency but such
from head to foot and still may be used a:
Vigilant's mainsaii was split in OF the OF
Newport she continued over the course TO the fin.
ish with the disabled sail and, under the circun.
stances made q very credtable showing
Il do not believe that the time allowance that 10
commonly assumed must be allowed by the De-
fender to the Vgilant is sufficient 10 enable the
latter 70 beat the former in the coming trial races
The Vigilant's speed has improved wonderfully. and
1t will continue to improve so long as Mr.. Willard
keeps at work on her; for there is always some i'm
provement that be made. however small. Mr.
Willard is entitled great deal OF credit for his
skill, good Judgment and tireless efforts get the
Nlgilant In the best shape possible but In the races
sailed between her and the Defender she has been
beaten by the Defender by such large margin
that 1t is beyond possibility that time allowance
should affect the outcome of the trial races. ]
believe It 10 be certain that the Defender will be
selected the champion, and. barring accidents
feel no apprehension at all regarding the safety
Of the Americas Cup"