The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-07-11
TINY YACHTS TO RACE
THE INTERNATIONAL CONTEST FOR
THE SEAWANHAEGA TROPHY.
UNCLE SAM VERSUS CANADA
The saucy Half Rater Threatens
TO MoROpOIize the Yachting World
for a Long Time.

NEW YORK, July 1O.-In something less
than an hour last year the members Of the
smart wanhaka-Corinthian Yacht Club
met and decided t. offer an international
trophy which would be to small yachts what
the America Cup is to large yachts There
was a good deal OF croaking done among the
rest Of the yachting world when the an
nouncement was made. and il was freely
predicted that the Seawanhalka Club hadlaid
the foundation OF a dismal failure Subse-
quent events, however, proved the croakers
TO be false prophets. for the small boat is
bound 20 cut a big figure in yachting from
now on.
Last year the trophy was challenged for
as soon as it was offered by J. Arthur
Brand. a son of the Comptroller of London.
He brought a fftsen-fOOt boat here, on the
deck of ocean liner. and q series Of
rafting good races were sailed. the Aneri-
can boat Ethelwynn proving the victor
The English boat was called the Spruce ".
and she will go down in history as the first
challenger for the trophy.
Very little attention was paid to the bat
tie between the small boats last year.
the interest of the public was centered in
the contest between the Valkyrie and De-
fender for the America S Cup but a mat
ter of cold fact the real yachtsman found
more to enthuse over in the race between
the tiny craft than in the unfortunate races
of the larger yachts.
This year there is no Americas Cup
race and the little fellows will command
all of the public attention. The challenger
the Royal st. Lawrence Yacht Club, Of
Montreal and he has promised to surprise
the yachting folks of the States" with his
boat.
Twenty-seven defenders of the cup were
built by enthusiastic Americans, and the
best of them, Ell Heirie has been chosen
to meet the foreigner. FL Heirie is Arabic
Tor swift camel Her owner is c. II.
Crane, a young man Of twenty-three years,
who not only sails his boat, but designed
her Among the yachts which competed for
the honor Of meeting the Canadian craft
were designs by HerreshOff. Rigby, Tom
Chapman, William P Stevens, Lawrence
Huntington, Olmstead and Davis. compris-
ing the best yacht designers on this side OF
the Atlantic, yet the boat planned by a
twenty-th ree-year-old boy beat them all.
Ell Reirie was built from Mr.. Cranes de-
sign by Lawley, of Boston. She is % feet
inches over all, IA feet inches on
the water line, feet 6 inches beam at deck
and feet beam at the water line. She has
a dagger-board of one-quarter inch Tobn
bronze. When this board is raised as far
as it will go It still projects about five
inches below the boats bottom, forming a
regular keel, nearly feet long and inches
deep. This is caused by the pivot pin being
placed six inches above the lower edge Of
the board. This also makes the board very
nearly. self-balancing. With the board down
the boat draws feet.
e. Heirie is of double skin construction
mahogany on the outside. with white pine
inner plankiIg and deck. She has 240 square
Her bow is needle-shaped, and her stern is
dropped down so low that when heeled she
sails on twenty feet. She has a very pecul-
lar looking balance rudder. She has good
hard bilge.
HeF-uwner is a graz ate of Harvard and
for the past three years has been employed
in the designing department of the Cramps
shipyard al Philadelphia. In the accom-
panying diagram of the sheer plan of
FL Heirie the dotted line shows how the
cen terboard, when raised, forms a keel.
The peculiar balance rudder can also be
seen in the drawing
The fnst of the International races will be
sailed July 13 in the waters of Oyster
Bay and running out in the broader seaway
Of Long Island Sound. The conditions of the
contest call for the best three out of five
races, and if the boats are evenly matched
all five will have to be sailed. The courses
FOR each day VIII be twelve miles in length,
and they are SO arranged that each boat will
have chance to show what it can do in the
kind of sailing It favors the most
In the cup deed of trust the courses are
rigidly laid down as follows: For the first
race, to windward and leeward and return;
for the second race, an equilateral triangle;
for the third race, to windward or leeward
and return; for the fourth race an eouila-
-eraI triangle; for the fifth race, to wind
ward or leeward and return. Courses may
be sailed over twice or more.
1t took four trial races before the Race
Committee Of the yacht club could decide
which boat was entitled to meet the Cana
iian, but from the first the contest had mar.
rowed down to three Of the little fellows
Ell Heirie, the Riverside and the Ideal,
Ind these fought for the honor to the bite
md.