The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-08-03
A Def BY
THE MYRTLE
Little Boat Says Big
'uns Da'sn't.
COMES BACK At THE EVA
Owners Of the Flea Say the Rules
of Fifteen Years Ago
Are Dead.

r. w. Hobron's answer to Messrs. Gro
.ier and Brotherton, who recently issued
challenge on behalf of their boat, the
Myrtle, for the Hawaiian Challenge Cup,
has aroused tempest of discussion
among the owners of the smaller racing
craft.
Mr.. r. II. Crozier in interview with
an Advertiser man yesterday said as fol-
lows:
1--WE regret that the owners of the large
yachts have seen fit to bar the Myrtle |
from competing for the Hawaiian Chal- /
lenge Cup, but if that is their decision !
we have no recourse but to accept. Some
statements have been made in regard to
the Myrtle, however, which are entirely
erroneous and which we would like 10
correct.
ut has been stated that it would be
contrary to the interests of the sport to
allow boat of small cost to compete
against one costing ten times as much,
and that the large boats will be at a dis
advantage on account of their carrying
fixed ballast and the Myrtle having only
live ballast aboard. In yacht racing, cost
of boats does not carry any significance;
it is speed that counts and measurement
determines speed. We could spend $1,000
be any faster. The latter contention is
an absurd one and not worthy of anyone
claiming to have knowledge of yacht rae
ing On the course that this race will
have to be sailed over-some twenty-five
miles between Diamond Head and Bar
ber's Point-a great deal of rough and
choppy sea will be encountered, where the
light boat will bob around like a cork on
top of the waves and the heavy hull boats
will drive through and carry their way
by their weight. In running before the
wind the large boats with their greater
spread of canvas would have a great adj
vantage over the Myrtle.
THE Myrtle is not a racing machine In
the Australian Colonies, one of the great
est yachting centers of the world, where
she was built, she is classed as a cruiser
type, and anyone CHASING her as a racing
machine simply shows that he does not
Know what a racing machine is. 1t is
true that in the event of the Myrtle win
ming the cup the result would be to at
tract attention to this class of boat but
rather than detriment to local yachting
interests it would be just the opposite. In
! any yachting fleet anywhere in the world
| IS per cent of the boats are of the smaller
type and that is where the most racing
and greatest interest centers. 1t h han
| dy type, inexpensive, and one from which
a great deal of sport can be derived
Mr.. Hebron claims it is for the inter-
lest of the sport to establish class of
cruisers here similar to the Eva, but who
is going to purchase these boats? How
many men are there here among those
interested in yachting, aside from those
who already have yachts, who can afford
to buy and maiptain a $1,000 boat? Past
Experience has shown in these waters that
1t is the smaller boats, owned by men of
moderate means, which have constituted
the sport of yachting in the broadcast
sense. The large boats spend the major
ity of their time at their mornings, while
the smaller ones are out for cruises every
Sunday.
AS for sailing for the Hawaiian Chal-
lenge Cup, the true spirit and intent of
putting up the cup was for the fastest
beat in the Hawaiian Islands Racing is
racing in any sport. If Mr.. Hebron pre-
fers cruising boat to one which is adapt
ed to enter competitive races. he is well
come, but he should not stand in the way
lof others who wish to enter events for
trophies put up to be raced for, under a
false idea of the interest of the sport The
cup was put up for the fastest boat in the
Hawaiian Islands, not for the boat which
could take the most comfortable cruise
with the largest family on board
THE statement that the Myrtle is an
undesirable type and not adapted for
these waters has been disproved by her
own record and performances here In
a place like this where the available
range of sailing is limited she is Just
the kind of boat the most pleasure can be
gotten out of, and if several of her kind
were here some very interesting racing
would be the result. We have made nu-
merous trips to Pearl Harbor and in a
place like that where there are so many
shoals and reefs the value of center
board boat is Immediately apparent On
several occasions we have sailed into the
Waikiki beach through the breakers
beached the boat, taken swim and sail
cd out again ana back to the harbor on a
Sunday morning. Even if swamped she
could not sink, she has no ballast. and
she is as safe a boat as could be built
Yachts are intended to be handled by
yachtsmen and not by "greenhorns," but
even greenhorn can handle a small boat
much easier and with more safety than
a large one.
The racing rules under which this cur
lis put up We're drafted some fifteen years
ago, since when an entire revolution has
taken place In yacht building and yach,
racing, and il they are strictly adhered
to- modern boats, even of the same di-
mansions as the old boats here. will he
barred from competing for it, as their
huh measurement will not be so great in
tonnage, and in that case the cup win al
ways remain In the hands of a few out
o1-date yachts, unless it should happen
that a large modern boat costing some
Sa,0oo or $4,000 were added to the fleet.
Honolulu has had much experience OF
parties with the upper hand running
things their own way, and that the few
large boats should want to keep this cur
In their own hands forever is not surpris-
ing. The Bonnie Dundee held the cup for
seven years, and unless some capitalist
wishes to invest a large sum in another
boat, the Eva is likely to hold II for an
other seven years or longer. Such a pro-
loeedlng Is certainly in the interest of the
sport OF yachting-we don't think
we claim that the Myrtle should be
allowed to compete for the Hawaiian
Cnallenge Cup, as we are willing to come
WITHIN the requirements of the rules by
taxing a measurement ten times our ac-
tual size, and If she can win it under
those conditions she is entitled to it.
by the larger boats refusing to let her
enter the contest it is very apparent thai
they are fearful of the possibilities of the
Myrtle. If they are not afraid of her we
stand ready for a match race with any
one of them under the same conditions
which we offered in our challenge for the
cup