New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-09-02
YACHTING.
KNoTTY PROBLEM TO BE DECIDED IN
NEWPORT CONTESTS.

II "a eeneralv admitted that the Sailing Com
rnittee Of the Newport Yachting Association has
knotty point TO decide regard TO the fouiing OF
the Yankee and the Mineola on August S, and the
decision may have good deal to do with the
future ownership OF the $1,000 cup. The committee
has delayed giving decision ever since the race
and as the members were not sufficiently near the
collision to Judge for themselves. they have been
collecting all available evidence on the subject
The boats sailing a triangular course. the
first leg being broad reach and the second being
10 windward. They went Off with booms TO port
or & southwest wind. and these two yachts were
''sparring for wind all tho the first leg
The Yankee reached the mark first and after
passing Il came in stays and was paying off into
the port tack when the Mneoa, which had made
her curve so take the mark by the wind,
came along close hauled and still the starboard
tack. which. according to the rules, has the right
had room to clear the NfIneola. wringe appar-
entity did exactly the right thing in crashing INTO
sink her. 1t is true that Mringe was let off by
the RainooR in one OF the early races on al a an4
case. but here the shippers were friends and the
when this collision took place. and Wrlnge knew
that he had nothing TO hope for from Mr. Duryea
yachting community.
THE NEXT CHALLENGER TO BE OF WOOD.
It is said in England that IL the Shamrock Is
used again by Sir Thomas ]. Upton in the Amer
ica's Cup races. she will have TO be replated, and
that an examination of the hull. It lies at
Careloch, shows the aluminium plating above the
waterline TO be much corroded by sea water The
nails and bolts Of aluminium alloy which held the
pilates to the frames are said TO be in bad cond-
1ion AS TO this. it may be said that these alumni
mum alloy boats suggest a good deal of decay by
showing a whitish salt their outsides which is
amerely superficial. and does not at first extend
Through the metal AS instance OF this, the
Defender, which built and raced in 1885 began
10 show the salt her surface soon after she
put in commission. and it has been impossible
since to keep her paint looking anything like
smooth. Some repair made this boat before
she sailed in the TRIAL last year. but for the
most part the aluminium alloy which constitutes
nearly all her upper works has not been replaced
since she first appeared. The predictions of her
rapid decay have been verified by the prac-
1ical test OF good many years and the continuous
hard sailing of 1899. There may be a slight thin
ming or the metal, but. so far any knows
the contrary. the Defender is as strong a craft
TOW on the day she launched. The present
showing OF the Shamrock's sides may therefore be
accepted as meaning little.
There are. however. good reasons for believing
that the next challenger, II designed by Watson
Will show a return to the old pine planking Wat
has great fancy for the neWfansled metal
alloys. for the excellent reason that neither he nor
any one else knows much about them, and he has
shown a lifelong penchant for good pine planking
known 10 fail when q put into boat properly
and in sufficient size. But whether a wooden boat
can ever have chance Of winning the Americas
Cup is another thing. The naval expert who was
FENDER wrote that in her upper works the Talkyrie
III was probably seventeen tons heavier than
aluminium craft which defeated her. If this calcu-
lation was anywhere near correct, the Valkyrie
would be sailing under structural handicap which
tn the American racing would cause her defeat 10
be looked for as a necessary issue.