New-York tribune., 1900-09-30
YACHTING.
SOME sPECULATIoNs on THE PROB
ABLE DESIGNING OF THE NEXT
CUP DEFENDER.

CUP DEFENDER.
! The promptness with which Sir Thomas Upton
lately denied report that he had given up the
contest for the Americas Cup through lack
of hope indicated that he had no intention
OF retiring from the field. What kind of racer
the protector of the American yacht
ing glories will be is present in the clouds 1t is
said that the Bristol firm has not yet sketched out
any design for a new defender, though ii is said
that a Boston expert has her lines all ready to
publish. and could show what the Herreshofs
will produce when they begin to draw plans the
Herreshoffs have experimental with small craft
and in this they have been trying new fields which
heretofore have been successfully explored by other
designers.
This departure from previous lines has been all in
the direction of Gardner's Cartoon and other high
speed vessels Of her general appearance. In other
words, the Herreshoffs have been seeing what they
could do with shallow craft which would possess
the qualities of the Cartoon without possessing
her appearance. Nathaniel Herreshof has been
experimenting with a small 12-foot freak craft
From the fact that this designer always works out
big ideas small vessels it is said that this is
directly connected with Cup defence designing
The last craft turned out for H. o. Havemeyer
the Pleasure, may be described roughly as
Cartoon with a Herreshoff bow and stern. Judging
from long range eye view, she is perhaps 20 feet
long over all, with water line Of something like
45 feet. She has cutter rig, with no bowsprit or
topmast, and the lower mast is stepped in the
centre of the vessel. The 51-footer Affair Is the
last Herreshofr development along the old Here
shof lines that hogan with the Gloriana and went
/ up through the Wasp, the Colonia. the Defender
and others to the Columbia and the present sew
enties and the forty-sixes. the Shark and the
Affair.
The Electra, built Bristol for the Great South
Bay racing this summer is another vessel very
! like the Pleasure and has extremely shallow
draught in the upper body These boats are al
most unlike the Herreshoff family design In their
centre sections that of a scow. and 1t will be
membered that when the last defender built
there was great deal of talk about the design
of the Cartoon being faster than that of the Column
bia The present effort of the Herreshofs there
fore seems be head off Gardner by adopting
all he knows about shallow racers and by annex
ing all that was proved valuable in his Cartoon
The Herreshofs seemed TO be practically forced to
do this if they wanted to keep the defence of the
Cup in their firm.
OF course, it does follow that because the
Herreshofs build individual boats for private
owners which have centre sections somewhat like
that of a An keel scow they would build defender
with a similar shape. But 1t is pretty safe to
wager that the Herreshoffs intimately ac-
quainted with the respective performances of such
recent boats the Pleasure and the Electra and
that the results Of these experiments WILL If proved
to add speed. find a place in the boat that will be
intended to beat the Columbia in the next trial
races.
Sir Thomas Upton knows this. He has had It
explained to him that the Herreshon i'm
provement will be along the lines which here
SketcheQ, ana ne 1S 1uy aware that the Br1etOl
ceaseless activity in adopting, adapting and i'm
proving other peoples ideas does exist to any
thing like the extent England Small
blame then, to him if for long time he holds his
hand, unwilling to court defeat with boat that
could only win through hit miss Jump in the
dark and cannot be backed against the slow but
continuous and certain building toward improve
ment which is known in this country.
ONE DESIGN EXCLUSIVE CLASSES.
The Tribune has been asked to deal with the
question Of design classes chiefly in regard to
their always racing by themselves and excluding
craft OF the same size built by other designers.
well known yachtsman. who is fond Of both
steam and SAIL brings up point that has been fire.
Quently discussed privately though not much If at
al, in print The writer, who does not wish his
name mentioned says: acn.5IE ---. ga
Having heard that the Herresh6ffs are about to
build feet of 81 -footers for the next season
have not been able TO ascertain. whether these
in the same way as the present Special tRirties
built by the Herreshoffs. / am thinking of having
a 6-footer built for next season. and outside Of
friends. who intend to do likewise. and 1t does
rced by he of ae he Clubs Te to-
pete among ourselves only without chance 70
in contests with the craft coming from the Here |
shoff yards
On this point it has to be borne in mind that the |
clubs always anxious to get a good attendance |
at their regattas. They are thinking Of their
general than of any individual need |
and they always have given and perhaps always |
will give. prizes for the racing of design |
classes. 1t may be thought by many persons that |
the proper thing for clubs 20 do Is merely TO mem |
ton the class according It's racing length, and |
let all vessels eligible for that class race in II. |
Then the ten owners would rise and say. I'VE |
have built boats which are exactly the same and |
made to against each other, to |
make the sport of skill in handling rather than |
of construction. We don't want any kind of a |
only to spoil sport but also to remove the |
silverware which would otherwise be ours All |
that these owners have 20 do is to say they will |
stay away unless provision is made for their in |
tended exclusiveness, and the club has vet been
discovered that will throw over the ten in order 70
admit the or two.
to be cited, perhaps. is that of the Athene, |
owned by w. Q. Gay, of Boston. His 70-footer |
was turned out by the Herrishoffs late last year.
and from the yards afterward issued |
the four design craft which have raced by |
themselves all through the 1t is said that |
the Athenc is practically a counterpart of the |
four others, and it confidently reported that |
the put the boat in shape for racing early |
in the spring. But it is not known here whether |
Mr.. Gay made any overtures in regard to sailing |
with the one-design fleet whether the owners |
of the idern class refused TO let his boat in. All |
that is known is that this boat, which belongs TO |
the 7O-foot waterline class, has never once |
natural competitors. This disappointing to |
many who hoped to see five at work in this active
and picturesque feet and there seems to be no way
of preventing the eKcusveness Of those who place |
a high value comparative isolation.
AS the b1-foOt class especially mentioned, there
arrangement. and II meeting of the intending |
owners could be called free-for-all class. might |
be arranged.