The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-07-21
CUP RACES DO HARM
LONDON FIELD SPEAKS DESPAIR
AGINGLY OF INTERNATIONAL.
YACHT CONTESTS
CONTEST BETWEEN BUILDERS
Interest Taken in Cup Races Is
That Which Governs the
Feelings of the
Vulgar

The following remarks on the subject
of the Americas cup contests constitute
one of the leading articles in a recent is
sue Of the London Field:
Half a century has passed since the
schooner America won the cup which
during the last few years has attained
such remarkable notoriety on both sides
Of the Atlantic. The trophy was present.
ed by the Royal Yacht Squadron and
originally possessed no special Importance
beyond the fact that it had been won
by the America from a feet OF fifteen
somewhat Indifferent vessels in a race
around the Isle of Wight without time
allowance. Today the cup is the cause
of COALITIONS of patrio ism on the part OF
thousands Of persons knowing nothing Of
yacht racing in the United States and
throughout the whole British empire
We have always regarded ii as a matter
fer regret that national sentiment should
enter into yacht race and while, during
the fifty years which have elapsed since
the cup went to Sandy Hook, yacht archi-
lecture has seen many beneficial changes.
some of which have been induced by the
result of the earlier stages of the internal
tional contest for the Americas cup,
there are features in connection with the
more recent races which have not been
altogether pleasing to sportsmen.
The cup won by the schooner America
in the year 1851 was presented to the
New York Yacht club six years later. on
. the understanding that it should be held
in trust by that institution as a perpet-
rtal challenge cup for all nations. The
first challenge for the trophy was made
by the late MIR. James Ashbury in 1870
with his schooner Cambria, AMI since
that date several distinguished and ex-
perience1 yachtSmen have raced for the
covetei prize without success. Their eff
forts have brought to Light numerous
interesting phases in connection with
the relative merits OF Aner ican ana Brit
ism yachts. Up to the year 1886, when
the late Lieut.. Hem raced the Galatea
against the American center-b board cut
ter, the MayfloWer the principal feature
Of the races was the question whether
the broad and shallow type OF centcr-
board yacht used in America was su-
; perior to the na.r3w and deep vessels
which were then built In this country
! The result of some matches between the
small British cutters of the narrow type
Clara Maggie and Madge, which had
gone to New York to race with the Amer
lean skimGning-dish slooPs, had Taught
the American yachtSmen the value of the
fuller and narrower body in a seaway,
and the Puritan which raced against
Sir Richard Sutton's the Genesta in 1855
and the Maytlower were a compromise
betwee en- the old narrow English yacht
! ami the extremely wide old-fashIoned
American sloop. The success of the Puri-
tan and the Mayflower in the America 8
cup contests was, on the ether hand, a
valuable lesson to British yachtsmen
who learned from the performances Of
those vessels the value OF beam and
moderate draught Of body Hence, in
the following season the old British
method of measuring the tonnage. which
was really responsible for the develop
ment Of the long, narrow ana deep
bodied type of yacht. was abandoned in
favor OF rating rule suggested by the
late Mr.. Dixon Kemp, and this by rea-
son of the similarity to the rating rue
! used by the New York Yacht club. led
| to the gradual evolution Of an identical
type Of racing yachts in both America
and Great Britain. So far America g
| cup matches have been productive Of
nothing but good results, and the races
which followed hetween the Thistle and
the Volunteer were both interesting and
/ instructive. During these matches, how
ever, the Americans began to make the
/ matter a national affair. So much so, in
| deed, that Mr. Dixon Kemp writ ny in
! the Field in 1889, two years after the
Thistle and Volunteer races, advised the
! New York Yacht club committee to en-
and rather frothy national feeling which
! the possession of the cup appeared 10
| provoke in the United States, and not to
foster 1T by extrayagantly describing the
| cup as the greatest trophy in the world,
! and such chiliiike exaggerations It
would have been better for the sport CT
yacht racing had yachtsmen on both
sides of the Atlantic been ready to fol-
! low Mr. Dixon Kemp's advice
In the races bstween Valkyrie II. and
Vafhyrie III, owned by the Earl of
! DunIaven, and the cutters Vigilant and
! Defender, in the years 1888 and 1895, the
sse-called patriotic broilings over the cup
were greatly increased in the United
/ States. and we regret to say that in the
more recent races the interest taken In
! the Americas cup has been of the kind
which governs the feelings OF the vulgar
mob rather than the sentiment which
should animate sportsmen. British
| yacntSmen have watched this new phase
| of yachting with the utmost regret They
have seen the time-honored interests of
J the sport thrust ON one side. and the
/ moment has arrived when they should
/ guard against the introduction OF irrele-
want issues and spurious sentiments.
! First of all we have the bare fact that
| the Amerioa's cup defender is sailed I'M
der disadEaEtageous conditions. The