The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-05

A special meeting Of the White Bear
Yacht club was held last night at the
Aberdeen for the purpose Of taking &C
ton with respect to the acceptance OF
the challenge to the Royal st. Law
renee Yacht Club of Montreal for the
Seawanhaka cup. About fifty enthusi-
astic members, mostly boat owners,
were present. Commodore Clark was
in charge and briefly stated the pur-
pose of the meeting, which was to Sc
lect a committee to represent the
White Bear Yacht club in the big race
next summer.
The present challenge of the local
club is the second to be accepted by
the Montreal for this cup, the club
having sent the Minnesota, in 1900, to
lift the cup, but she came back empty
handed.
The experience afforded by this visit
to foreign waters and the defeat of the
White Bear has not been lost and from
the sentiment expressed at the meeting
last night it looks very much as though
the big Western yacht club intends to
select its challenger in a very syste-
matte way and then go down with the
best boat that can be constructed and
sailed by American yachtsmen and
bring home the coveted Seawanhaka
cup, which has been held by the Royal
st. Lawrence Yacht club since 1895,
the first year of its offering.
Ex-CommDdore Ordway expressed
his views on the manner in which a
challenger should be selected and the
conditions to govern the selection. Mr..
Ordway suggested the forming of a
syndicate, composed of club members,
to build fleet Of four boats of differ
ent design and construction. 1t is also
the idea to allow entries from individ-
ual club members, and also to extend
invitations to every recognized yacht
club in the United States to compete
in the trial races. The racing commit
tee will be given entire charge Of the
trial races and will also have charge
of the challenger while at Montreal.
In the trials this committee will be
privileged to exercise it's judgment
with respect to the manner in which
each boat may be sailed and to change
crews. rigging and spars Of any boat
where, in it's discretion, such change
may prove beneficial.
1t is intended to have the boats race
in pairs, and as soon as any boat shows
her inability to hold her own she will
be dropped from further trials, but
only after every possible experiment
has been tried to effect change for
the better. Should any boat repre-
senting an outside yacht club be the
winner in the trials, such boat will be
selected to represent the challenging
club, and it's crew will be composed Of
such men as the committee may de-
eide upon. In short, it will be the pur-
pose of the local club to lift the cup if
there is any possibility of doing it.
One thing which the committee will
have uppermost in mind, and for
which, in a great measure, boats will
be constructed, is the yachting con-
dition at Dorval, where the Seawan-
haka contest will take place. With our
protected shores, high winds and
smooth waters, the type of boat COM
monty used on White Bear would not
take kindly to the rough seas and large
water area of the st. Lawrence river.
Yachtsmen remember the experience
of the contestants at Oshkosh last
summer who came from small inland
lakes, with large cockpits and light
hull, utterly unable to stand up in the
heavy sea without swapping and only
a moderate breeze blowing at the time.
The question of crew will also be an
important one for the committee. The
committee will have the power Of
changing the crew in any boat, be it a
winner or loser, should it believe that
added speed could be gained by reason
of such change.
Other yachtsmen voicing Mr.. Ord
ways sentiments were DR.. J. M. WEIGH,
C. M. Griggs, II. Van Week, w. G.
Read, Fl. Merrill and T. L. Wann.
The committee selected to take
charge of the racing is composed of
Commodore Clarke, L. p. Ordway, S. c.
Stickney, DR.. A. MacLaren, G. A. Reid,
w. Clarkson and c. M. Griggs.