The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-19
FIFTY YEARS OF YACHT BUILDING


Leslie's Weekly printed in a recent
issue a picture strikingly illustrating
the evolution in racing yachts in the
past fifty years. The old schooner
yacht America, which in 1851 won the
Queens cup in a race around the Isle
of Wight in such remarkable time that
there was mo second" is shown with
the new defender, Reliance, as a back
ground. The little old America, which,
happily, is still ahoat and flying the
flag looks like a toy boat alongside
the lofty and pretentious Reliance. Be
tween the two stretches half a century
of planning, contriving and testing to
bring the racing yacht up to the high
est possible state of perfection. That
the Reliance embodies the very best
that has been evolved in boats of
her class is confidently believed on
this side of the ocean, and there are
patriotic enthusiasts who are morally
certain that she will prevent Sir
Thomas Upton from lifting" and car
rying away the cup with the craft
he has brought over, acknowledged to
be the speediest and most perfect yacht
ever turned out from a British yard.
1t is interesting to note that while
the Reliance has only about ten feet
more water line than the America, she
is fifty-two feet longer overall, more
than twice as deep from waterline to
bottom of keel, and spreads about
three times as much canvass. The
single mast of the Reliance is taller
than would be both of the masts of
the America if they were spliced to-
gether into one stick. The main sheet
of the Reliance contains enough cloth
to furnish a complete suit of sails for
the America, and there would be still
some left over.
In weight, however, the America in
racing trim was probably as heavy
as the Reliance, excluding the tons
of lead carried in the keel of the lat
ter. The Americas hull is of wood,
with strong oak knees inside to give
rigidity. Her masts are also of wood,
straight Oregon pine, without flaw or
blemish. She was built to take the
weather as it came, storm and sun
shine alike, and live uncrippled
through it all. The Reliances hull
| is made of thin metal plates, her spars
| are of hollow steel and her standing
| rigging is of fine steel wire. Her sta
bility is secured by the weight of lead
! placed at the bottom of her fin keel.
| At every point in the hull, spars and
rigging the idea was to save weight,
hence the margin of safety was re-
| duced to the lowest point advisable.
The narrowness of the margin of safe
| ty has been seen several times, in the
buckling of spars and the giving away
of tackle.
In seaworthiness, 1t is risking moth
! ing to say that the America was by
| far the superior of the Reliance. In
her prime she could have lived where
the Reliance would perish miserably.
/ No wind short of a dismasting gale
| would have caused her to go into dou-
| BILE reefs. She was built for work. The
| Reliance, and for that matter the
| Shamrock also, was built for play, or,
| in the vernacular, sport. The latter
| day types are, of course, speedier in
/ favorable weather than the old types,
but for dependable, all-around sailing
craft, it may be doubted that the new
| boats are as satisfactory as were those
of fifty years ago. They are racing
| machines merely. The America was
| built as a pleasure craft.