The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-03-21
THE WORLD OF SPORT |

While races for the cup, because
of the appeals they make to patriotic
feeling, undoubtedly arouse more en-
thusiasm among the masses here than
any other international sporting COM
petitions, it is fact that British
yachtsmen generally are not now en-
thuSiaStic over them. From converse
items had with some of the most
prominent among them this summary
of their reasons for their apathetlc at
titude is condensed.
The cost and equipment of single
sticker, ninety-foot racing machine
constructed of aluminium and mag
anese or tobin bronze is so high that
only multi-millionaires, or. syndicates
of -millionaires, can afford the
expense. They are utterly yalueless
except for one series of races for the
cup, and perhaps serving as trial boats
for later competitors. Aside from the
cup races themselves they furnish
hardly any stimulus to yacht racing.
They are too costly to be maintained
as permanent racing class They
draw too much water to be of any
service as cruisers. No yachtSman has
any use for them. Ali that can be
done with them after they have full
filled their mission as cup challengers
or defenders, and perhaps trial boats,
Is 10 lay In6n up TO De SOlQ SOME Udy
as old junk.
1t is not the purpose Of the original
donors Of the cup to the New York
Yacht club merely to provide trophy
for international competition. AS
I9stated in the deed of gift it was their
object also to encourage yacht de-
signing, yacht building and yacht rae
ing. BY the policy they have adopted
of restricting competition for the cup
fn nj, o4x fO0 u
the New York Yacht club, say the
British yachtsmen, places the narrow
est possible limits on both yacht de-
signing, yacht building and conse-
quently yacht racing. When chal
lenge is received instead of three, four
or half dozen boats being built, and
the fastest Of the batch selected to
defend the cup, as a rule only one
yacht is built Only two designers,
one on the challenging and one on the
challenged side have a chance to show
what they can accomplish.
Yacht racing as sport would gain
vastly more than these contests for the
cup If they were thrown open to yachts
of smaller dimensions than these
nety-footers-say of between sixty
five and seventy-five feet on the water
line. Being much cheaper it is rea-
Sonable to assume that more of them
would be built. They would no longer
represent contests between purses.
Genuine yachtsmen, as apart from
financial magnateS, would again be
able to take hand in the game. Races
for the cup between boats of this size
would be every whit as exciting and
arouse just as much enthusiasm and
international rivalry as races between
the bigger boats. And when the cup
was won or lost these boats would no
longer remain mere useless hu1ks, each
representing a large fortune. They
would provide the nucleus of perma-
nent racing class that might furnish
the keenest kind of racing on both
sides of the Atlantic.
From a British yachtsman's point of
view every argument that can be adj
Vanced is in favor of opening compe-
tition for the emblem of yachting SUI
premacy' as our American cousins call
it, to smaller boats. The donors of the
<cup stipulated merely that the Compel
ing yachts should be over thirty tons
and should not exceed ninety feet on
the water line If sloops or cutters, and
115 feet If schooners.
AS matters now stand boats of the
size suggested are eligible to challenge
for. the cup; provided they cross the
Atlantic on their own bottoms. But the.
defenders of the cup, the New York
Yacht club, under the terms Of the
thrice-revised deed Of gift, could op-
pose challenger with boat built UP
to the limit, and in such contest, even
with time allowance, the smaller boat
would not stand the ghost Of a chance.
Until the New York Yacht club
takes such action as will enable some Of
US to challenge for the cup without
running the risk of being bankrupted,
and have something left for our money
worth having when it is all over" said
one yachtsman, British yachtsmen
will stand aside and let multi-million-
aires play the game out until they are
tired of it."
There may be something in this that
the custodians of the cup, the New
York Yacht club may ponder over.
Anyhow, as representing the views Of
British yachtsmen on the subject, it
will certainly be Of interest to Amer
lean yachtsmen generally.