Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-03-22
PREPARING FOR NEXT YACHT RACE

New York, Feb. latter waiting
of letter from Sir Thomas Upton, the
New York Yacht Club last Thursday
evening turned the letter over to a
committee OF Ave. who will report to
the club what action Is necessary in
regard to It, and the chances are that
they will report their doings at the
next general meeting Of the club on
March "a.
Sir Thomas wants to try with some
kind of rules other than those which
produced the Reliance. The British
rule is length plus the widest beam
found. plus Is per cent Of the girth
taken at .06 Of the waterline abaft the
point Of contact with the face of the
stem at the waters edge. To this is
added IS of the square root Of the ac-
,tual sail area, the whole to be divided
i by 9.
BY the above 1t will be seen that
there is no tax on overhangs, so that
a 90-footer can be 100 feet overall and
pay no tax for It. Under the quarter
beam greatest width at load waterline,
the overall lengths are taxed, also one
half Of any excess of load waterline
over lis per cent. Of the length shall
be added to the rating length. Draught
Is limited. Also any excess OF sail
area over 1876 per cent Of the sail area
Is added racing length. The divisor
IL Ave times the cube root OF the dis
placement. At q glance one can read
lily see that the present rule Of the
New York Yacht Club Is more severe
former penalties both overhangs and
also sail area where 1t exceeds the per
cent named. Further. the displacement
divisor favors heavier underbodied
boat, SO that. from a speed standpoint.
the British girth rule is the more liberal
of the two.
According to statements made by
some of the members who were pres
ent at the recent meeting Of the club,
Sir, Thomas asked II the club would re-
ceive a challenge under the present rule
OF the club; also, In event Of such a
challenge being accepted, II the chal-
lenger would have to meet the Reli-
lance. The above was told to The Her
laid readers Just before the inquiry
challenge was received, and the state
ments are now confirmed by members
lof the club who were present at the
late meeting.
1t seems. even with the heavy PEN
lalty which the New York Yacht Club
lrule places on the Reliance, that both
Messrs. Watson and Fife are afraid OF
lher. Regarding the query of Sir
Thomas whether the Reliance, In case
la challenger Is lodged, may be met as
la challenger. that question was settled
In 1893 In the Vigilant-Valkyrie II.
lseries. The New York Yacht Club
then made precedent and In the fol-
flowing language replied to Dunraven:
l"Yachts Of the specified rig, either now
|existing or under construction and
known to be available for the use OF
this club In defending the cup, shall
mot be barred or penalized."
This settles the question Of barring
cut the Reliance, for she is an existing
boat available for the use of the club
, lin defending the cup. This preceden,
. lthe club will undoubtedly follow, apd
will SO inform Sir Thomas. The trouble
is the New York Yacht Club made toe
sweeping changes, when the members
Iplaced upon the books one OF the most
restricted rules yet enacted by any
large club.
The new rule, as an experiment
should have been made to apply t
yachts like the Weetamoe and under
This would have given owners and de
lsigners ample opportunity to expert
ment. Better still, the new rule
should have been made to apply t
yachts which do not come within
America's cup race limits for all types
ALLOWABLE 10 take part II this hat
been done, then there would have beer
mo talk of shutting out the Reliance.
, With such a rule proviso, advance
2 lcould have been made on the Reliance
, land American designers could hav
lgone on improving with known data a
r hand. 1t seems queer that the tw'
: leading British designers should prac
r ideally admit that they were out OF
b under the very rule they five time
/ built under. The performances of tn
q shamrock II. showed that Watson ha,
|. la very good idea Of what he was about
Q He attributed his defeats to some sup
q Iposed faults which afterward brough
7. Victory to Mr.. Herreshoff. Here, Of
this side, designers have chance I
Idesign what are called freaks, but Il
= reality are advanced types of boat
q from speed standpoint. On the othe
n side these speed boats are laughed al
t with the result that Mr.. Herreshol
o took up that which every America
designer knew brought about spec,