The Savannah morning news., 1904-08-28

enter the autoboat," says w. H.
Ketcham, president of the American
Power Boat Association. 1T is a
racing machine pure and simple. But
while it may be fascinating, and, no
doubt. is very exciting, to skim over
the water at twenty miles an hour in
one of these racing shells, it is peril
ously like tempting Providence for
any one but a first class swimmer to
venture in such a craft. and even then
1t is the policy of wisdom to keep
pretty close to terra firma."
Mr.. Ketcham also touches on the
remarkable development of things
nautical by adding: "Yachtsmen and
not chauffeurs should be in charge of
power boats" This shows how the
field of the yachtsmen has been in
vaded by an alien class.
But it is an invasion that has come
to stay. The most staid yacht clubs
have capitulated. The famous Ameri-
can Yacht Club and the Manhanset
Bay Yacht Club have admitted the
Automobile Club of America as a
body to the privileges of membership.
The great and dignifed Eastern Yacht
Club had a three days race meet for
power boats off Marblehead. The At
lantic Yacht Club is in line. Autoboat
races of international scope are
scheduled for this month and Sep
TENDER in the Swiss lakes, the Eng
lish Channels, the Seine and off Keil.
In the last race of the Atlantic
Yacht Club, in which a Herreshoff
autoboat was entered, the winner
made twenty nautical miles in fifty
six minutes, fifty seconds. The HERES
hoff craft made twenty nautical miles
in the hour.
The winner of the Harmsworth cup
in English waters made the run over
the course-7 7-10 knots-in a few
seconds over rs minutes. S. F. Edge,
her owner is a motorist and not a
yachtsman. He expects to visit
America for racing purposes. and will
come provided with an autoboat and
and autocarriage.
The close relation of land and wat
err autoing is further shown by the
fact that many of the crack boats are
engined with motors taken by their
owners out of crack autocarriages.
Thus, w. X. Vanderbilt put his 60
horse yower motor from his automo-
bile, which won the Eagle Rock hill
climbing contest, into his 40-foot ma
hogany racing boat. A crack French
boat on the Seine is propelled by a
motor taken out of a carriage that
won twenty-one prizes last year.
AmphfbiOus AntOcarriages.
On Long Island Sound half a score
of old-time shore hotels, that used to
cater to yachtsmen exclusively, have
built garabes of automobile car
riages; while the biggest hotel has
built a remarkable amphibious shelter,
wherein automobiles may enter at one
end while at the other end an incline
leads down into the water so that au-
tomobile boats may be run under the
roof and tied fast.
One of the oldest road clubs IN
Staten Island, near New York city,
has carried the idea out to its extreme
point. Every member of this club
now owns an autocarriage and an au-
toboat, and there are frequent con-
tests i'm which the rivals dash from
town on their automobiles to the club
house and then jump into their auto
boats to continue the race on the wa
ter.
The famous old-time yacht builders
have been holding aloof from the field
OF the autoboat but the Herreshoffs
having come out with a contestant for
the prize. Il is pretty positive that the
others will fall into line. Meanwhile
the sport has already developed a host
of new builders-men whose names are
quite unknown to the yachting world
Seaside and lake resorts are becoming
sprinkled with these new shipyards.
where craft are built on trestles and
sawbucks instead Of on stock like old
fashioned ships. and where engines are
teing fitted carefully into the boats as
the works are put into watches, in
stead of being sweated and bolted and
cast into place You won't see spikes
and treenails lying around these new
shipyards. Dainty copper nails and riv-
cts take their place. There is no sound
OF siedges or calklng mallets The
rdt-a-tat Of tack hammers is the pre-
yailing noise.
u Is cabinet work rather than ship
building 10 turn out such boats that
have skins " mahogany onc-eighth
inch thick and that have not more
than five feet and a few inches beam
10 thirty-nye and forty-fve feet Of
length. and weigh with engines not
more than from 800 10 1000 pounds
complete.
(copyright 1904. BY r. e. Mcclure.
OdOrs Of PerSpiratiOn I Reno