The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-09-28
1NrERN4rIoNA1 YACHT RAC1NG.s


 The New York Yacht Club, which is the trustee for the Queens Cup, has declined the Lipton challenge on the ground that it violates the deed of trust. Landlubbers and of fcers of the rocking chair fleet pre- tend to no knowledge of the finer points in a difference of opinion like this but they have succeeded never theless in grasping the essential fea- lures of the occasional international undertaking and In insisting upon a spirit of sportsmanship which it is not obvious to them the famous yacht club Is exhibiting.
 The motives of the genial Irish knight in persistently seeking to lift the cup have nothing to do with the main purpose of these periodical con- tests on the high seas. Whether he is advertising his teas or not is side and insignificant issue. What counts is that he is able to endure the enormous expense of these contests and has sus- tained defeat after defeat with the good nature and wit of the historic race from which he is sprung This year he has sought like the jolly old salt he is to arrange for a race which shall be a race from the laying of the keel of the contesting boat to the flying of her commission flag, not a race between freak machines, one of which is spared in it's construction the testing experience of a trip across the Atlantic The landlubber sees in his attitude a sportsmanlike undertak- ing to restore the international cup contests to working boats, blood re- lations of the earlier boats which polk ed their noses into the wind, know ing that they could meet all of the demands of a genuine cruise. Such was the gallant old Atlantic which sailed across the ocean fearlessiy and sailed back again with the cup in one of her lockers.
 In the opinion of many lovers of outdoor sports the international yacht race for the Queens Cup has deteri- orated into race between freak ma chimes which are good for the junk heap only after the contest has been pulled off. They are not built to house the officers and crew at night. These worthies have to be provided with a floating hotel where they can be fed and lodged. Inside they are shells in every sense of the word. The chal- lenger had to be made stronger and heavier because she must endure the voyage across the ocean, which in it. self impresses the lahdlubber as an unsportsmanlike advantage for the defender to enjoy, Theoretically the invader crossed the ocean under her own sail, but at the last race she was permitted to use an accompanying steam yacht which could at times tow her, thus relieving her of the dread- ed strain of the trip This Is not the kind of preparation the original en- terprise called for.
 From landlubber's point of view the international yacht race has reached a degree of unsportsman- ship which calls for more serious att tention than the New York club seems inclined to give It. In the future the race should be between cruising boats of the type, say of the Elmina, which is equal to all demands of the sport Sir Thomas does not wish to take any advantage of the defenders of the cup. He merely explains that the | limit of freak building in Great Brit ain has been reached, which means, if 1 it means anything, that it is time in the name of fine sportsmanship to re- turn to contests between boats which are boats, and that speed, upon which the New York yachtsmen lay such stress, is consistent only with boats which serve the all around purpose of yacht building. It would appear in fact that the same professional spirit which has overtaken college athletics has overtaken international yacht racing. The desire to win at any cost has sacrificed racing undertaken for the love of the sport.