Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-05-17
YACHT RACE SEASON
OPENS AT SAN PEDRO
VESSELS OF ALL CLASSES TO
CONTEST
Lovers of Sport Are Interested in
Event Because of the Number
of Fast Boats En-.
tered

While few of the smaller yachts
raced at Long Beach during fleet week
the real opening of the racing season
for the South Coast Yacht club Will pc
at / 80 this afternoon, when the start
ing gun for all classes will be fired.
The initial event will be triangular
race, starting from the southeast cor
ner of the Miner bulkhead. Two
courses have been laid off by the re-
gatta committee, one for the A and b
classes and another for the smaller
boats.
In A class it is possible that Detroit
will go over the course alone, as Will
Mischief III in B class, the former be-
cause Yankee is not yet in commission,
and the latter because there is nothing
in particular to compete with. When
Monsoon was sold to San Francisco
last fall it was expected that her abb
sence would be felt in B class, but the
optimists hoped that with Sllidoo, Mis-
chief 1 and Columbine the sport would
not lack for want of entrants.
Since then, however, Mischief II has
been practically rebuilt, her deck
dropped some four inches and a new
mast stepped. This makes very diff
ferent boat of her, and when Walter
Folsom tried her out beyond the break
water last Sunday he was too happy
to talk. AS neither Columbine nor
L nave D6til put III
as yet there is only Slzido. winner of
last seasons arbitrary handicap for
Mischief II to try out against.
The result is a foregone conclusion
with the tars who are acquainted with
the sailing qualities of the former
And this business of sailing twice over
a siX-mile course all alone is a tribe
monotonous, no matter who does 1t.
With the yawls, Minerva, Flagship
hn ia
t. a late hour yesterday afternoon
Commodore Spalding did not know If
Frank Hay would enter Arrow, but II
he does and there is any breeze to
speak of a good race may be assured.
In c and classes more real sport
may be expected, for both Myth and
Katrina have been in commission for
some weeks. Charley Richards of
Myth is keen to try his boat against
Katrina and Fritz Overton may be
relied on to be on hand. When 1t
| comes to going about Fritz certainly
has had lots of experience; he prac-
ticed on catching his mooring last
| Sunday and broke the record when he
made 1t after the twenty third attempt.
Then when Fritz got ashore to the
clam bake he found the chowder all
gone and had to content himself with
| frijoles.
Seriously, Katrina and Myth should
sail fine race together, and as Por-
tola is apt to enter the triangular con-
| tour of the list should make it all the
| more interesting.
Venus, too big for the smaller class
and not quite full grown enough for
the B class, was out at Fellows yes
| terday and had the grass moved off
her bottom. Although she has been
| in the water but three weeks Noley's
little champion had at least four inches
of verdure frescoing her copper paint
Venus will not be long without an
adversary though, for the, new and as
yet unnamed boat that Joe Fellows is
building for Jerry Squires is nearly all
! planked and before many moons Jerry
and Noley will have a chance to tell
who's who.
| So many of the heretofore plain sail
ors have gone in for a gasoline breeze
this spring that it is hard to muster
mosquito fleet that would look as
picturesque as a Chinaman's clothes
line. Even old Nautilus. one of the
most comfortable of the older cruisers,
has had a two-cycle atmosphere de-
stroyer installed in her cabin, and all
they need to do now for fair wind
| is to prime the carbureter. Vixen, too,
| is on the big ways at Fellows to have
one-lung puffer set up. Capt. Ban
DIM has decided that no more shall he
depend on friendly current when the
gasoline tank has any fuel left.
But, alas, as we all, of us too well
know, the staccato breathing of a COM
bustion chamber is not always reliable.
Even last Sunday Skido had to tow
lola from below Long Beach to the
inner harbor of San Pedro and later
Frank Hay in Arrow had to pick up
the Babe off Dead Mans island and
tow her until enough gasoline to run
her to the oil dock had been passed
aboard.
Getting back to B class, where all OF
the racing interest usually centers, the
universal rule of measurement adopted
by the club for this season effectually
bars Columbine. last seasons cham
pion. Her great beam and lack OF
depth would penalize her too greatly
to permit anything like an even con-
test with either of the Mischiefs, and
Sk!do also sets too high to be really
eligible. 1t is possible that both Mitch
ell and Folsom will sail one or more
match races, so we are in hopes OF
knowing which is the better craft
Is There?
Is there an old maid who has not tried
I XaR