Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-10-03
BOATH0UsE GOSSIP.

BOATHOUSE GOSSIP.
1T is probable that some of the Amer
lean boat builders who turn out racing
shells Will endeavor to follow the
scheme of their English craft. and COM
mence the manufacture of sectional
eight -oared shells. One of the greatest
draw backs American clubs are up
against every year is the heavy eX-
pense incurred in getting crew to the
several rcgattas held in various parts
of our country. the railroads making IT
obligatory that before they Will take
up the moving Of a racing shell the
club must purchase twenty-five round
trip tickets. This makes every trip eX
penSlve. as it seldom happens that the
club is in d position to dispose of the
extra tickets. and hence they are dead
loss. The English oarsmen also felt tho
expense of chartering private box or
stall cars to transport their shells. 81
Sims, the builder of nearly all of tho
etSht-Oared shells Of that country, pat
ented a sectional boat. divided into
three parts, and the success has been
phenomenal from the start; SO much so
that it has caused our own American
workinen to sit up and take notice. and
so they are busy at work attempting to
patent an Improvement on the boat for
use ill this country. Last year the
Detroit Boat Club sent to England and
had Sims build for it's use. 1t
used it in the Canadian Henley and
won. and also twice in the national re-
gatta, winning and losing once. The
| boat attracted considerable attention
| a the national regatta. and the Won
| derful thing about the whole affair
was that the boat was shipped from
! Putney in England to the Detroit club
and was delivered at Il saving of over
one hundred dollars, and this. too de-
spite the fact of custom duty. freight
/ to Detroit and carriage. 1t Is not UNI
likely that such a craft will he seen on
the Potomac river during the season of
1910. as the Potomacs believe that IT
| would be a great stroke of economy 20
| buy such a boat from Sims, as it would
pay for itself in two seasons.
| The good showing of the Analostans
| during the past season has enthuSed the
| younger element of the organization up
| to a pitch that will not down. ana, IRON
| talk INDUCED in, it is apparent that they
will not backstep the good accomplished
by Capt. Edmonds and Mr.. Louis a.
| Fischer this year. With a tirst-claSS rae
! ing shell in the house and the same
crew in the boat next spring as raced the
Potomacs and Nirginas here In Septem-
Der, it would require some Of the best
senior crews to defeat them, while 1t
4
sweep all the juniors at either the Amerl-
can Henley or the Peoples at the Fourth
of July regatta at Philadelphia. The
good showing should continue
In the last four years the POtomacs
have made a record that has never been
eCualed by any boat club in America
and that Is, they have won Junior
eight-oared race each year in a big re-
gatta. This is something unprecedented,
and shows how much can be done with
men who have careful and up-to-date
coaching going on in their ranks. with
this prestige, the members of the or
ganiZaton are already mapping out
schemes for getting out all the aVa1labie
men i'll their ranks who are i'll the junior
class, for. says Capt. Richardson. IL VIII
be an aggressive bunch in all classes the
POtomacs will put out on the river IN
the spring, and every regatta IN slsht
will see the representatives Of the CLUB
in the different races. New boating ma
terial will be secured, the boating space
of the house will be enlarged. and the
old club is on the high road to prosperity
greater than at any period since its or
ganization away back in 1867.
Tie work on the new Riverside club
house is progressing as fast as the build
ers anticipated. as it is necessarily slow
work in laying off and driving home the
house Is to be built. The structure. as
laid off last week. has a river frontage
of sixty feet, the interior being forty
feet wide. space being left either way
for enlargement. While the club is going
to be primarily a canoe organization. it
is on the events that they will also
take up shellboat rowing in the near
future. The District officials should by
all means fix the drain sewer that
empties right at the side Of the new
clubhouse, at present 1t is a menace
to health and would be worse If the
opening were continued after the house
was finished. The sewer should be closed.
The second story Of the new club will
the city, and it is expected that at least
one hundred canoes will find room on the
racks in the lower floor
The Baltimore carsmen are hard at
work getting details for the securing of
Patapsco course in 1910. The defeat
they received last year when every one
thought they had the date cinched, was
a very salutary lesson in the Ariel and
Arundel boys. and they will profit by that
experience to their gain. At this writing
it is pretty certain that the great
Middle States will go to Baltimore-that
is, if the Schuylkill Navy does it. at the
last minute, claim the race for its
river. The Middle States at Baltimore
oarsmen, and every one here is heart
and soul with the gallant and true sports
of the Patapsco Navy in the fight.
The publication in The Star that the
prospects were good for the holding OF
the annual national regatta here next
summer has sent "a pleasant thrill down
the frames of all lovers OF rowing. 1t Is
the one great event needed just now to
cement the fact that the Potomac river
course is the best in .he world. and the
clubs and individual members thereof the
most hospitable of oarsmen. 1t is a ma
tional affair in every sense of the word.
and being such there is no doubt our cit-
zens would cheerfully help along tlnan
cent carnivals. auto parades and mara
the scheme in motion.
Some one handed the P0tomacs a "goid
brick last week and kept them out OF
re HudSon-Fulton regatta at New orA
Yesterday. The crew was anxious to 90
and was going to pay its own expenses
when some one informed Capt. Richard
son the races were only one half mile In
length. and it hastily called the race
off 1t now appears the distance was the
regular course, mile and one-fourth, and
the Pot omacS We're bluffed by some parties
who did not want them to 60 away. The
laugh Is now on the well posted oars
man who gave out the details.
Previous to the late regatta the wise
owls of the club had the Anaostans win