The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1911-06-16
A CLASSIC YACHT
RACE TO Be HELD
Motor Boat Club of America
Starts Bermuda Contest
on Saturday.
(NationaI News Association

tNdtlonal News ASSOCtdtlnn)
| New York, June 16.-With the crack
of the pistol tomorrow, America S
classic in yachting circles, the Ber-
muda race of the Motor Boat Club of
America, for the James Gordon Ben
nett cup and 81 900 in cash will be I'M
der way, and the tiny entries, many OF
which are scarcely over forty feet
| in length will start on the long voyage
TO that remote island in the West In
| dies, which yearly tempts the hardi-
| hood and daring of American yachts
men.
| To those whose veins do not flow
with a good salt sea craving this an
nouncement means but little, but to
the thousands of yachting enthusiasts
who yearly spend two months in COM
| missioning countless small craft. three
in humping their heads on low hung
cabin carlines and the winter in an
ticipation; this great race holds in
interest that is paramount to any other
sporting event on the calendar. They
watch its start with unalloyed interest,
stake their money on their fovorites,
and greet the report of passing steam
ers, that have sighted the small craft,
with all absorbing interest. 1t is safe
to say that this great race engages
the attention of every lover of sport
in America.
The institution of this classic motor
boat race to the Lilly Isles, with the
cup and cash prize that serve for but
| little save as goal to adventure,
marked the beginning of the evolution
of the ocean cruising motor boat-that
hardy little craft that has reached
such perfection on these shores that
it may now safely venture out in weat-
her that would try even the stoutest
transatlantic ships. Its value to
boating circles is inestimable, for not
only has it helped to evolve a safe and
sane type of pleasure boat but it has
served to train, both by the emulation
it has engendered and the actual OK
periences of those engaged, type OF
fearless sailor that needs but little fur
ther schooling to fit him for the COM
mand of the leviathans of the sea.
At first the entries in the Bermuda
run contained boats of an overall
length that hung closely about the
thirty foot mark. This size, however,
with the passing years and the per-
lection of the gas engine, rapidly in
creased until the entries of later years
have averaged around the fifty foot
mark. What it means to put to sea in
a boat of this size cannot be even dim
ly imagined by those who are accus-
toned to the comfort of their own in
land firesides, or the comparative COM
fort of the transatlantic liners and
huge coast wise steamships. In boat
say fifty feet long. carrying a crow of
six or seven, discomfort and adven-
ture are inevitable even in the calm
est weather. With the sea as smooth
as glass these tiny entries, far from
the sight of land can scarce be dis
tinguiShed at the distance of a mile,
so low do they set in the water. In the
fierce tropical storms that sometimes
turn the Atlantic seaboard, especially
in the lower ATTITUDES, into a veritable
maelstrom of seeting waters, whose
surface is crested with gigantic waves
that play havoc with the largest ships,
the boats of those hardy sailors are
lost in the flying spume, and the lone
navigator that takes his trick at the
wheel often finds his lashings sorely
tired by the complete submerson of
his little craft.
Below it is scarcely less uncomfor-
table The sickening smell of gaso-
line pervades an atmosphere redelent
with the smell of stale cooking. Even
the mattresses on the hunks have to be
dashed in place, and the wild pitching
of the boat throw those within against
every sharp corner of the interior.
Observations are impossible. The boat
is sometimes sailed for days by dead
reckoning alone and often the naviga-
tors are blown hundreds of miles out
side their courses before the stormhas
spentitsfury.
All these hardships in addition to
the enormous expense of building and
commits sioning such boats together
with the money that must be expend-
ed for the actual race, make this run
distinctly and inevitably a rich mans
game. The cup and the $1,000 prize
that go to the winner scarcely defray
in the race are not only out of peck
ct but have subjected themselves to a
risk of life and limb. Even with these
undesirable features to contend with,
however, the wealthy enthusiasts, re-
turn year after year, with newer and
/ better boats, faster and more reliable
engines, and an increased determine
ton to win the Bermuda race.
The race this year is open to sea-
worthy boats not over 100 feet overall,
nor under 40 feet overall. and caicula-
tons for time handicaps will be made
according to the rules of the Ameri-
can Power Boat association. Two OF
the most likely entries are: The Sy-
billa II, owner J. Fred Betz, 3rd of the
Philadelphia Yacht club; and the Ar
val, owner A. w. Teele, of New York.
ANGLER CHOKES ON
BONE OF ONLY FISH