Imperial Valley press., 1913-10-25
Upton HAS THE BEST
CHANCE HE EVER HAD

y
that big international prize, and that
unless yachtsmen realize very soon
what has to be done to keep the cup
in this country, Sir Thomas Upton
will have his best opportunity of car
rying it away.
Conditions this year are such that
at present yachtsmen and designers
are working almost in the dark Oh
its defense and much more strenuous
work has to be done very shortly
than has been done up to date for
the defense of the trophy. The New
York Yacht Club has arranged a Sc
ries Of races with the Royal Ulster
Yacht Club, and the conditions are
such that neither side has any ap
parent advantage, but really the de
tenders of the cup are more at a dis
advantage than they have been since
the cup was won first in 1851.
One reason for this is that the rules
of measurement are different from
those of former contests When the
yachts were measured under the Old
rule of water-line strength and sail
area there was always at least one
yacht that was available for the next
series. In this way it was necessary
for the defending club which always
has been the New York Yacht Clu5,
to build only one defender, and the
new yacht was tried out against the
defender Of the last series. This trial
boat always showed what progress
had been made, and in every instance
except one-when the Constitution
was built-the new yacht has been
the defender. Even now under the
old rules the club has the Reliance,
which could be used as defender
or as a trial horse. The officers OF
the club always have been very gen
erous with the subscriptions to new
syndicates for the purpose of build
ing cup defenders, and this year, as
on former occasions, the flag officers
past and present heve subscribed
literally to fund which is to de-
fray the cost of building new yacht
by Herreshoff and to pay its running
expenses. These expenses are not
nearly as great as in former years. A
cup defender of the seventy
class built to conform to the present
rules will not cost more than $780,
600 at the outside.
This year the club has no trial
boat, and it will be taking big
chances if only one defender is built
to meet the Shamrock ". Several
yachtsmen have talked about having
defenders, and many of these are
willing to subscribe to a syndicate,
but just now there is lull in defense
work
Under the present rules many prop
lens present themselves to the de
signers, and even Herreshoff, with
all his skill and knowledge of yacht
designing and building, cannot tell
now which would be the best type
Of yacht to be built. He has worked
out several plans and he has lean
ing toward certain features in each
set, but like other designers who have
studied the question, he cannot tell
what is the best thing to do.
According to the rules which are to
govern the building of these cup
yachts designer has lots of latitude.
He may turn out big-bodied vessel,
a vessel with big displacement, and
on that hull put big driving power.
These rules put a premium on dis
and penalty on power,
SO that the gain on yacht having
lots Of displacement equalizes the
penalty incurred by it's excessive sail
area or driving power. Another way
is to design yacht with small dis
and on this put a small
sail area, and the big and the little
yachts, if properly designed, would
rate equally and sail on even terms.
Another designer might elect to turn
out vessel of moderate displace-
ment and on that put big sail area,
mourning a penalty in measurement
by 50 doing, but figuring that his
yacht with this additional driving
power could afford to concede time
to her competitors and yet win the
race in average weather
This year there is at present no
trial yacht against which the one
defender to be built by Hereshoff
can be raced. There is no racing
yacht Of seventy ty-five feet water line
in these waters. Sir Thomas Upton
has his twcnty-threc meter yacht
Shamrock, which is about seventy
three feet on the water line, and