Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1920-07-06
MEASUREMENT Of
RACING YACHTS
/ DIFFICULT JOB
important Feature of Con-
test for Americas Cup
Will Take Place in Near
Future Off Sandy Hook.

.lO Il south bTOOhlSH SillpS dlu lOt
ffficial measurement. This is a
very important feature of the big
contest and one that is going to
create considerable trouble. Upon
the outcome of the measurement
will depend the time allowance that
will exist between the craft. No
one knows what this allowance is
going to be, although all who are
familiar with the situation state
that the challenger will have to
| give time to the defender.
1t is going to be an exceedingly
difficult task to measure the cups
yachts. For the first time, the big
race will be sailed under the uni
versal rule of measurement The
rule reads, as follows:
yachts shall be rated for CLASH
| fication and time allowance ac-
cording to the following formula:
Eighteen per cent of the product
of length, multiplied by the square
root of sail area, divided by cube
root of displacement"
Complicated Rule.
This is an exceptionally Compli-
Gated rule and one that only yacht
designers understand. For the past
thirty years in all of Americas
cup races the measurement of a
boat for time allowance has been
kne-half of the sum of the load
water line length and the square
root of sail area.
In 1903 and previous years
Messrs Mower and Hyslop simply
measured the deck length of a
boat, dropped a plumb bob from
each end into the water, floated i
batten in under the bow and under
the stern, measured on the batten
the distance from the plumb line
to the end of the water-line, for
ward and aft, and substracted the
sum of these two measurements
from the deck length. That gave
them the load water-line length,
The sail area was measured accord
ing to arbitrary methods, but it was
assumed to be and very nearly was
the measurement of the area of the
sails. To determine the square
root of this area was a simple
matter and one sum in addition and
one in division determined the
rating of the boat.
This was the formula even IN
1903, although the measurements
of boats for other races of the New
York Yacht club of that year wei O
made under a rule very similar to
the one now in force, but this rule
having been adopted early in 1908,
and the challenge for the cup races
of 1908 having been accepted in
Sthe fall of 1902, the old rule OF
1 measurement prevailed in the last
up race.
This year, however, the mcasur-
ing of the yachts will be more
complicated involving a lot of cal
culation. The loadwater line will
be measured as heretofore and
then the quarter-beam length will
be ascertained. This dimension is
used as a corrective of the load
water line and II must not without
penalty be more than certain per
centage Of the loadWater line
length for a boat of seventy-five
feet water line, the diminSton
fixed by the challenger, this per-
centage will be slightly over ~
per cent. Should it exceed this
percentage one-half of the excess
will be added to the load-water line
length, in order to constitute the
length factor in the calculation for
rating.
Various Tests Necessary.
In addition there will be various
tests to ascertain whether the
builders have made any cOncaVe
curves or notches in the lines of the
hull for if so certain penalties are
provided.
While quite different from that
of years ago the method of measur-
ing the sail area is really method
of ascertaining practically the
area of the sails. These two meas
lnrements, the length factor and
the sail area factor may of course
We taken while the boat is in the
Water. The really new feature of
the measurement of the cup yachts,
however, will be the measurements
taken to determine the spacing.
|The rule governing this reads:
displacement to be obtained by
weighing or Is follows: The load
water line shall be divided into ten
|equal parts ana the areas of the
Immersed crOss-sections found in
square feet. From these areas the
uoad- water line length the dis
placement in cubic feet shall be
calculated by Simpsons rule"
# AS it is impossible to weigh a
Cup racer the area of the immersed
cross-sect r1ust be determined.
In order to 10 this it becomes
necessary to place the boat in dry
dock, after the first mark in the |
water line not only AZ the how and
stern but all the way round, the !
vessel is allowed to settle on the
blocking as the water is drawn off !
so that the load raser plane should |
be horizontal.
If one were to erect pe,pendic' |,
ular wall at the side of the boat, |
parallel to her center line, and |
then measure at intervals equal 10
one tenth of a load water line
length horizontally, and, say at in
servals of a foot perpepdicuIarly. |
3rom this wall, horizontally to the !
side of the boat, these measure
ments would be offset. |
The effect of it is much like
slicing the boat crosswisc into Sec
hons, then dividing each section
into ,parallelograms a foot high,
/ hen calculating the area nf each IF
these ot-hign parts, and adding