Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-18

defenders of the Americas Cup
beginning with the visit of the
~ British challenger Cambria
nearly so years ago is q source
Of great national pride, 1t is inter-
esting to consider the prospects for
Thomas Lipton's eager grasp when he
comes over next year with his Sham
rock.
It should be noted that the space
of IL or Il months Is not too long
q period in which to prepare and exc
cute plans for an Americas Cup series.
First of all the yachts have to be de-
signed and then approved by those who
order them. Building will start In the
late Fall or early Winter and In early
April they will be launched. Builders
trials will occupy several weeks and
then the racers will be turned over to
those who are to sail them for further
tuning. BY June, II not earlier, the
Sloops will be sailing in actual COM
petition and the defender finally Sc
1ected will meet the Upton challenger
in the cup series which will be held of
Newport In August.
Syndicate TO Build Defender.
All matters pertaining to the defense
Of the cup are in the hands of group
Of members of the New York Yacht
Club. custodian OF the trophy, known
as the Americas Cup committee. A
club syndicate to build q defender will
be organized. Perhaps more than one
syndicate will come into being. Then,
too. some club member Of. great wealth
may decide to have q candidate for
selection as cup defender designed and
built. All Syndicates or individuals.
however, must hold themselves subject
to the cup committee, whose word Is
law, whose wishes are paramount.
Any man or group OF men not be-
longing to the New York Yacht Club
may II they wish build a prospective
defender, but after 1t Is built they must
turn Is over to the Americas Cup COM
mittee for control and such other dis
position as the committee deems wise.
II will be grasped. therefore. that the
present year will see no rush Of out
stders TO build cup defenders.
Private Club Matter.
The fact is that the New York Yacht
Club always has regarded the defense
of the Americas Cup as q private mat
ter, even granting that the event
stands as the classic of all interna-
tional sporting features not only be-
cause of its age-more than 70 years
have elapsed since the schooner yacht
America brought the cup to this coun-
try-but because of the manner in
which it has gripped the imagination
Of two great nations. The trophy
passed into the possession OF the club
when Commodore Stevens, owner of
the America, New York Yacht Club
schooner, turned 1t over to the organi-
cation on the basis Of q deed gift
which. with few important and unim-
portant changes, still endures SO evil
IDENTIFY there is neither legal nor moral
flaw in the close-lipped attitude which
the New York Yacht Club has ira
ditionally maintained IN matters re-
lating to the defense Of the cup.
On the other hand 1t is not infre-
quently irritating or depressing both to
the public which desires information
in detail and to those agencies which
strive frequently under insuperable
handicap to provide it. It has been
due to Sir Thomas Lipton's contrasting
frankness and the affectionate esteem
IN which he Is held in this country
that that were ne to win the cup after all
these years Of effort, the resulting
sense Of national sporting misfortune
would be greatly mitigated.
Has Excellent Chance.
The writer believes that he has an
We have lost Nat Herreshoff, that ulti-
mate genius in yacht design who, from
the early nineties to 1920. out de-
signed and out built the best Great
Britain could produce. England still
has William Fife, and above all she
has Nicholson of Gosport, designer of
Shamrock Nv and a man very much
at home in the designing of big sloops.
In this country not only is Herreshoff
gone, but his principal rival. William
Gardner, Is now no longer active. In
the last decade the largest racing
Sloops turned out in this country have
been Of some so feet waterline, where
as the cup racers now to be built will
run Is or n feet. So, while in men
such as Sherman Hoyt, Charles D.
Mower. Clinton Crane and Startling
Burgess we have designers of the high
est merit, it remains to be seen what
they will do with windjammers OF
much higher rating. OF them all, the
writer likes the possibility of Mr.. Hoyt,
but undoubtedly more than one of this
group will be commissioned to turn
out candidates for selection as de-
fender, and the early Summer OF 1880
will be enlivened by their contests for
supremacy.
There is every chance that one Of
the defenders, what may be termed the
official candidate, will be sailed by
Charles Francis Adams, Secretary of
the Navy. He navigated the Resolute
In her successful series against Sham
signs defender, will probably sail her,
and the craft will lose nothing under
his skilled touch. AS to Shamrock v,
there Is hardly a chance she will not
be sailed by wicked Willie Jameson,
who as skipper OF Shamrock w GSme
closer to winning the cup than ever q
challenger came before.