Evening star., 1930-09-10
has MAIN QUALITY
!: OF SAILING CRAFT
Ability to Go to WindWard
! win Make u. S. Yacht
Hard to Beat.
BY JAMES b. CONNOLLY.

knockabout ON New England's
shores. Any alongshore boy
knows what q knockabout is; but,
In case you live inland, it is a
single sticker with no bowSprit, q
low hull with no rail.
Those old knoekaboiits weren't much
eood for cruising outside d harbor, hav.
ing no loungink space on deck and scant
CHARTERS, II any at all, below; but they
we're safe boats--havtng plenty Of ballast
and all of it outboard, so that a fellow
eeuld roll them down In a breeze OF
wind till their keels showed without fear
0z their capsi1ing.
Looking at q group Of cup racers in
Newport Harbor could think Of no
better phrase to describe them than
glorified knockab0tits. Those Of years
ago were little oraft-15 to 20 feet long
whereas these are big, 80-feet water
line ana more than I20 feet over, but
knockabotit they are, With no bowsprit,
low hull with no rail, all sail iflboard
and all ballast otitboard.
= Realize Their worth.
Rich folk, when they discovered what
wUnderful play boats the old knock
Abouts wefe took to building them Of
most expensive materials; ana % are
these cup craft extensively buHt-$S 600
per water ylif1e foot for the hJills Alo1le,
and that does not include the rigging Of
them, which must be O notable item,
too, what with sails costing $4,000 q
suit and f1asts costing $65,000 each.
Many knockabouts Of the old days
were beautiful boats and these cup fae-
ers are beautiful boats-1o more beau-
tiful craft were ever launched. I speak
of the beauty Of their hulls ana not OF
their rigging.
the Enterprise, the U. 9. defender in
the international cup races which start
Saturday, is o picture TO rest the eyes
as she bobs TO her Il1o0fings on q sunny
day. And she has more than beauty.
There Is suggestion Of power, Of latent
speed, as she tugs ct her n1o0riligs.
one puff OF wind and you know that
away she will go. With the size of q
InAinsail needful to match her cloud
reaching mast, she couldn't DO any
thing else BUT 90.
Many Doubt Stability
The only doubt q man has is how
far she viii 60 before something hap
pens to her. The hull looks SO tiny
beneath her enormous mast. When the
owner Of the old America, original U. s.
cup winner, fifst challenged the world,
he stipulated that not less than T.
knot breeze be. Blowing; fellow looks
ID ct that 16S-foot mast on that a.
foot.Wide Enterprise, and he wonders II
her owners don't feel like stipulatine
that no more than 7-krlot breeze be
CAPT. pick Brown Of the old Amer
icA would certainly wrinkle up his nose
ut sight Of that mast. Il b Of metal,
not wood, and It II hollow, and down
through the hollow the halyards lead
to below decks.
The idea of ptitting liAiyafds under
cover is to reduce wind resistance. A
few extra ropes blowing in the breeze
would not matter. 50 we may think;
seconds, another was q dead heat, and
halyarcs flying loosely IN the wind may
mean few seconds and so the winning
or losing Of race.
Down % FIne Point.
They are getting this yacht racing
game down pretty fine. The under
sides of the deck pla11ks Of the Enter
prise are also followed out, this to save
weight. The less weight aboard the
less drag against the pun Of the sails.
To save further weight the entire hold
Of the Enterprise Is left empty. BunkS
for the men? Nol Cabins for own
ers and officers? MIN -hh-No such fool
ish burdens. Metal frames and beams
to hold her hull together, pair of
winches to tauten sheets and halyards
are all you will see In the great space
below decks.
Starting Burgess, designer of the En-
terprise, Is great one for trying out
new gadgets for racing craft. Being
an aviator In his earlier years sefisi-
tized him to wind resistance. He Is
also alert to water resiStanee-All yacht
designers are, Of course.
He Is Harvard man, and some years
ago he spent hours &C a time for weeks
on end In experiments ana discussions
with Ed Brown, HAfvafd rowing coach,
in an effort 10 reduce the wind and
water resistance Of i1is college rowing
shells to . minimum, doing this With
out pay.
was never before put aboard q sailing
craft. The usual boom for q vessel Of
her tonnage would be IL inches di.
ameter, and, of course, a. every sailor
man knows, main boom should be
round, also made Of wood. But this
Enterprise boom IL OF metal, and
triangular shaped, and the up facing
nat top of it is four feet wide.
Why the extra width, not to speak
Of the triangular shape? Well, the
wide top has tracks across it TO allow
the mainsail to take perfect aefody.
manic curve at all times, II you know
what that means. If you don't, drop
q line to Burgess and he will send you
Q pamphlet explaining 1t in detail.
Sailed by Amateurs.
= get to the human equation in this
racing game: Harold Vanderbilt, biggest
owner Of the Enterprise, Is also her
sailing master. All cup defenders rate
professional skippers, but they, have
nothing to do these days with the
racing Of the boats. An amateur sailor
group, known as the after guard, at
tends to that now One steers, another
. cons her sails, another holds the stop
watch for the start, another charts her
course, and so on, or something ike
that. In the old days the professional
skipper had the whole say, but not now.
Vanderbilt's reputation is that OF a
most skillful sailing master Of big
yachts, and none need fear to hear said
of him what was said of an owner in
an older day. A cup defender lost out
in one of her races. and the alibi Of her
happen to lose? let the owner have
too damn much to say. But never
again, boy, never again"
What are the Enterprises chances
against Sir Thomas Lpton's Sham
rock? Looking at her In q tuning-up
spin, she seems to slip through the
water when there is any air moving,
but that means nothing much. They
all sail well alone.
what I prefer to bank on is her
reputation for going TO windward. she
can go 70 windward. they say, and the
boat that goes best 10 wtndward has a
big edge always.
(copyright, 1890. By North American News
paper Aiiianee)
FIGHTS LAST NIGHT