Evening star., 1938-04-24
SWIFT NEW BOATS
BIG TITLE THREATS
Fleet of so Craft Is to
Compete in 7 Divisions
of Spring Series.
BY MALCOLM LAMBORNE, Jr.

BY MALCOLM LAMBORNE, Jr.
Washington shippers, with the rep
utation of being the first small boat
enthusiasts on the East Coast to turn
out for organized racing in the spring,
open their season this afternoon under
the auspices of the Potomac River
Sailing Association.
Were 1t not for fear of a late snow
falling on new varnish during fitting
out time, shippers would be out off
Hams Point before the first robin ar
. rived here.
1t Is a strenuous season these Po-
tomac sailors have mapped, with six
weekly races in addition to their an
nual regatta at Gunston Cove over
Memorial Day.
On disbanding for the summer,
many of the shippers trail boats to
the Chesapeake Bay country for COM
petition at the more important re-
gattas at West River, Annapolis, Bal
timore, st. Michaels and Oxford.
And just when you'd think they
were calling it quits after the Presi-
dents Cup Regatta in September,
they're all ready for the fall series
which in the past has taken them into
November for races.
With schedule such as this, little
wonder Washington yachtsmen come
home laden with assorted silverware.
Sailing Makes Big Gains.
Each year since small-boat compe-
1tion was resumed on the Potomac
less than five years ago, after a lapse
of nearly 80 years, the sport has been
growing beyond the expectations of
the more enthusiastic sailors. From
q mere handful of boats in the fall
Of 1884 when the P. R. S. A. came
into being, the feet has grown to
30 craft. When in the beginning
there were two or three classes, now
seven divisions tax race committee
men in clocking and recording.
There is no denying the fact that
the boys are out this year to upset
the dope of the current champs.
Shippers haven't spent long winter
nights planning new rigging and
gadgets, pairing down spars, cutting
down weight where the rule allows
and putting glasslike bottoms on
their craft for nothing. They have
gone streamline and they mean busi-
= ueSS.
Consider the 20-foot restricted class.
LAST years winner, Judge Prentice
Edringtons Lady Avon, looks to be
more formidable than ever with the
new Pimm rig that should increase
her sailing to winoward and with a
slick bronze bottom that last Sunday
Improved the boats performance off
the wind. Or take Ralph Young's
Myray which has been re-rigged and
has new hollow spruce mast weigh
ing only third of the old stick. When
Or. Albert Pagan's Mower designed
2O-footer, Kan Doc, is launched with
IN a week there will be another head
ache for owners in the class.
Snipe, Moth Glasses Improve.
Big things are expected from two
groups which heretofore were of the
f-again-on-again variety, the snipe
and moth classes.
Tom Tremearne, a former moth
owner, has built a new snipe. Two
newcomers, George Lindler, who owns
Art Clephane's old Diffy, and George
Wilcox, who brings one of the fast
Sparrows Point boats to the Potomac,
join with Al Greever in his Alvern,
H. l.. Weston of the Joy Toy and
Weston Valentine in the shining Flea
nor to make the largest number ever
to compete under the P. R. S. A. BY
fall Fleet Capt. Greever predicts IL
snipes for Washington.
1t has been two years since those
little Single-sail, 11-foot moths have
planed down wind with the excep-
ton of that remarkable exhibition in
the last Presidents Cup Regatta on
. the day it blew gale) in events sched-
uled by the association. To George
Lindsay and the boys at Old Dominion
Boat Club go the credit of reviving
interest in the class
With four fellow members Lindsay
constructed five of the boats last win
ter. And you can be sure that Lee
Harrisons Gypsy and the Fancy Pants
OF Fred Tilp will not lie idle long
when they realize that Alexandria is
sailing off with all the prizes.
Although Hoya sailors, those of the
Georgetown University Sailing Club,
will not have returned from their Eas-
Ter uoNofinpc IN, %,
the fleet of six dinghies should be
down next Sunday, manned by the
clubs best shippers.
Handicaps Are Revised.
Recent change in classif1cations of
the handicap classes finds the A divi-
sion for boats over approximately 18
feet and the Bs for craft less than
1S feet. The c handicap, which listed
entries under IA feet, has been dropped
Tor lack of required members
In case last years B champion,
Culley Cobb of Little Dipper, has not
been told, we want to warn of dark
horse, painted green and named Bub-
BILE. v. j. Oliver is its new owner,
and when the boys have mastered the
finer points of the 'Uffa Fox-designed
sloop, she's going to clean up.
Two young men, aged Is and Is and
known as the Dodge brothers, keep
1t no secret that they are out to break
the long winning streak of Messrs.
Werner Smythe and Clyde Cruit of
Comets, Inc. Charles, who is the
elder and the skipper, and Austin,
who tends jib sheets, came close to
g. ending In second place last fall, miss
ing by only three points behind Cruit.
=, After all. "Chas" and Austin are no
!. greenhorns, for the last six or seven
summers they have been sailing down
East in Maine.
The first class. 20-footers, receives
i e&AA eta rtino oil1a a 0.1S fodau A