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THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN YACHTING.
11
the Estelle, Comet and Gypsey, four real good
sloops in the first class, the Gracie, Arrow,
Undine and Kate (now the Whileaway),
with fair entries in the other two classes of
sloops ; in the lower class, the Victoria,
W. T Lee and Susie S., open sloops of unrivaled speed. The Arrow beat the Gracie
nearly iom.
The entries for the first of the series of
the Centennial races — that over the course
of the New York Yacht Club, included
eight schooners from New York, and one —
the Peerless — from the Atlantic club. As
Mr. J. R. Maxwell, owner of the Peerless,
belonged also to the New York, it might
be said that all of the schooners were from
the old club. A similar race in 1886 would
attract probably more schooners from either
the Eastern or Atlantic clubs, than from
the New York.
Of sloops, there were three from the
New York, five from the Brooklyn, two
from the Atlantic, and one — the Schemer —
then owned by Mr. C. Smith Lee, from the
Seawanhaka. The winners, I may mention,
who captured the commissioners' medal
and diploma, were the schooners Dreadnought and' Peerless, and the sloops Arrow
and Orion. They never got any other
prize. There had been talk of valuable
trophies in silver ware to be presented
by the clubs, but so far as I remember,
a "tarpaulin muster" scarce raised funds
enough to pay the expenses of the committee.
There can be no doubt that the second
day's racing was the event of the Centennial series ; the owners of the open yachts
were the only gentlemen that entered into
the contest with the least enthusiasm.
Owners of the large yachts had to be
coaxed to start, but the men that had the
small boats were eager for the fray, and
cared for no prize other than the parchment of the commissioners. It will be a
tolerable indication of the growing strength
of the clubs, if I state the number of starters
from each that came to the line, June 23.
There were two from the Long Island club,
five from the Williamsburgh, three from
the Central Hudson, four from the Brooklyn, two from the Columbia, one from the
Manhattan, four from the Pavonia, two
from the Hudson River, one from the Seawanhaka, one from the Bayonne, one from
the Mohican, two from the Jersey City,
one from the Red Bank, one from the Perth
Amboy, one from the Atlantic and one
from the Providence Yacht Club ; in all
thirty-two yachts, many of them brand new.
The Providence entry was the famous
catamaran Amaryllis, brought down to the
city by the Herreshoffs. Some gentlemen
who had seen this wonder sail, advised the
owners of the second class boats to protest
against her starting with them, but with
calm confidence they replied, "Oh, let her
come in, nothing can beat our sand-bag
boats." So she started, and of course, beat
the lot and could, I presume, had Mr. Herre-
shoff so minded, have gone twice over the
course while the fastest of the sand-baggers
made one circuit. After the race they protested, and curiously enough, the judges
ruled her out. It made little difference to
Mr. Herreshoff, however; he had introduced a new type of open yacht, and realized a favorite idea of yachtsmen for a half-
century previous. It had always been a
pet scheme with yachtsmen, that by a
double hull, increased stability with a minimum of resistance could be secured ; but
it was not until Mr. Herreshoff applied the
ball and socket joint, permitting each hull
to accommodate itself to its own sea, that
the speed was attained.
The Amaryllis has not had many successors, and this has seemed curious to me,
for as an open yacht, the catamarans are
superior to all others in every way. They
are faster, safer, handier. They will not
only sail fast; but they will lie still. There
is one gentleman who has owned more, of
these craft than any one else, who is so expert in handling them, that he can do with
them what cannot, without great risk, be
done with any other description of open
yachts ; that is, weave in and out among
the steamers and sailing craft of the most
crowded part of the river front, and make
a landing without the least damage. He
has run side by side with the swiftest of the
harbor steamers and beaten them, and has
frequently gone the whole length of Long
Island Sound with only a small boy as
crew. Surely this cannot be done with any
other description of open yacht. But ten
years have passed since the Amaryllis came
and conquered, and yet there are comparatively few catamarans, not above a score,
I think, in the whole of the United States.
The third Gentennial race came very
near being an entire failure. Mr. Kings-
land, owner of the schooner Alarm, being
commodore of the New York club, and
chairman of the committee, had to start
her against the America, then recently purchased by General Butler, and the two
sloops Gracie and Arrow were induced to
start, and this was all. The America alone
Object Description
| Title | Yachts and yachting |
| Creator | Cozzens, Frederic Schiller |
| Publisher | Cassell & Co. |
| Place of Publication | New York |
| Date | [c1887] |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
Description
| Title | 00000075 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | THE HISTORY OF AMERICAN YACHTING. 11 the Estelle, Comet and Gypsey, four real good sloops in the first class, the Gracie, Arrow, Undine and Kate (now the Whileaway), with fair entries in the other two classes of sloops ; in the lower class, the Victoria, W. T Lee and Susie S., open sloops of unrivaled speed. The Arrow beat the Gracie nearly iom. The entries for the first of the series of the Centennial races — that over the course of the New York Yacht Club, included eight schooners from New York, and one — the Peerless — from the Atlantic club. As Mr. J. R. Maxwell, owner of the Peerless, belonged also to the New York, it might be said that all of the schooners were from the old club. A similar race in 1886 would attract probably more schooners from either the Eastern or Atlantic clubs, than from the New York. Of sloops, there were three from the New York, five from the Brooklyn, two from the Atlantic, and one — the Schemer — then owned by Mr. C. Smith Lee, from the Seawanhaka. The winners, I may mention, who captured the commissioners' medal and diploma, were the schooners Dreadnought and' Peerless, and the sloops Arrow and Orion. They never got any other prize. There had been talk of valuable trophies in silver ware to be presented by the clubs, but so far as I remember, a "tarpaulin muster" scarce raised funds enough to pay the expenses of the committee. There can be no doubt that the second day's racing was the event of the Centennial series ; the owners of the open yachts were the only gentlemen that entered into the contest with the least enthusiasm. Owners of the large yachts had to be coaxed to start, but the men that had the small boats were eager for the fray, and cared for no prize other than the parchment of the commissioners. It will be a tolerable indication of the growing strength of the clubs, if I state the number of starters from each that came to the line, June 23. There were two from the Long Island club, five from the Williamsburgh, three from the Central Hudson, four from the Brooklyn, two from the Columbia, one from the Manhattan, four from the Pavonia, two from the Hudson River, one from the Seawanhaka, one from the Bayonne, one from the Mohican, two from the Jersey City, one from the Red Bank, one from the Perth Amboy, one from the Atlantic and one from the Providence Yacht Club ; in all thirty-two yachts, many of them brand new. The Providence entry was the famous catamaran Amaryllis, brought down to the city by the Herreshoffs. Some gentlemen who had seen this wonder sail, advised the owners of the second class boats to protest against her starting with them, but with calm confidence they replied, "Oh, let her come in, nothing can beat our sand-bag boats." So she started, and of course, beat the lot and could, I presume, had Mr. Herre- shoff so minded, have gone twice over the course while the fastest of the sand-baggers made one circuit. After the race they protested, and curiously enough, the judges ruled her out. It made little difference to Mr. Herreshoff, however; he had introduced a new type of open yacht, and realized a favorite idea of yachtsmen for a half- century previous. It had always been a pet scheme with yachtsmen, that by a double hull, increased stability with a minimum of resistance could be secured ; but it was not until Mr. Herreshoff applied the ball and socket joint, permitting each hull to accommodate itself to its own sea, that the speed was attained. The Amaryllis has not had many successors, and this has seemed curious to me, for as an open yacht, the catamarans are superior to all others in every way. They are faster, safer, handier. They will not only sail fast; but they will lie still. There is one gentleman who has owned more, of these craft than any one else, who is so expert in handling them, that he can do with them what cannot, without great risk, be done with any other description of open yachts ; that is, weave in and out among the steamers and sailing craft of the most crowded part of the river front, and make a landing without the least damage. He has run side by side with the swiftest of the harbor steamers and beaten them, and has frequently gone the whole length of Long Island Sound with only a small boy as crew. Surely this cannot be done with any other description of open yacht. But ten years have passed since the Amaryllis came and conquered, and yet there are comparatively few catamarans, not above a score, I think, in the whole of the United States. The third Gentennial race came very near being an entire failure. Mr. Kings- land, owner of the schooner Alarm, being commodore of the New York club, and chairman of the committee, had to start her against the America, then recently purchased by General Butler, and the two sloops Gracie and Arrow were induced to start, and this was all. The America alone |
