The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, July 3, 1904, Page 11

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL, plified in the vessels that ed for the San Fran- challenge cup, small way the great keén place in the perpetual challenger was the i-out cruising yacht She of is the mass of hold her together, e after the race by until next win, to up nounced care for nothing but landlubber, the is ail that can be the amateur yachts- o ser ssel kes his pleasure out of an to ruise some quiet ren- on and a re. a howl goes up surement rule for ertopenalize these s. But experience has taught have been followers of the t will be of no use, for found designers whose fully checkmate there may be. 1 race they must productions like the nd worse. The only way eak is to stop racing. in modern times has under- a radical change as the vacht. Within the last twenty- the improvements, if they improvements, have been a del e to tim men w see dern nautical racing ma- e present craft hes ceased is 2 much faster vessel. atement which needs an , for the modern boat does ver a glven distance any faster ord runs of a quarter of a 50, but the extreme speed reached in much lighter n years ago. It is here that boat of the present lays claim to swiftness. e speed gained In the *70's under venty-knot breeze is now reached in a ten-knot wind. And as ten-knot breezes are more oftén met with in hting centers of the -knot breezes, it can y the present craft is S0 swift. The increased is the outcome of the evolution gning under a given rule of ineasurement. v five years ago a builder whit- a model and buflt from it. If lucky in his whittling he had a at. But to-day it is different. g In construction is laid down nd the errors of previous de- n in actual sailing, are ist. It is here that the ement in speed has been winds tha he advent of the school of de- e the study of construc- wooden hulks were re- the iron kettle,” and from as evolved the bronze and t of to-day. great changes been of v If the present condition is considered it would be find the benefits, for outside of money the racing game the wholesome cruiser a ast. This is the condition of affairs on the Atlantic waters, Francisco Bay is at oint, for on June 9 | be a race for the San Fran- t challenge cup, which ed for by one of the boats that has ever sailed rst type of d two years ago that ‘the 20ing to the “bowwows"” challenger of the San Fran- cisco Yacht Club came out, but if that was so at that time what must be said of the challenging boat Corinthian of to-day? Jt has been claimed that the perpetual cun is one of the worst fac. £ n local yachting and has not been productive of any good. A review of the boats that have raced for it may be considered and the yachtsman left to Judge. “The first race for the cup took place on August 31, 1895. The trophy had been turned over to the Encinal Club to defend, and the San Franciscos were the first to try to capture it. In fact, it has been the endeavors of the San Francisco Club to capture and retain it that have kept the trophy before the yachting pu , for outside of this club the others have taken very little inter- est in it. The great majority of the Corinthian Club members do not be- lieve in the races and have only built the freak Corinthian to defend their yachting honor. The first boat sent after the cup by the San Franciscos was C. H. Morrill's Queén. The Queen had won the open champlonship cup, and it was thought that she would have an easy time get- ting the “mug.” When the challenge was sent in the Encinal yachtsmen were in despair, for they did not own a yacht that was sailing in the class with the Queen and by the deed of gift they could not build one. ‘When things were the darkest the late Commodore E. A. von Schmidt of the California Club happened along and showed the Alameda yachtsmen how the Ei Sueno, owned by Com- modore Joseph A. Leonard, could be worked over so that she would be within 10 per cent of the challenging yacht. It required considerable hust- ling to get ElI Sueno in shape be- fore the time limit for the race -vas up. But on August 31, 1895, EI Sueno was sent to the line fit as a fiddle. Captain Hanley was at the stick of El Sueno, while “Eddie” How- ard was at the wheel of the Queen. Befgre the yachts got to the channel mark it was seen that ElI Sueno had a lead that barring accident would give her the race. She finally crossed the line a winner by 8 minutes and 25 seconds. Up to EIl Sueno’s time the yachts on San Francisco Bay had clipper bows and were full of body and light of draft, ideal boats for the shallow waters of the bay. El Sueno was among the first of the “spoonbow” boats. She was almost ten feet longer on deck than the Queen, with hardly any more accem- modations below. Nothing daunted the San Franciscos came back for it the next year. This time with William Sutherland’'s Catherine, a craft that had been mod- ernized by having the plumb bow and stern chopped off and an overhanging affair put on. She was in the 30-foot class, As in the previous year, there was nothing at the time of the challenge in the Encinal that would have a show with the Sausalito boat except the Fawn, an out-and-out crulser owned by George Tyson. EI Sueno's ex- perience stood the Encinals in good stead and they chopped off the plumb bow of the Fawn and gave her an overhang. The race took place on August 15, 1896. The Fawn won by 6 minutes and 19 seconds and registered the second defeat for the San Franciscos. This race came near wrecking the brotherly love of the yachtsmen on the bay, for the San Franciscos were accused of sharp practice In getting a crew aboard that did not come under the rule of amateurism. The trouble did not come to light until the annual race of the Pacific Interclub Yacht Asso- ciation of that year, when the Cath- erine was disqualified and lost second prize for having a yachtsman -aboard whom the association did not consider a bona fide member of the club. In 1897 the third race was sailed. This time the Corinthians were the challengers. The Aeolus, owned by Carl Westerfeld and R. H. Morrow, was sent after the cup. The Aeolus was the latest production of the over- hang type and had won everything. She was In the 30-foot class and the Encinals sent the Fawn to the line again, not that they thought she would win out, but it was all they had and the remodeling of old boats had proven an expensive luxury. ; The race took place on June 20, 1897, and for the only time in the history of yachting on local waters, even to the present day, the race was declared off, as the vachts failed to cover the course within the time limit because of the lack of wind. Six days later the yachts were again sent to the line. John W. Pew was at the stick of the Aeolus and J. A. Ros- siter was sailing master of the Fawn, The Aeolus won easily with six min- utes and thirty-five seconds to spare. The Aeolus, in this rase and others in the same year and in 189%, proved herself such a superior noat that none of the clubs on the bay cared to try for the cup. In the meantime Captain Matthew Turner was trying his hand at building yachts at his shipvards at ==/ X/ \\ Benicia. He turned out the Gadder and the Villain. In tryouts both of these yachts showed such speed that, inasmuch as the captain was a mem- ber of the San Francisco Yacht Club, that body again sent in a challenge for the cup. The Gadder was niet by the Truant of the Corinthian Yacht Club, a Cape Cod catboat that had been given an overhanging bow and stern some years befcre and which in the early part of 1899 had displayed considerable speed. The race took place on September 23, 1899, Willlam N. MecCarthy was at the stick of the Gadder,” while John W. Pew, the owner of the Truant, shaped her course. The Gadder won out on time allowance, getting the trophy by one minute and fifty-eight seccnds. The Corinthians were not satisfied with the result, neither as to the race nor the choice of boat they had select- ed to send after the cup, so the next year they came back to the Aeolus. On August 4 the Aeolus and Gaggler were sent to the line. Carl Westerfeid as in command of the Aeolus and tharlie” Chapman handied the Gad- der, which the San Wranciscos sent out again. ~ 3 .and the Helen 1t was a procession. The Aeolus won 25 minutes and 30 seconds. This time it was the skipper that was not satisfied with the results. He had built a vacht which he thought had lots of speed and the next year sent in a challenge from the Vallejo Yachting and Boating Club, of which ke was commodore. his was the closest race that has ever taken place for the tro- phy. The Presto was called upon by the Corinthians to defen the trophy against Chapman's Helen. The race took place on Ausust 10, 1201. There was plenty of wind to spare had the race well in hand until the last beat to windward, when it lightened up and the Presto, which was over-canvassed, was able to pull up and win by 40 seccnds. ‘While the racing w going on San Franciscos had not been idle the hey sent East to B. B. Crowninshield d bought a design of a modern racing, boat in the thirtr-foot She was! built during the winter of 1901 and 1402 ard w sent after ihe ¢ The race took place on Mav The Harpoon, @ 1 g0 in the 30-foot class, owned b; £harp and W. H. Toepke, was p as the defender. The Harnoon was a fast boat and Fred Russ Cook salled her well, but she was not 2 match for the San Francisco syndicate boat, Challenger. The latter crossed the line 10 minutes and 54 seconds in the lead. There was to have becn race last year, but the Corinthians not build their boat in time and the event went over until now. In every race gingé 1897, when the Aeolus and Fawn came together, the bouts built have becn constructed for specd at the expense of cruising quall- ties. The Gadder was an open boat N TRUANT E 899 which had been housed to come within the law. The Helen was little better, while the Challenger is a racer and the Corinthian a\ freak. The Truant will pass guster, the Presto has been en- I 7895: EL._SUENO RECORDS FOR THE INCE A T, 1595, FGR THE Actua cted | YACHT s o §7:47 9 oo 3 sean 8 25 min. 30 sem 40 sea 54 sea. ut of no uge for an over- wer made over to cruls- nsions but the Co 1 to have crew ¢ not for o Bay. t to be & Corinthian th »uld have sor the charaet of from the istics Queen to the pated i evolutio “an race and is of ¢ the crulsing who race the Jlast ose able type. d large for er order. speed at the ex- pense of cruising comfort. Gadder—Very pleasant for an after- fact that if “orinthian “ e