Early Types of Yacht

No fewer than 400 matches took place in 1876, as against 63 matches in 1856, with classes for schooners and yawls, for large cutters, for 4o-tonners, 2o-tonners and o-tonners. The Yacht Racing Association, established in 1875, drew up a simple code of laws for the regulation of yacht races, which was accepted by the yacht clubs generally. The association adopted the rule for ascertaining the size or tonnage of yachts which had been for many years in force, known as the Thames rule; but in 1879 they altered the plan of reckoning length from that taken on deck to that taken at the load water-line, and two years later they adopted an entirely new system of calculation.

The Plank-on-edge.

These changes led to a decline in yacht-racing, the new measurement exercising a prejudicial effect on the sport, as it enabled vessels of extreme length, depth and narrowness, kept upright by enormous masses of lead on the out side of the keel, to compete on equal terms with vessels of greater width and less depth, in other words, smaller yachts carrying an inferior area of sail. The new type was known as the "lead mine" or plank-on-edge type.

Dixon Kemp in 1887 induced British yachtsmen to abandon the system of measuring yachts by tonnage and to adopt a new system of rating them by water-line length and sail area. The new system contained no taxes or penalties upon beam or depth nor upon "over all" length. The only factors measured were the water-line and the area of the sails. All the old tonnage rules taxed the length and the breadth. This change of the system measurement crushed the plank-on-edge type completely.

Revival of Yacht-racing Under Length and Sail Area Rule.—Yachtsmen were greatly pleased with the broader and lighter types of yachts that designers began to turn out under the length and sail area rule. They were more comfortable and drier in a seaway than the old vessels. The first large cutters built with considerable beam were "Parana" and "Petronilla" in 1888, and in 1889 the first of Lord Dunraven's Valkyries was a vessel that was much admired. Then in 1890 "Iverna," a hand some clipper-bowed cutter owned by Mr. Jameson, came out and raced against "Thistle." The Second Great Era in Yachting.—The seasons fol lowing 1892 are identified with the big cutter racing. The revival under the length and sail area rule had so far extended to "Iverna," "Tarana," "Petronilla," and "Valkyrie I." being built in the

first class, but then there had been a pause of some years during which large numbers of 40-raters, 20-raters and the Solent classes had been built. Just when the critics were declaring that in the future no yachtsmen would build a class racer larger than a 40 rater (6o ft. L.W.L. with 4,00o sq.ft. of sail), the prince of Wales (afterwards Edward VII.) gave an order for the cutter "Britan nia," while Lord Dunraven built "Valkyrie II.," A. D. Clarke "Sa tanita" and Peter Donaldson "Calluna" ; and in this same season (1893), an American yachtsman took the Herreshoff yacht "Nava hoe" over the Atlantic. Yacht designing and building now became a science demanding the highest tax upon the skill and ingenuity of the naval architect. The cutter "Valkyrie II." visited the United States in 1893, but Lord Dunraven's vessel was beaten by the "Vigilant." Curiously enough, when the crack Herreshoff cutters "Navahoe" and "Vigilant" visited the British Isles they were severely beaten by the British yachts. During the years that fol lowed the "Britannia" held a wonderful record.

Some other famous racing yachts which were built under the length and sail area rule were "Ailsa" (1895), "Isolde," "Caress," "Audrey," "Niagara," and the "Norman." It was evident that a skimming-dish of "Britannia's" or "Isolde's" rating would have no cabin accommodation or head room, and that the evolution of such type would be as bad for the sport as the development of the old plank-on-edge had been in 1885. It seemed strange that whilst the old tonnage rule had evolved the plank-on-edge ten years previously, the sail area measurement now evolved a plank-on-side, balanced by a fin. The fact was that designers had solved the problem. The rule measured only the length and the area of canvas. Taking the length of the vessel on the water-line as constant, then the vessel with the smallest possible weight could be driven with less sail at the same speed as vessels with greater weight and greater sail. This solution of the problem was not apparent to designers from 188o to 1885, because of the difficulty of obtaining stability. From 188o to 1885 stability was obtained by means of very heavy keels. In 1895 the stability was obtained by means of a light piece of lead placed at the bottom of a deep steel fin.