Since 1851, when the Royal Yacht Squadron's Trophy was Won by American Yachtsmen, it has been Defended Successfully in 15 Races

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 160, 24 July 1937, Page 15

Since 1851, when the Royal Yacht Squadron's Trophy was Won by American Yachtsmen, it has been Defended Successfully in 15 Races

'JHE AMERICA'S CUP is the one hundred guinea, silver cup presented as an international yacht racing trophy at Cowes in August, 1851, by the Royal Yacht Squadron and which was won by the United States schooner America, which crossed the Atlantic from Kew York to race in some of the regattas arranged in connection with the great exlxibition of that year, writes Arthur Lamsley in the Christian Science Monitor. This cup was won by the America in a Tace round the Isle of Wight against yachts of British clubs. America was owned by a syndicate of prominent American yachtsmen, headed by John Stevens, then commodore oi the New York Yacht Club. In 1857 the • members of the syndicate presented the cup to the New York Yacht Club as a perpetual challenge trophy for competitive /yacht racing between nations. During the 86 ye&rs which have elapsed since that famous. race, British yachtsmen have made 15 unsuccessful attempts to regain it. Of the last six, over a period of 34 years, ilve were made by Sir Thomas Lipton, with five yachts bearing the name Shamroclc. That gallant sportsman deservedly became popular as "the world 's best loser." Thomas 0. M. Sopwith tried to lift the cup with the first Endeavour in 1934. Undaunted*by past failures, the Royal Yacht Squadron has challenged again this year with a sixteenth challenger, Endeavour II., also owned and helmed by Thomas Sopwith. Whatever may have been said concerning unfair conditiona regarding the race in past years, the rules recently adjusted in a series of amicable conferences in New York seem about as equal to-day as *it is possible to frame them. Even the apparent inequalities in the construction of both yachts for the last contest now become legitimate within the amended rules. A good deal of nonsense has been voiced concerning the "mechanical gadgets" used in the successful American defenders, and also aome criticism about the construction and weight of masts, but American yachtsmen were perfectly within their rights in exploiting every possible avenue of genius in naval arcbitecture, and the fact that they spared no expense in the construction of their vessels is to the credit of their sportsman ship. In the early matches for the America 's Cup misunderstandings did happen, and it was obvious the course was never adequately patrolled, but such a state of affairs is quite impossible in the efficiently organised sport of to-day, and arrangements for planning and controlling the course by the United States Nayv to insure equal conditions for both contesting yachts leave nothing to be desired. For the next series of raceB, commencing July 31, both defender and challenger have been built from the same Lloyd's scantling. Tho days of the mere racing shell are over and the yachts are capable of -ocean voyages. It has been agreed that both yachts shall be fittcd with proper accommodation for owner, guests and crew to live on board; also a new minimum weight for masts has been accepted by both sides which is comparable to Lloyd's scantling rules for hulls. Everything has been done to eliminate any suggestion of freak designing in either yacht. A vast international sporting public is now satisfied, as far as actual construction is concerned, that the defender and the challenger are practically alike, the only essential difference b.eing in their respective designer's competitive art in creating t'le speediest hull lines. The only disadvantage to be faced by the

challenger is that she must give up a considcrable part of her tuning-up time in order to make the passage across the Atlantic. • Endeavour II. is built of British steel, rolled / and tested at tlie United Steel Company's works, Appleby, Cumberlandj. She is an all-Empire production; the makogany of which her rudder is skaped comes from British Honduras, the yellow pine in her decks from western Canada, and the cotton for her sails was grown in the Sudan and woven in the small market town of Orewkerne, Somerset. The yacht was designed by Charles E. Nicholson, and built by his firm at Gosport, on the western shores of Portsmouth Harbour. The challenger 's sails were fashioned in an adjoining sail loft owned by Ratsey and

Lapthorn (who also have a branch in New York), where 133 years ago the sails were made for Nelson 's flagship, H.M.S. Victory. Tho Somerset township of Orewkerne came romantically into the sailcloth trade. Previous to 1685 most of the sailcloth for British ships was woven in France, but in that year refugee Huguenots came over and settled in the English county, bringing their trade of sailcloth weaving with them. Since that time this rural township has actually created a monopoly in the making

of the fiuest sailcloth in the world, for it also weaves sailcloth for the American defending yachts. * An approximate" idea of Endeavour II. 's size may be gained from the following simple ineasurements. Her extreme length from the tip of her long pointed bow to her counter is 132 feet, while her waterline length is 87 feet, and her extreme beam is 22^ feet. Draft, meaning the depth the yacht is in the water, from waterline to the bottom of the keel, is 15 feet, and she is 164 tons displacement. Naturally, tho hull form of these big racing yachts has changed .very considerably- since the first race for the America 's Cup. In 1851 the schooner had a clipper bow then fashionable for ocean-going sailing craft; the vessels immediately following her had a straight bow and a straight keel, but in later years the designers. of yachts have followed more closely td nature and modeled the hulls of racing craft much more like a half-fish with a. fin-shaped keel. The challenger 's bow is like a half spear and equally as sharp on the extreme nose, while tho hull aft fines out to the counter very much like the tail of a large flsh. It will be noted, too, that recently designed big yachts, including both the new defender and challenger, have the main hull designed much like a half shark. To tho lay student of naval arcbitecture this is an extremely interesting feature, for the ATab dhow, seen in the Indian Qcean to-day, follows very much the lines of her ancestors of 3000 years ago whose designers copied the shark 'a body. Except that the bow of the defender and challenger is now elongated to do away with the bowsprit, there is a great similarity in the bow of these yachts to the bow of the Arab dhow in which I cruised while living in East Africa. Endeavour II. 's steel hull plating is riveted to steel frames, and the underwater body is polished to a fine surface. The plates have been scientifically prepared to prevent rust and scaling. Decking the challenger was a masterpiece of workmanship. Over 8000 feet run of selected yellow pine was used, about 2$ inches square in section, while making the deck watertight took nearly 50,000 feet of calking cotton punched into the seams and secured with a special marino glue. Mahogany has been used for the skylights, deck fittings, and companions. A low footrail is fitted to the covering board, otherwise the deck is flush. Nature has also been copied in the design cf the challenger 's mast, which is built of high tensile steel. The bamboo cane has served as a model for this tall, slender steel spar of 168 feet long. The knots or "rings" of the bamboo cane have been modelled in special steel, and electrically welded inside the steel tube. The seams of the steel mast are butt edged and welded by an electrical process. The challenger 's fittings are of Btainless steel. The designing and racing of yachts is a most fascinating sport because of the uncertainty in it. Yacht building is one of the few crafts left in the modern world where art, sport and • natural science combine. In spite of the many progressive advances in naval architecture, yacht designing is still more of an art than an exact science. The scientific accuracy of the mathematician cannot be applied to sailing yacht designing, as it can to mechanically driven vessels which the designer builds guaranteeing a definite speed. As Charles E. Nicholson, Endeavour II. 'a designer, explained to me recently: "We design and redesign and the speed of our yachts depends upon the harmony of line and sail area, wmd efficiency, and, not least, seamanship." Therefore, because art and sport are subtly combined in yacht racing, it will ever captivate the sporting instinct of the great Anglo-American public; it is the only "naval battle" in which they are sineerely interested.