AMERICA CUP.

Motueka Star, Volume IV, Issue 189, 12 June 1903, Page 4

AMERICA CUP.

THE NEW DEFENDER ——o —-

A description of tbe challenger has already been published, but so far little has been made known concerning the defender.

The Reliance when she spreads her wings, will have nearly 16,000 square feet of canvas in her working sails, which will be considerably more than any 90 footer ever built has spread. Home yachtsmen who saw the boat in the HerreshofF shops on the day of the 3 suuching said that she should be a very fast boat when heeled, so that she, would be at her worst in a light windand in a seaway. The mast of the Reliance is 160 ft over all. The lower mast, which is of steel, and 26in in diameter, is 11 Bft in length, and about 7ft of this is buried in the mast step. This will make the total height from deck to truck about 1 58ft. The truck of the Independencewas 1 50ft above the deck, and this was about two feet higher than the tiuck of the Constitution.. The Columbia is ten feet shorter. The boom of the Reliance is 114 ft in length, Constitution’s is 109 ft, that of the Independent. 109 sft, and that of t e Columbia 107 ft, From the fores >le of the mast to the end of the bowsprit the Reliance will measure about 78ft, the Constitution measures 75.85 ft toe Columbia 73.86 ft., and the Inde pendence measured 74.89 ft. For measurement the distance is taken from end to end of the boom to the end of the bowsprit, or rather, to a point midway between the jibstay and the jib topsail stay, and on the Reliance this will be about 194 ft. The base line of the other three modern ninety footers was —lndependence 186.39 ft, Constitution 186.85 ft, Columbia 182.86 ft. The gaff of the Reliance will measure about 66ft. This spar is taxed for all its length in excess of 80 per cent of the topmast, but just what the length of that spar will be, will not beknown nntil the measurer puts his tape over the yacht. It is fair to assume that the excess will be about 12ffc and this is added to the base line. In measuring the sail plan the distance from the upper side of the boom to the topsail halliard block is taken, and on the Reliance this should be about 135.5 ft. The height is multiplied by the base line, and the figures given herewill make the sail spread .15,820 square feet. -The Constitution spreads 14,399, the Columbia 13,211 and the Independence had 13,816. The New York Yacht Club Regatta Committee last month announced its schedule of races for Columbia, Constitution, and Reliance, the three 90ft yachts that will, compete for the honor of defending the America Cup. The schedule was to begin with a-race over the Glen Cove courses on Tong Island Sound, on May 21st, The contests between Reliance, Constitution, and Columbia will then be transferred to Sandy .Hook, where, on Monday, June Bth, and Friday, June 12th, they .meet over the ocean course. After that there will be almost continuous racing until the official trials at Newport, beginning on July 3rd, the winner of which will defend the Cup. Then the yachts return to Sandy Hook, and on August 20th the first of the races for the Cup will be sailed.