these boats was $750 complete, and, their construction being sound and strong, they will, if taken care of properly, be good for many years. It is impossible to speak in terms too. high of this class after a surfeit of the racing machines and freaks like the 20-footers whose alarming antics so often amused and amazed us whenever they happened to meet in a reefing breeze. Another good property they possess is that they look like boats when hauled up on the beach, and can never be mistaken when their masts are unstepped for pig-troughs or fish floats. There is no doubt of the sea worthiness of these craft. They are perfectly safe in a northwest squall off Sandy Hook or in a dirty easterly gale on Long Island Sound. Another craft of this type which was deservedly popular last year is of larger size than the one described above. She is 25 feet on the load water-line, 38 feet over all, with a beam of 8 feet 6 inches, and 5 feet draught with centerboard up. The boat, which was designed by Mr. B. B. Crowninshield, of Boston, has a commodious cabin with 6 feet headroom, a seven - foot cockpit, and 800 IRON 3500 LBS SAIL PLAN OF SEAWANHAKA KNOCKABOUT- square feet of duck in mainsail and jib. A very able and roomy boat nearly twice as costly as the Stearns craft, but indeed quite a little ship. Personally, I favor a short bowsprit in a knockabout, it being convenient for hoisting the anchor, keeping it clear of the hull, and preventing unseemly dents from the flukes. I fear that knockabouts, or raceboats, even in restricted classes, are designed eventually to be fitted with fin-keels. As a speed-inducing factor the fin has fully demonstrated its capacity since the first edition of this little book appeared. I have not, however, altered my opinion one iota since my remarks on the ballast-fin made in the chapter which precedes this. In my judgment the fin is admirably adapted as an adjunct to a racing machine, but for cruising craft I like it not. Brand me for an old fogy, if you will; half a century behind the times, if it so pleases you, shipmates, but give me credit for sincerity. The keen sense of rivalry inherent in every American will not permit him to be content with a good, honest sailing boat for cruising purposes only. If one of his chums comes out with a faster craft, whether a fin-keel or a modification thereof, he will become dissatisfied. with his own boat, no matter how seaworthy and comfortable she may be, and will promptly discard her for a newfangled design in which speed is the principal characteristic. The so-called restricted classes, which are so popular just now, are, I think, sure in the end to become purely racing classes, something after the fashion of the Herreshoff 30footers now so fashionable in Newport. As racing boats, none afford more sport than these wonderfully smart flyers, and I can well understand what fascinating toys they have proved to their owners. But, after all, they are only toys, vastly expensive, too, with no accommodations for cruising, and apt to be uncomfortably wet in a breeze. The one-design classes of small yachts are not confined to knockabouts only. Cruising schooners, designed by Cary Smith, made their appearance in 1898, and the class, from a modest beginning, seems likely to grow. The features of the boats are their sound and wholesome characteristics. They possess moderate draught, large accommodations, and strength of construction. They are 64 feet 2 inches over all, 46 feet long on the load water-line, 16 feet beam, draught without board 6 feet 6 inches, least freeboard 3 feet. A rather low cabin trunk gives full head-room for the greater part of the yacht's length, the main saloon being more than 13 feet long, with a floor width of 6 feet 9 inches. On each side are two berths and two sofas with drawers beneath. There is accommodation in the forecastle for four men. The yachts carry 20,000 pounds of lead ballast, of which 18,000 pounds is on keel. Another onedesign division is the Riverside Yacht Club dory class, which has been adopted by many of the clubs enrolled in the Yacht-Racing Union of Long Island Sound. These boats are thirteen feet on the keel, seventeen feet over all, with four feet beam, fitted with a centerboard and rigged with small jib and a leg-of-mutton sail. They are for singlehanded racing, but for pleasure cruising or fishing a man can take his chum along. Fully equipped with oars, sails, etc., they cost about forty dollars, and afford capital sport on fine afternoons. To encourage this little class, prizes worth winning are offered by the club, and sweepstake races are popular features. The idea was probably taken from the Nahant Dory Club, organized in 1894, which did much to encourage sport in this serviceable and inexpensive class. Spectators will find amusement in watching "green hands" in their maiden efforts at sailing these dories, as strange and startling results often follow the rash experiments of an adventurous tyro. But apart from the comic element, valuable lessons in yachtracing may be learned by steering and manœuvring a dory against a fleet of half-a-dozen eager competitors. Thus, yachtsmen cannot help approving this new Riverside venture, originated, I believe, by Mr. F. Bowne Jones, of the Regatta Committee. The origin of the one-design class was Dublin Bay, where the "Water Wag type was fire evolved. A Norwegian praam with a boiler-plate centerboard, combining ballast and lateral resistance, and carrying a big sail, was built in 1878 at Shankhill. She was christened Cemiostama, and proved an ideal boat. The conditions were a sloping sandy shore on which the high surf not infre |