+-------------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Prizes | Figure | | 1888 | Starts |-------+-------+-------| of | | | | First | Other | Total | merit | |-------------------------+--------+-------+-------+-------+--------| | _10-Rating Class_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Dis | 29 | 19 | 6 | 25 | 52 | |Lollypop | 17 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 34 | | | | | | | | |_2-1/2-Rating Class_ | | | | | | | | | | | | | |Lady Nan | 31 | 19 | 9 | 28 | 49 | |Madcap | 24 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 26 | |Tottie | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 19 | |Thalassa | 34 | 3 | 11 | 14 | 7 | |Fairy | 21 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 7 | |Minnow | 10 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | +-------------------------------------------------------------------+ The feature this year was the birth of the heavy lead fin-keel. Mr. Payne tried it in 'Lady Nan,' and Captain Hughes had a similar keel placed on 'Fairy,' thereby improving both her speed and power. Another excitement was caused by Mr. Simpson very gamely sailing his 'Tottie' (4.5 feet beam) round from the Thames, so as to try the Solent 2-1/2-raters. 'Tottie' was designed by Mr. G. L. Watson for a special class, 21 feet L.W.L. and 500 S.A. She won easily in this class on the Thames, but only scored on the Solent in light weather, and soon found it expedient to return to her muddy headquarters. 'Minnow' also won a few prizes in light weather by means of her time allowance; but 'Chipmunk' 12 starts, 'Ada' 4, 'Titu' 2, and 'Cormorant' 1 start, failed to score for their figure of merit. The season's racing was good, and the class evidently established itself in public favour. The Castle Club, then at Hamble, gave a number of races for the class, and several members of the club agreed to build 2-1/2-raters for the coming season. For the results see the record table for 1888 (p. 231). CLASS RACING, 1889 _The 10-Raters, 1889._ The owner of 'Lollypop' being encouraged by her performances in 1888, commissioned Mr. Arthur Payne to design a racing 10-rater; whence it came about that the swift and handsome 'Decima' was launched from the Belvidere yard in the following spring. She was a few inches shorter than 'Dis,' but in every other respect a more powerful boat--more beam, draught, and displacement, also a larger mainsail.