Rather late in the season a new boat appeared designed by Mr.
Herreshoff. She belonged to Miss W. Sutton, and was named very
appropriately 'Wee Winn.' She and her owner certainly did win, in even
a more decisive manner than 'Wenonah' on the Clyde. There was no
mistake about it. The boat showed a clean pair of heels to the rest of
the class in every sort of weather. She is a long boat, the true
length being concealed in an excessive overhang--15.6 L.W.L., 23.9
L.O.A., M.S. like a canoe, small displacement, bulb-keel 3 cwt.,
draught under 3 ft. An approximate representation of her lines is
given on p. 266, and the illustration on opposite page gives an idea
of her appearance when racing.
Towards the end of the season Mr. Soper of Fay's designed and built a
fast boat, 'The Daisy,' of somewhat similar type; about the same
L.O.A., but longer L.W.L., and having more beam, depth, draught, and a
heavier bulb-keel than 'Wee Winn.' They only met twice, and 'Daisy'
was beaten; but she got away from the rest easily enough, and these
two boats are certainly the fastest 1/2-raters on the Solent at the
present time.[13]
[Footnote 13: The 'Daisy' was exhibited at the Royal Aquarium in 1893,
and sold to some gentleman in the Antipodes; so that her keel, instead
of her stern, is now pointing at the Solent 1/2-raters.]
[Illustration: Miss Sutton's 'Wee Winn,' 1/2 rater. Designed by
Herreshoft, 1892.]
CLASS RACING, 1893
The racing on the Solent (apart from the large classes) during the
season of 1893 will be principally remembered by the advent of the
20-rater class. It was not adopted at the Conference of Clubs held at
the Club House of the R.P.C.Y.C, in February as one of the Solent
Classes, which remained at 1/2-raters, 1-raters, 2-1/2-raters,
5-raters, and 10-raters; but the 10-rater class being practically
defunct on the Solent during this year, the clubs were enabled to
offer a capital programme to the 20-raters, for which class the Earl
of Dunraven built the 'Deirdre' (L. 46.2, S. 2,590) from a design by
Mr. G. L. Watson, the Earl of Dudley built the 'Vigorna' (L. 46.7, S.
2,569) at Gosport from a design by Mr. C. Nicholson (jun.), and Mr. F.
C. Hill built the 'Dragon III.' (L. 45.3, S. 2,593) from a design by
Mr. Fife (jun.); Mr. E. Jessop also purchased Mr. Hill's 'Dragon II.'
(L. 45.7, S. 2,624), and raced her on the Solent for the first half of
the season under the new name of 'Molly.' The 'Maladetta' (L.46, S.
2,608), designed by her owner, Mr. J. E. McGildowny, also competed in
a few races in August, but without much success. The most extreme
boat, Lord Dudley's, proved a complete failure as a racing machine. In
type she was similar to the 'Pilgrim,' built in America for the Cup
competition. 'Deirdre' was also a highly developed machine, but she
was beaten by 'Dragon III.,' the more moderate design. However, both
she and 'Dragon III.' generally found no difficulty in defeating
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account