Two paid hands are required with a 2-1/2, and a 5 can be managed with the same crew if Corinthian help be obtainable. The maintenance of a 2-1/2 is not much smaller than that of a 5, and the latter is a little ship in which you can sleep with comfort and cook a meal. A modern 5 is 11 tons Thames measurement, and can go anywhere when properly built, like the 'Windfall,' 'Quinque,' and 'Savourna.' As Lord Dunraven truly said, 'the 5's and the 20's are the cheapest classes'; and to these I would add the 1's. The 1/2-, 2-1/2-, and 10-raters are the dearest classes. Many men may, like yourself, be wishing to go a class higher, and you may therefore pick up a good boat at a low price towards the end of the racing season. If not, you must build; and the great question then arises, who to go to? The most successful designers on the Solent in the 2-1/2 and the 5-rater classes are Mr. Arthur Payne and Mr. Charles Nicholson; but Mr. G. L. Watson and Mr. Willie Fife were equally invincible on the Clyde, until the appearance in 1892 of Mr. Herreshoff's 2-1/2 'Wenonah.' Mr. C. P. Clayton and Mr. A. Richardson are also designers of great ability, while Mr. G. M. Soper and Mr. Herbert Ridsdale have produced some fast boats for the orders they have received. Whomsoever you select, have your boat built under his very eye. If a Scotch designer, build in Scotland; if a Solent designer, build there. Moreover, look after the boat yourself when she is building, and learn the tricks of the trade--if you can. Insist upon having your boat fitted out at least a fortnight before the first race, as a new boat often requires no end of doctoring before her best trim is discovered. Her new sails also require to be carefully stretched, in suitable weather; and finally she should be officially measured before she races. For these several reasons it is necessary to specify date of completion in the contract, and to have a clause whereby the builder can be heavily fined week by week for non-fulfilment--such fines being deducted from the final payment. There should also be a clause empowering the owner to complete the work in the builder's yard himself in the event of the builder, from any cause whatever, being unable to carry out the contract. An arbitration clause in the event of a disagreement is very desirable. Insure the yacht against fire to the full amount of the work done as it proceeds. A 5-rater, complete with sails, properly 'found' in every way, should not cost more than 500l., including the designer's fee, and a modern 2-1/2 rater should not cost more than 300_l._ They cost less than 260_l._ in 1887-8 and 1888-9. The difference is due to higher pay per hour for labour, the Societies now refusing to permit piecework, also to more expensive materials, higher finish, and greater length of hull.