The 'Olga' was Mr. Payton's next attempt at a flyer. She was 32 feet
long, with a beam of 5.73 feet, and had a great draught of water. She
was a very large-bodied boat, was built on the most advanced
scientific principles, and, what is more to the point, was a complete
success; but she was a most unfortunate yacht. With a very wide keel
her midships section was anything but shapely, and ran down almost in
a straight line from her bilge, which was very low and square, to the
bottom of the lead. At the Royal Irish Yacht Club Regatta, Mr. Power's
steam yacht ran into her and sank her in Kingstown Harbour, but she
was brought up and floated again, Mr. Power having bought her as she
lay under water. The 'Olga' after this mishap won her full share of
races, and ended her first season flying 18 winning flags, of which 15
were firsts. Mr. G. B. Thompson bought her during the winter, and the
following season won four first prizes with her; but before the season
was half over she was again unlucky, and on June 22 was once more run
into and sent to the bottom, whilst in the Mersey. She was fished out,
and put up for auction, but who bought her or what became of her is
not generally known.
The third yacht of 5 tons was the 'Luath.' She, however, was not such
a phenomenon as the 'Olga,' and after the 'Olga's' short but brilliant
existence, what was expected of her did not come off. She was, as may
be supposed, very much like the 'Olga' in looks and of about the same
dimensions, though of rather larger displacement. The last of the four
was the 'Oona.' Her melancholy end is still fresh in the memory of
many a small-yacht sailor. She was built in 1886 at Wivenhoe, in
Messrs. Harvey & Co.'s yard, for Mr. Plunket, of Belfast, and was an
extreme example of what could be designed under the old Y.R.A. Rule.
Her length was 33 ft. 10 in. on the L.W.L., her beam 5 ft. 6 in., and
draught 8 feet, but her chief characteristic was her marvellous body,
which displaced 12 tons, both displacement and sail-area of 2,000
square feet and more being greater than many racing 10-tonners, and
the latter over 1,300 square feet more than 'Freda' or 'Nora's'
sail-spread. What she might have done as a prize-winner it is
impossible to say, for she never reached her station. Coming from the
eastward, she put into Southampton to effect some small repairs, and
after remaining there a few days, on May 4, with her owner Mr. Payton,
her designer, and a crew of three men on board, left for Belfast. It
appeared that shortly after passing Dublin Bay--for she did not put
into Kingstown, as might have been expected--her owner must have
intended to make the best of his way up Channel, but, unhappily,
terrible weather set in about the night of the 12th, and the general
opinion was that, from some weakness in or lack of roping, the trysail
was burst up, and that becoming unmanageable, or through her crew
having been swept overboard, the yacht was driven on to the sands off
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