Page:Yachting wrinkles; a practical and historical handbook of valuable information for the racing and cruising yachtsman (IA yachtingwrinkles00keneiala).pdf/259

 will indeed be a marvelous scientific product. Personally, I am quite willing to endure my earthly burdens for a while longer if only for the pleasure of gratifying my curiosity about the yacht of the future, which has more charms for me than the evolution of the new woman, fascinating as this study doubtless is.

During the many years in which I have been interested in yachting I have seen many eventful changes in the yachts, their rig, their sail plan, and also in the rules that govern their races. Speed has perhaps been developed at the expense of seaworthiness, but yacht sailors have also become more expert at their calling, having progressed with the times. Skippers have learned to handle craft like Valkyrie or Defender, with main booms of steel 105 feet long, in half a gale of wind; and there is no doubt that, properly rigged and under capable charge, they are as safe for an ocean voyage as any other kind of craft. I will not say a word about the comfort or the accommodations to be found in one of the big racing cutters; but sailors are accustomed to hardships, even as eels to the knife of the cook that skins them.

Much stress has been laid upon the superior advantages that Defender had over Valkyrie III., inasmuch as the challenger was built more strongly and heavily, as she had to cross the ocean to race for the cup. I don't think that the mere circumstance of a transatlantic