Page:Yachting wrinkles; a practical and historical handbook of valuable information for the racing and cruising yachtsman (IA yachtingwrinkles00keneiala).pdf/47

 international matches, which, in the past, have proved so beneficial to the sport.

It may thus be deduced that the outlook for sound and thriving sport was never brighter or more promising than it is to-day. White sails of racing craft dot the waters of our coast line where the sport is practicable. In the inland lakes the pastime, too, is pursued with zeal and intelligence. The advance and progress made in the sport date, strange to say, from 1880, when what is known as the "cutter craze" first made itself manifest in this country. In the light of history it should be candidly conceded that the lessons learned from the Scotch cutters Madge, Clara and Minerva proved of incalculable benefit to the sport in America. Broad-minded Britishers will also admit that the victories of moderate and able compromise craft like Puritan and Mayflower, combining the American breadth of beam and the centerboard with the British outside lead, over such representative English cutters as Genesta and Galatea caused the alteration of the British rule which penalized beam and which resulted in the building of vessels like Britannia, Valkyrie and Meteor.

The adoption by the English of cotton duck for sails, and also of the Yankee laced mainsail, show how our trans-*Atlantic cousins appreciate a good thing when its advantages are made manifest. The eager way in which they snapped up the Herreshoff fin-keel is further