TECHNICALITIES AGAIN

When Sir Thomas Lipton offered a trophy to be competed for by the fishing fleets of New England and Canada, enthusiastic shouts arose from the throats of American yachtsmen from Eastport to Key West. It was most earnestly hoped that the fisherman's races would not degenerate into a series of the comic opera flascos that marked the course of the contests for the America's Cup some seasons age. Then, it will be remembered, conditions had to be exactly right; the sea could not be too choppy, yet there had to be enough wind to make it a race. If the weather kicked up rough at all, one or the other of the boats would carry away a topmast and have to refit.

With the new proposal, therefore, the public in general, and devotees of the sail and spar in particular, rejoiced and gave thanks that at last they were about to witness some genuine races, between hardy, seagoing fishing schooners. This, however, is apparently not to be the case. The American sponsors of the Columbia, this year's entry from Gloucester, have been requested to forward exact sail measurements to the Halifax trustees of the Trophy. The inhabitants of Gloucester seem to have a premonition that the Columbia's sails will not fit Halifax requirements, in which case, according to the sages of the fishing town, there will be no race.

It seems a pity that two boats cannot be selected on a basis of competition from each fleet of the genuine fishing craft, and then pitted against each other status quo. To all intents and purposes the fishing schooners of the North-eastern Atlantic fleets are practically alike. While nobody wants or expects a thirty-foot boat to be pitted against a fifty-footer, a race between the best of each fleet would certainly leave the seamanship to decide the issue. It is only a step from requiring change of sail areas to requiring changes of model, and then the evolution of the fishing smack to the fancy racing yacht will be well on its way.