“Thistle,” being developed from the form of the 40-raters “Varuna” and “Queen Mab.” The main differences between the “Britannia” and other yachts of her year and the older vessels was that the new yachts had an overhanging shallow-sectioned mussel or pram bow instead of a fiddle or clipper bow with a wedge-shaped transverse section; the outline of the under-water profile was hollow, sloping in a concave curve from the deep part of the keel under the mast to the forward end of the water-line; the keel was deep, practically developing into a fin. The new vessels skimmed over the waves instead of cutting and plunging through them. The seaworthiness, speed, weatherliness and general handiness for racing purposes of the cutters of 1893 far exceeded all previous results. Yacht designing and building now became a science demanding the highest tax upon the skill and ingenuity of the naval architect. The cutter “Valkyrie II.” visited the United States in 1893, but Lord Dunraven’s vessel was beaten by the “Vigilant.” Curiously enough, when the crack Herreshoff cutters “Navahoe” and “Vigilant” visited the British Isles they were severely beaten by the British yachts. In 1893 the “Navahoe” started 13 times and only won two first prizes.In 1894 “Vigilant” did a little better, but she only won six races in 19 starts. During the years that followed the “Britannia” held a wonderful record:—
| Starts. | First Prizes. | Other Prizes. | Total. | Prizes Value. | |
| 1893 . . . | 43 | 24 | 9 | 33 | £1572 |
| 1894 . . . | 48 | 36 | 2 | 38 | 2799 |
| 1895 . . . | 50 | 38 | 2 | 40 | 3040 |
| 1896 . . . | 58 | 14 | 10 | 24 | 1562 |
| 1897 . . . | 20 | 10 | 2 | 12 | 1000 |
| 219 | 122 | 25 | 147 | £9973 |
Some other famous racing yachts which were built under the length and sail area rule were “Ailsa” (1895), a first-class cutter designed by Fife, “Isolde,” a very beautiful 40-rater for Mr Donaldson by the same designer, “Caress,” a 40-rater by Watson, and the 20-raters “Audrey,” from Lord Dunraven’s own model, “Niagara” by Herreshoff, and the “Sibbick”-designed 5-rater “Norman,” owned by Captain Orr-Ewing. Since the introduction of Dixon Kemp’s rule the smaller classes from 20-rating right down to 2-rating had been built in great numbers, but whilst these classes had flourished exceedingly, the type of boat built had developed a very peculiar form. Each succeeding craft was made lighter and lighter in weight and more extreme in the overhang at the bow and stern. The stability was now attained by means of a cigarshaped piece of lead placed at the bottom of a steel plate or fin, the hull of the boat being nothing more than the bowl of a dessert spoon resting upon the water.
Fin and Bulb Keels. Downfall of Length and Sail Area Rule.—It was apparent in 1895 that if plate and bulb skimming-dishes could win all the prizes in the 20-rating and smaller classes, it would be easy to design a modified form of fin and bulb yacht to beat “Isolde,” “Britannia” and “Ailsa” in the larger classes. It was equally obvious that a skimming-dish of “Britannia’s ” or “Isolde’s ” rating would be an utterly useless machine with no cabin accommodation or head room, and that the evolution of such type would be as bad for the sport as the development of the old plank-on-edge had been in 1885. It seemed strange that whilst the old tonnage rule had evolved the plank-on-edge ten years previously, the sail area measurement now evolved a plank-on-side, balanced by a fin. The fact was that designers had solved the problem. The rule measured only the length and the area of canvas. Taking the length of the vessel on the water-line as constant, then the vessel with the smallest possible weight could be driven with less sail at the same speed as vessels with greater weight and greater sail. This solution of the problem was not apparent to designers from 1880 to 1885, because of the difficulty of obtaining stability. From 1880 to 1885 stability was obtained by means of very heavy keels. In 1895 the stability was obtained by means of a light piece of lead placed at the bottom of a deep steel fin. “Niagara,” “Audrey” (20-raters) and “Norman” (5-rater) were thus built. They were wonderful sailing machines in heavy weather,—fast, powerful, handy and efficient in all weathers. But if head room and cabin accommodation are considered essential parts of a yacht these fliers, as “yachts,” were entirely inefficient.
The First Linear Rating Rule.—To endeavour to check the tendency to build skimming-dishes the Yacht-Racing Association introduced in 1896 a new system of measurement which was proposed by Mr R. E. Froude. The novelty of the system consisted of a tax upon the skin girth of the yacht, whereby a vessel with hollow midship section was penalized by her girth being measured round the skin surface. Froude’s first system of rating began on the 1st of January 1896 and ended at the close of the year 1900. It therefore had a career of five seasons. The measurement of the yacht was obtained by the following formula:—
Length L.W.L. + beam + 34skin girth + 12 √sail area2 = linear rating.
This rule partially failed in its object. It was hoped that the skin-surface measurement would prevent the fin-bulb type being successful, but Froude and his colleagues had under-estimated the possible developments of exaggerated pram bows, immense scow-shaped shoulders and stern-lines, all of which could be introduced into the skimming-dish type with great success. So, notwithstanding the small premium on displacement this rule contained, the dishes could still beat the full-bodied yachts.
Yachts built in the small classes were very shallow bodied, and in the 20-rating and 40-rating, now called the 52 ft. and 65 ft. classes respectively, were uncomfortably shallow. The best vessels in the large classes were undoubtedly well formed and useful yachts; indeed in the larger classes the rule seems to have checked excesses. Under this rule in 1896 the German Emperor ordered a huge first-class cutter, the “Meteor II.,” from Watson. By sheer size and power this vessel outsailed “Britannia.” She carried a main boom of 96 ft. long against the “Britannia’s ” boom of 91 ft. In 1900 Watson designed another great cutter called the “Distant Shore,” the same size as “Britannia,” but she was not launched until 1901. In 1900 also Watson crowned all his previous successes by turning out the yawl “Sybarita,” the same size as “Meteor.” “Senta Tutty,” “Eelin” and “Astrild,” and finally “Khama,” were amongst the 65-footers, and “Penitent,” “The Saint,” “Morning Star” and “Senga” about the best 52-footers. Probably the yacht which emphasized the possibilities of the rule more than any of her contemporaries was Captain Orr-Ewing’s 36-footer “Sakuntala,” built by Sibbick. She was a complete scow-shaped skimming-dish. The 30-footers “Marjory” and “Flatfish “were similar craft, and they outsailed everything in their respective classes in the Solent. Although many fine vessels, including the schooner “Rainbow” and others, were built under this rule, it was obviously insufficient to check the hollow-sectioned type.
The Second Linear Rating Rule.—This rule, also suggested by Froude, was introduced on the 1st of January 1901. The confidence of yachtsmen had been decidedly shaken by the previous rule, and the Y.R.A. agreed to fix this rule for a period of seven years. The object of the rule was to ensure a big-bodied vessel. The formula was:—
Length + breadth + 34girth +4d + 12 √sail area2.1 = linear rating.
Now the novelty of this rule was the new tax d. This d represents the difference in feet between the measurement of the girth of the yacht’s hull taken round the skin surface and the girth at the same place measured with a string pulled taut. This measurement is taken 610ths of the distance from the fore end of the water-line. It is easy to see that in a full-bodied yacht d= a small unit, whilst in a hollow-bodied yacht d= a larger unit. Four times d being taken, it followed that hollow-bodied yachts were heavily penalized. This ingenious d measurement was evolved by Alfred Benzon, a Danish scientist and yachtsman. The rule, so far as the development of a full-bodied cabin yacht went, proved very successful. It had certain marked faults: the measurement of the girth at a fixed station caused a shallowness of keel at that particular spot, and there was no check upon the full pram bows, which when introduced into vessels of heavy displacement strained the ships terribly as they smashed into a heavy seaway. The new racing yachts generally, however, from 1896 onwards, proved worthy and fast vessels.
As an instance of what could be done with them, in 1901 a memorable match was sailed on the Clyde between the Watson cutter
