THE SPORT AFLOAT

THE SPORT AFLOAT.

T, HIS month is to be the most important in

the racing man’s calendar, for not only is there the Thames International meeting, but also the Bristol Yacht Club’s long distance race for the Roy redden Trophy and the races for the Detroit News Trophy to be held during Southampton Week. Should this not be enough for the keen man, he can fill his time in at the London Motor Boat Club’s monthly meeting on the 4th (the second of the series) at the Welsh Harp, the Carr Mill Dam races organised by the live Lancashire and Cheshire Outboard Racing Club, to take place on the 19th; and, lastly, there is to be an open meeting at Cardiff under the auspices of the Barry Yacht and Motor Boat Club, on the 18th.

Dinghy Popularity.

It is especially significant that the outboard races at the more important of the above meetings favours the new M.M.A. dinghies to a far greater extent than the hydroplanes. The most strenuous of these dinghy races will undoubtedly be the Roy reddon Trophy Race, which is to be held on the Avon on Saturday, July llth, at 4.30 p.m., and is to follow closely the lines of the Poole Hundred. Let us hope, however, that there is not the same number of failures as in the case of the Poole race, for the Avon is an unpleasant river on which to have no mechanical means of propulsion. The Bristol race is over a course of 40 miles, and the now familiar weight system of handicap will be in operation. The B or 350 c.c. class will travel with only the driver, the 500 c.c.’s must make up a total load of 200 lbs., including the pilot but excluding the weight of petrol, and the F class jobs have to carry 420 lbs. The handicap on the D class motor, which, iirdike the Poole race, is not to come in the unlimited class, is not at the time of writing yet fixed, but it is fairly certain that the two larger classes will have to have some human ballast. An additional handicap not at once apparent on the big motors is the fact that they use proportionately much more fuel, and what are normally the fastest jobs will have to carry nearly 20 gallons of a 4.1 petrol mixture, unless they elect to stop and fill up. The first three boats home will carry off the redden Trophy, the King Cup, and the Yacht Club cup respectively, while there will be cash prizes for the first three in each class.

Scott-Paine’s New Craft.

Much has been said about the chief event of Southampton Week, namely, The Detroit News Trophy, already in the public press, because it is a rule that the boat must be powered with an engine of American origin. It would, no doubt, be better from an international point of view if the race were on the lines of the B.T. Trophy, where the boat and engine must be of the same country of origin as the challenger. Still, the engine is only half the story, and instead of having to rely on two main factors, our hopes are now based on the ingenuity of our boat-builders. This hope was justified before in Miss Britain I.; the question is— Can Scott-Paine work the oracle again with Miss

Britain IL, a boat with many novel features which has j ust been completed at Hythe ? A sister boat to Miss Britain II. is Whyteleaf III., which *ill be piloted by Mr. F. White of Lloyds. And then there is, of course, Miss Betty Carstairs, for it would indeed be difficult to imagine an Anglo-American motor boat duel without Miss Carstairs in the thick of it. Her new boat, powered by a 51-litre Gray, is a beautifully finished job, and was launched from Sylvia Yard, Miss Carstairs’ private ‘shops’ at Cowes, in the middle of May. Thus, Miss Carstairs has wisely allowed ample time to accustom herself to the handling of the craft, and also time for the elimination of any of those petty troubles which have a habit of occurring when there is little time to put them right. It is forethought such as this that wins races.

There will be three American challengers for the D.N. Trophy, but arrangements with those boats do not appear to be quite cut and dried yet. For instance, Mr. John Rutherford is not yet satisfied with his boat, “Little Neddy,” which boat is likely to prove the fastest.., of the competitors from trans-Atlantic, and alterationS are still being made to the Lodge engine. Mr. Broyvii’s boat, Phantom, was raced last year, but an increase ‘of speed is now claimed, with a different methodtpf power transmission. The other pilot will be vir. Charles Mouthrop, who will race Mr. Aaron de Rpy’s Gray engined Century boat, Lady Helen III.

Southampton Week. ir

The Southampton Week will be nm under the joint organisation of the Royal Motor Yacb,i Club and the British Motor Boat Club, and proceedings’ will be opened on Sunday, July 19th, with the arrival of the boats in the London to Cowes race. The heats for the D.N. Trophy will be run off on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. There will also be a good programme of outboard races, the most important of which is the Duchess of York’s trophy race. This race has now fallen into line with other important outboard events, and is now a race for national class dinghies powered with 6 or 500 c.c. class engines.

Competitors, officials and even spectators will hardly have time to forget the dinner to be given at the SouthWestern Hotel on Saturday night by the R.M.Y.C. before they are flocking tow-nwards to prepare for the Thames International Meeting, which is to take

place on the last two days of the month, under the auspices of the Sussex Motor Yacht Club. The two events which will undoubtedly attract the greatest number of spectators are : The Star International Trophy and the Field Trophy for B and C class hydroplanes respectively.

A New Trophy.

Lord Wakefield of Hythe has put up a new Trophy for the International Championship of London, which is open to hydroplanes exceeding 17ft. in length, but with engines developing not more than 150 h.p. Many of the D.N. Trophy competitors should thus be attracted, but a further stipulation is that each boat shall carry a crew of two. In addition to the above events there will be also races for stock runabouts, and there is certain to be at least one M.M.A. dinghy event. The racing will no doubt be witnessed as before by some thousands of people, and it is therefore somewhat of a pity that Miss England II. will not be in the country, for few will forget the magnificent sight of Miss England I. doing about 70 m.p.h. past Duke’s Meadow with the late Sir Henry Segrave at the wheel. How superbly he handled her, and what an impression it must have made on the

thousands watching. Miss England II. is, however, still at Gardone, in Italy, and the repairs to her now being complete, Kaye Don has left for Italy for an attempt to improve upon his own record and to also get plenty of practice in before the boat is shipped to America for the British International Trophy race at Detroit.

An Ambitious Journey.

Mr. Richard Cole, who recently accompanied Miss G. Clements on her outboard trip from London to Brussells and back, must be inspired by Masefield’s Sea Fever,” for a couple of months residence on land has sufficed him, and he is now planning an outboard motor boat cruise on a scale that will quite eclipse his previous adventures. As his friends are aware, it has long been Mr. Cole’s ambition to visit a country where the sport side of motor boating is more on a par with car or motor

cycle racing. America is at present out of the question, and it was at first thought that Italy would have to be the goal. It was found, however, that the time taken over such a journey would necessitate Mr. Cole’s absence from the majority of important events in this country, which, as Cole himself says, is unthinkable. The proposition now is to make an ” outboard dash across the Channel” through the rivers and ‘canals to Berlin and back in time for the Star Trophyrraces. Well, it’s Mr. Cole that is tackling the job, Gottpei dank.’ As before, the trip will be in the nature of an all-British propaganda stunt, and Mr. Cole will use the same Watermotaengined ‘Wood dinghy, namely, Miss Watermota, as was used for the Brussels journey.

He will have a companion in Mr. Shnibsall, who more often conducts his cloud of spray round Chichester Harbour and Hayling Island.

These two men are still rather vague about their route, but the details are in the capable hands of the Motor Boat Association. It is, however, certain that the canals will be entered at Ostend, the Meuse will be reached by the Scheldt and suitable canals, and then across to the Rhine at Dusseldorf, and after that they have to rely upon the M.B.A. As neither knows Germany or the language particularly well, I should think a cosmopolitan parrot would be a useful mascot to put them on a level footing with the Continental bargees.

—F.M.