Model-yachting - LoveToKnow 1911
Model-yacht regattas are very different from the toy-boat matches indulged in by children from one side of a pond to the other. They take place upon sufficiently large bodies of water to allow a course at least a quarter of a mile in length, which is generally sailed twice or three times over to windward and backward. Triangular courses are also sailed. Racing rules correspond generally to those controlling regattas of large boats, and there is full scope to exhibit all the proofs of good seamanship. The yachts are followed in light skiffs, and may not be touched more than a certain number of times during a race, on penalty of a handicap. Racing measurements differ in the various clubs, but all are based upon length and sail-area. In Great Britain the regular Yacht Racing Association rule has been generally adopted, and handicaps deducted from it. In America models are divided into a single schooner with a maximum load water-line of 63 in., and three classes of sloops, the first class including yachts with water-lines between 48 and 53 in., the second class those between 42 and 48 in. and the third and smallest class those between 35 and 42 in. A yacht with a shorter water-line than 35 in. must race in the third class. It has been found that yachts of smaller dimensions possess too little resistance to the wind.
See Model Sailing Yachts; in Marshall's Practical Manuals series, 1905; and How to Build a Model Yacht, by Herbert Fisher (New York, 1902).
