Page:Yachting wrinkles; a practical and historical handbook of valuable information for the racing and cruising yachtsman (IA yachtingwrinkles00keneiala).pdf/290

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took part, each yacht carried a complement of four officers and twenty-two men. This was a large ship's company for a 200-ton schooner, but the season was winter and the stakes $90,000, so no risk was taken. The centerboard schooner Montauk, in her voyage to the West Indies in 1884, carried a sailing-master and a crew of thirteen. The Athlon, a 60-foot sloop, is worked by a skipper, two men before the mast and a steward. Captain Henry Andruss of the Sasqua, a smart 35-footer, carries only one paid hand, but then Andruss is a host in himself and his son makes his weight felt when he tails on to the mainsheet.

That this question is considered of importance in England is evident from the following editorial which I transcribe from the Yachtsman:

"One of the best features in the early life of British yachting was that the vessels then engaged in racing did not depend so much as in these days on professional aid for smartness and seamanship. We may smile at times when we read the accounts of races sailed fifty years ago, and at the yarns of 'the veteran' anent 'the good old days,' etc.; but there cannot be a doubt that yacht racing has since then drifted too much into professional hands, and whilst we have learned (small credit to us) to look for greater smartness in the handling of our racing yachts, we must not ignore the fact that we pay for it right royally. In proportion to the number of racing