1907 Monaco Regatta
Monte Carlo, Monaco, April 1-16, 1907
Monaco Records
In view of the times made at the recent race meet at Monaco as recorded in Boating for June, it must be noted that the accuracy of the course has been questioned; in particular by the editor of the Power Yacht department of The Yachtsman, who was present. As this is a matter of affecting world's records, we quote the following from The Yachtsman of May 16: "We are now in a position to explain the error in the distance of the course at Monaco, which occasioned such pother and produced such veiled allusions to faking. At the Cap Martin end of the course there were three buoys, with a distance between the outer ones, via the middle one. of 350 meters. When the course for the recent races was planned, the race committee arranged to have a similar provision of three buoys at the starting or Monaco end, with a distance of 400 meters between the outer two, via the curve demanded by the middle buoy.
"When the course was buoyed on the eve of the racing, what should have been apparent on the chart had to be found out by observation; that the middle buoy, constituting the apex of the triangular end, projected so far into the harbor entrance as to become a possible danger to navigation of the breakwater passage. At the request of the harbor authorities, the race committee immediately removed the obstructing buoy, but apparently it never occurred to them to open out the outer two buoys sufficiently to compensate for the reduced distance occasioned by converting the originally planned hexagonal course into one of pentagonal form. This was the error at Monaco, and its cause.
"Its effect is to slightly reduce the average speeds recorded, and to emphasize the necessity for at least one experienced nautical authority on the race committee of any meeting of such importance. Exactly how much short the stated 6 1/2 kilometer course was we cannot accurately determine, as the drawing before us are not to scale, but, so far as we can measure up, it would appear that the distance between the two starting buoys was nearer 300 than 400 meters; therefore, the nearest it is now possible to get to the exact figures is that as the boats started between the two starting buoys and then worked outward, the first lap was 6 kilometers, and each succeeding lap 6.150 kilometers, or 100 meters short.
"This makes the 50-kilometer races 49.05 kilometers, and the 200-kilometer race 196.65 kilometers. Therefore, La Rapiere's average speed in the 8-meters class was 28.4 knots; while that of Panhard-Tellier in the 12-meter class was 29.1 knots, and for the championship of the sea 29.8 knots. Taken all around, it may be said that the average speeds recorded are about half a knot per hour in excess of those actually made, and it is worth noting that no boat has yet attained an average of 30 knots."
(Transcribed from Boating, July 1907, pp. 40-41. )
[Thanks to Greg Calkins for help in preparing this page. --LF]
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