TEKLA 1902
Tekla was a fine black, steel centreboard schooner, designed by A. Cary Smith of New York who, years earlier, designed Oriole II for Commodore Gooderham. She was brought to RCYC about 1911 by Sir John Craig Eaton and, in company with Florence, his 172-foot steam yacht, flew his private signal – a blue swallowtail with gold border and monogram.
Tekla was the first RCYC yacht to be equipped with wireless.
She was very fast but did little racing. Laid up during the war years, she was eventually sold.
L.O.A. 108 ft.
L.W.L. 78 ft.
Beam 21 ft.
Draught 12 ft.
INVADER 1901
Having won with Canada in 1896 and lost with Beaver in 1899, Æmilius Jarvis sought in 1901 to recover Canada's Cup from Chicago Yacht Club. The RCYC challenger was Invader, built by Capt. Andrews of Oakville for Commodore George H. Gooderham. Invader was a light-displacement fin-keel sloop with spade rudder, designed to the Girth Rule by Charles Sibbick of Cowes, England, whose designs incorporated much which is considered modern today.
The 1901 confrontation was classic as Invader's rival, selected from six U.S. contenders, was the centreboard sloop Cadillac, a direct descendant of the 1899 winner Genesee.
In a strong breeze and heavy seas, Cadillac drove to an easy first-race win. Light to moderate breezes prevailed for the rest of the series and Jarvis sailed Invader to three wins in a row to return Canada's Cup to Canada.
In June of 1902, sailed by only Commodore Gooderham and one other, Invader defeated a fleet of 20 yachts to win a trophy offered by the Mail and Empire. In August she won the Prince of Wales Cup and this victory appears to have been her last hurrah. She is recorded in the fleet list as owned in Hamilton in 1908, and then disappears from view.
L.O.A. 51 ft.
L.W.L. 27 ft. 6 in.
Beam 9 ft. 9 in.
Draught 6 ft. 7 in.
Sail area 1460 sq. ft.
ADELE 1907
The sixth Canada's Cup contest in eleven years was to be the last for a generation. Three Canadian contenders were built, Crusader, Aileen II, and Adele. Adele was designed and built by A.E. Payne of Southampton, England. Her owner was Mr. Cawhtra Mulock and her skipper was Mr. Æmilius Jarvis.
Only one U.S. aspirant was built and it was Adele's misfortune that this one was Seneca, designed and built by Herreshoff in Bristol, Rhode Island, for a Rochester Yacht Club syndicate.
The Canadians were suspicious of Seneca's eligibility and pre-series measurements confirmed that she was over the permitted 27-foot rating. Last minute rig modifications resolved the problem, but not the tensions which surfaced again as protests marred the first race start. Finally the contest began and Adele was unable to provide serious competition for Seneca, losing three straight races in varied conditions.
Canada's Cup was not again contested until 1930. In 1909, Adele was purchased by Norman Gooderham and renamed Eleanor. She is last recorded in the RCYC register in 1926 under the name Saita.
L.O.A. 43 ft. 1 in.
L.W.L. 29 ft. 8 in.
Beam 9 ft. 3 in.
Draught 6 ft. 5 in.
Sail area 1347 sq. ft.
BEAVER 1899
Canada's 1896 victory at Put-In-Bay remained unchallenged for only three years. With her Cup offered as the prize, enthusiasm for the 1899 series ran high in both U.S.A. and Canada. Six aspirants for the defence were built and five of them were by Canadian designers. The sixth was Beaver, designed by A.E. Payne of Southampton, England, and she was selected to defend, although Minota, amateur-designed by Mr. H. C. McLeod of Toronto, was acknowledged to be faster in light airs.
The challenging Chicago Yacht Club also had a array of six fine contenders from which to select. Their choice was Genesee, a centreboard sloop which happened to hail from Rochester Yacht Club.
Beaver and Genesee were well matched and the racing was close but generally light air worked to the challenger's advantage. Genesee won three in a row and took Canada's Cup to Chicago – and in the process initiated the long and illustrious involvement of Rochester Yacht Club.
Although syndicate-owned, Beaver's skipper in the Canada's Cup series was Æmilius Jarvis. Two years later, Beaver was still good enough to compete in the 1902 Canadian trials and later in that same summer, win major honours in the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo. In 1903, she was the first winner of the Olcott Cup and is recorded as racing, but no longer winning, in 1909.
She last appears in the mural in the RCYC Ballroom of the Prince of Wales Cup Race, 1910.
L.O.A. 42 ft. 9 in.
L.W.L. 29 ft. 6 in.
Beam 9 ft. 6 in.
Draught 6 ft.
Sail area 1311 sq. ft.
TEMERAIRE 1905
Seeking to recover Canada's Cup, the RCYC Members built three contenders for the 1905 challenge against Rochester Yacht Club. Temeraire was designed by Wm. Fife Jr. and built by Captain Andrews in Oakville for Rear Commodore Nichols, who was President of Canadian General Electric Co. and prominent in various Canadian industrial and shipping enterprises.
This time, the Canada's Cup contenders were built to the 30-foot waterline restricted class. Temeraire won the Canadian trials and, sailed by E.K.M. Wedd, took two heavy-weather races from Iroquois, the Rochester defender, but Iroquois won three in light going to successfully defend.
In 1905, Temeraire defeated arch-rival Zoraya in 15 out of 16 starts – and hardly ever again. In 1906, a notable rescue of a man overboard from Zoraya caused Messrs. Bartlette, Barber and Sinclair of Temeraire's crew to receive gold medals at a special meeting of Members, which also granted Life Memberships to J.W. Bartlette and Herbert Barber.
Converted to a yawl rig, Temeraire sailed for many years out of Kingston. Her days ended when she was broken up near Deseronto shortly after the Second World War.
L.O.A. 50 ft. 6 in.
L.W.L. 30 ft.
Beam 9 ft. 6 in.
Draught 7 ft.
Sail area 1550 sq. ft.