The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-06 00:00:00

Ocean Yacht Race,

Oa Saturday the great yachting event of th!
'lames season—the ocean race for schooners,
cutters, and yawls, from tLe Lower Hope be-
low Gravesend to Hirwich Harbour—came
with the utmost success. The first prize, for
schooners, was £80; and the second, for
cutters, £5O ; but these rewards, as may be
guessed, were the least part of the inducements
which drew together such a beautiful fleet of
yachts—all in the finest condition as to trim and
equipment, and all anxious, and more or less
confident of their ability, to carry off the Great

Thames prizo, the highest honour which can fall to
the lot of the Thames Club boats. No less than 27
yachts entered to compete for this rac9-13 cutters,
11 schooners, and 3 yawls, and a finer or more
numerous fleet never assembled on the Thames for
match-sailing. The yachts were the Glance, cutter,
36 tons, G. W. Chorlwood—Vindex, cutter, 45, A.
Duncan—Surge, cutter, 52, AV. W. F. Hay—Zigan,
cutter, 54, J. T. Powell—Volante, cutter, 60, H. C.
Maudslay—Marina cutter, 65, J. C. Morice, Astarte
cutter, 75, T. Seddon—Hesperus, schooner, 33, T.
Marriott-Dodington—Amberwitch, yawl, 51, Capt.
H. Bacon—Aquiline, schooner, 55, H. Ch,lmier
Clytie, schooner, 64, Capt. F. S. Clarkauh—Mad
cap, schooner, 71, J. S. Abbott-Dunbar—Medea,
schooner, 70, W. J. Rideout --Whirlwind, yawl, 77,
A. Fox—Fleur de Lys, .chooner, 77, 11, W. Birch

—lolanthe, schooner, 81, H. Bridson—Water Lily,
yawl, 105, Commodore Lord A. Paget, M.P.—Al-
batross, schooner, 110, J. R. Tetley—Zoraide,
schooner, 155, W. J. Pawson—Albertine, schooner,
155, Lord Londesborough—Zoe, schooner, 162, Sir
Bruce Chichester. Of these vessels all with the ex-
ception of the Amberwitch and Zoraide, were yachts
of the Thames Club, the Amberw itch belonging to
the Yorkshire Club, and the Zoraide, to the Royal
Squadron. In addition to these a large number of
other yachts not entered for the race or belonging
to different clubs were at the Lower Hope as well,
so that the waters of this usually desolate-looking
part of the river were crowded with craft, gliding
in all directions, or waiting, like the competitors,
with everything ready to let go when the signal
came which was to start them out to sea. The
weather from the visitors' point of view was all
that could be wished—bat the competitors and
yachtsmen generally would have been well con-
tent to have exchanged their share of the bright
sunshine for rain itself, so that it brought
wind with it. It is, perhaps, one of the drawbacks
on these yacht races that the weather that suits the
yachts for racing is seldom agreeable to the visitors
who came to see them from the steamers. Cloudy
weather, with a keen and eager wind, and now and
then a squall of rain to soak the sails, is what the
yachts want, while the visitors' taste not unnatu-
turally inclines to warm sunshine and mild balmy
airs, which as often as not reduce the contest for
speed between the yachts into a mere drifting match
with the tide. One of the most exciting races that
was ever sailed on the Thames was about five years
ago, when the match was through a succession of
fierce squalls with torrents of blinding rain, and
when the winner, and most of the losers, too, came
In with nearly all their standing rigging carried
away, with sails split and spars sprung. That was
aawlrnmasoovsstte very ey:coiting contest, and for the spectators a
most supremely miserable one. On Saturday there
littleughoe:itthe etureancte., It was
exvceispit whentors'weantheaerr
Southend, and for a very short time, there was never
a sufficiency of wind to
the develope the best sailing
Aceimbepretitniteorsa,nedspzec3iea,lloyrofevsuencholfartghee
vessels
i e sa
so f
the
Water Lily, the yawl of the commodore of the club,
Lord Alfred Paget. In order to get so large a fleet
into proper starting order, it was decided that they
should start in tiers of three each, each class of yes.
eels being separated, the smaller ones, of course,
taking the front rank. As well as the depth of
water would permit, this arrangement was adhered
to, the buoys which marked the stations extending
along the Essex shore from 0 wer's buoy to the light
on the Mucking sand. All the schooners had availed
themselves of the permission granted to hoist their

mainsail and foresail, yeeels their mainsail and
mizen, and cutters their mainsail, so that when at
24 minutes past 5 o'clock in the morning the signal
to start by hauling down a flag on the Kentish
shore, the headsaila were hauled home in a very
short time, and almost simultaneously the whole
of the beautiful squadron were under way for
Harwich Harbour. The Fleur de Lys schooner
failed to get off as timely as the rest, getting into
diffieulties with her mainsail, which was not pro-
perly adjust. For the first mile or so of the course
Glance and Volante were smartly handled among
the cutters, as also were Astarte and Whirlwind, the
yawl. It was evident, however, that unless the
wind freshened the large yachts had no chance, for,
though the Albertine, Zoe, Zoraide, and Water Lily
were beautifully managed, and every yachting art
resorted to to enable them to draw the wind, there
was not enough. for them, and the smaller craft
began to forge ahead, the Glance leading the cutters
by te long stretch. Next to her, and evidently equal-
ling her in speed, came the Volante, which kept
well ahead of Serge, which in turn was just ahead of
the Vindex, the latter being to leeward. The yawls
Whirlwind and Water Lily, cutters Marina and As-
` tarts, and the schooner Albertine followed in close
order, and then came the Zigan, Madcap, Amber-
witch, and the rest of the fleet well up. Off South-
end the wind began to rise and promise strength,
and, though its increased force lasted only a short
time, it was quite enough to show how vitally its
endurance would affect the result of the race. The
Albertine at once began to show ahead among the
schooners, pressed very closely by the Water Lily,
Madcap, Amberwitch,Fleurde Lys, and others, while
the Astarte began to diminish the distance between
herself and the leading cutters. Marina also began
to show in the front, and for a few minutes, there
was no wind, and to spare. It did not last, how-
ever, and the Albatross lost her lead among the
schooners to the Whirlwind, which thenceforth kept
it to the end. The Volante made the first bound to
stretch out to sea, and her example was soon fol.
lowed by all the vessels, and the rest of the race,
from this time out, became a mere slow beating up
gtide, with scarcely any wind to help
atheaincr/tftt,hae ndwhat there was rather against them
than otherwise. The racing was very close indeed
between the Volante and the Glance, and between
the Vindex and the Surge, till most unfortunately
the Glance and Surge hung on the sand, and both
the Volante and Vindex passed their opponents,
the Astarte creeping up again. Nothing of impor-
tance now occurred for some time, except that
Astarte and Vindex had a fine close race, and the
headmost vessels passed the Mouse at 9 o'clock, the
Glance try ingrepeatedly to go through the Volante's
lee, but being stopped. Vindex now began to show
in the front, and her chances seemed fast improving
till she went aground, and was thenceforward out
of the race. The Surge then became third boat,
but the Glance, which had quite recovered her slight
stoppage, came pressing up, throwing the spray
from her fine bows, and closing fast with the Vol-
ante, which was very slow in stays. The Maplin
Light was passed at 10.20, the cutters preserving
the same order, and Wairlwind leading the schooner
division, with Madcap, Water Lily, Amberwitch,
and Albertine all of a cluster. At the S win Middle
the Volante increased her lead, Glance being a
quarter of a mile ahead of Surge, and Astarte and
Marina nearly the same distance apart. A capital
race between the Surge and Astarte was now made,
the latter ultimately passing her opponent, and
subsequently weathering on the Glance into first
place. It was not in Surge's power, however, to
retain her pre-eminence for long, and the wind be-
coming lighter Glance took the first place after the
Volante. From this time there was no change
worth recording, and in the end the boats passed
the winning post in the following order :

At S. H. NI, S.
Volante .. 3 6 15 Whirlwind 3 34 15
Glance
Astarte

The speed, as will be seen by the time, was not
great ; in fact, the wind, as we have said, was at no
time—except for a very few minutes, when off
Southend—sufficient to enable any of the boats
to show their qualities, or to do justice to
the admirable manner in which they were all
handled. According to the order of passing the
post, the Volante wain the prize for cutters,
and the Whirlwind yawl the prize for schooners.