Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1885-09-24
THE PROUD PURITAN.
Flying Through the Briny Billows, She
Calamity 0utsails the Vauntei
Genesta.
The Americas Cup NObly Won in the Most
Remarkable Yachting Contest
on Record.

The possession of the Americas cup was
decided at New York on the 18th inst, by
the Puritan beating the Genesta over the
long course by l minute SO seconds, cor
rected time. The race is said to have been
the closest ever contested: the Genesta
leading for nearly three fourths of the dis
lance, and being 2 minutes 6 seconds
ahead at the outer mark. The wind was
fresh at the start, and increased toward the
finish to half gale, resulting in lumpy
sea. New York dispatch says of the
great race:
The cup won by the America more than
generation ago was never in such peril as
to-day. It's possession has been often
challenged and warmly contested, but never
before has Great Britain sent champion
so hard to vanquish. Had it not been for
the building OF tho Yankee yacht and the
sailing of the Yankee skipper we might
have been compelled to WELD the trophy
which we have SO often defended and
always with much greater ease than to- day.
when for the first time American
yachts have had to bend their sails in
competition with an antagonist to be feared
in any weather. There never was such
race in American waters. There probably
never was sailed before, in the history of
catching. race in which the laurels hung
I'll the very end of a long fifty mile course
No boat but the Puritan could have saved
the day; none but the Genesta could have
made victory so dubious. It was a grand
race from the moment that the feet winged
racers crossed the imaginary line until the
whistles blow and the guns belched forth
their welcoming to the returning conqueror.
The yachts looked grand as they dashed
across the line. Both were taken in tow by
the tugs Scandinavian and Luckenbach
and cast off at their Staten Island anchor
age. At o'clock the race was over, and
the Americas cup was still retained on this
side of the Atlantic. In speaking of the
race ex- Commodore Smith, who has seen
every important race for the last thirty
years, said: at was the grandest race
ever seen in the world, and if the Puritan
had been properly handled she would have
beaten the cutter more yet.
Another correspondent says: It was q
handsome triumph. 1t is all the more
cause for exultation that the races were SO
fairly sailed that no cause for complaint can
be made by the defeated Englishmen. Sir
h1chard Sutton and his crew look their de-
feat in becoming manner. Indeed, the
conduct of the managers of the Genesta
during the time they have been here has
shown that they are gentlemen in the best
oShoO VI tho WOTu. me VICTORY OF the
Puritan shows that the English have vet
something to learn from the Yankees in the
line of naval architecture They are obsti-
nate, however, and our yachtsmen need not
be surprised if the Britons do not give up
the effort to get the cup They have an
other crnck yacht the Galatea, which may
be in our waters before long and make
another trial for the trophy.
The Genesta was regarded as the best
all around" boat in the British fleets of
last season. She won her first race in a
fresh whole sail breeze, beating the Vau-
duara two minutes and fifty-ive seconds. |
In her third race she beat the fastest two
sticker in British waters, in q fresh wind |
and nasty jump of the sea. In her fourth |
race she beat in a light wind, the fastest |
light weather boat in England. In another |
race she won with the wind unsteady, |
varying from q lower sail breeze to fat |
calm
She came to American waters with q
Tachtsmen, and with an unsurpassed rec I
ord. She has been beaten in light wind |
md strong wind. She has been beaten bv |
! vessel built by Americans to illustrate the
American idea of fast sailing craft, and the |
Americas cup, Won in 1851, will remain in
America.