St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-07
THE PEERLESS FIRST.
A Very Pretty Yacht Race Yes.
terday at Lake MinnetOnka.

Col. E. B. West, grizzled and smoothly
shaven, with white plug and flannel
shirt, walked the dock at Excelsior
yesterday afternoon, leading dog and
a cannon, and then every one knew
that there was going to be yacht race.
1t was not such very small cannon
either. 1t looked like Long Tom, "and
the colonel had some difficulty in draw
ing it along. 1t was beautiful race
and the most exciting that has been
sior Yacht club. There were good
boats in it, and a good breeze,
and the race was close one. The
result was surprise. Commodore
Puckett's boat, the Peerless won, and
every one likes to see the commodore
win. And the Aurora and Vareda were
in the race, too. The start was made
with the boats at anchor and heading
toward the wind and all sails furled
and the crew in the cockpit. The
Swallow drew the position next the
dock, with the Mixing, Peerless, Phyllis,
Volante, Modesty, Vareda and Aurora
in the order named. William Peet, the
wizard sailor, was the skip of the Vareda
and every one thought it would be her
day, while the friends of the Aurora
were willing to wager on her. The last
gun was fired at AIS. The Phyllis was
the first to get away. Her sails were
set as if by magic-the jib and mailSail
were up almost before the smoke of the
gun was cleared away. The Modesty
was next, the Peerless, Vareda, Aurora,
Viking and Swallow getting off in the
order named. Off Meadville Park the
boats we're altogether. You could al
most step from one to the other. Then
Mr.. Peet, who was in the center of
them, got grapevine lock on puff,
and the Vareda went scudding away
while the others drifted. One by one
they cOned the breeze and started after
the Moore boat, the Aurora leading.
Next came the VoIante and Modesty
fighting for third place, with the others
altogether near her. The Aurora
overlook the Vareda near the
buoy off Big island, and tried to
go to windward Of her. A pretty
lufing contest resulted, and both boats
went away out of their course. This
gave the Valante and Modesty chance
to come up, while close to them were
turned first with a lead of 100 feet.
Going to windward the Vareda had
hard luck. The center board would
not go down and it drIfted badly. The
Aurora got big lead, Then the Peer
less began to sail. Commodore Pickett
held her stiff. while puffs caused the
other boats to huff up. The Aurora
turned the Lake Park buoy with long
lead, and they held port tack. When
the Vareda turned she came
about and started into the lake.
The Aurora quickly followed,
her and so did the Valante, which
turned third. The Peerless came next,
and willy Mr.. Pickett kept right on the
port tack. The little boat seemed to
sail into the teeth of the wind, and 1t
was right then that she won the race.
When she came about she sailed right
behind the Aurora, which turned the
buoy there first. The Valante caught
the Vareda. and in going around the
buoy. the two boats had trouble. While
they were having fun with each other,
the Phyllis skinned by them both.
The little Yale boat was beautifully
handled. sailing before the wind to-
wards the st. Louis buoy, then Aurora
again gained heavily. She apparently
had the race even. The Peerless turned
second, and the VOlante third, the Va
reda having gone aground off the EX-
celsior bay. The Phyllis was fourth.
Sailing into the wind the Peerless began
to gain, and the Vareda, having got her
center board down, began to go very
fast. There swas no change in the
boats after passing the Lake Park buoy
but, beating into the wind. the Vareda
gained whole tow on the other boats.
The Aurora crossed the finishing line
first, the Peesless next, with the Va
reda, Volante, Phyllis, Swallow and
Wiring in the order names. The turn
allowance gave the Peerless the race.
All of the boats. except the Viking, fin
ished very close together. The order of
the boats and their corrected time are
as follows:
zPeerless, lis :O6: Aurora, LIS 81; Phyl-
ties, 1:16:08; Vareda, l:17:57; Valante,
1:17:57; Swallow, 1:17:25i Voking,
l 81 :3S.
The tennis players continue to arrive
at Hotel st. Louis. The entries for the
tournament. which takes place Friday
and Saturday, already number fifty.
If there is good wind the yacht race
Saturday will prove one of the best of
the season. The yachtsmen are greatly
interested. The Varuna has two races
and the ATLANTA one