The morning call., 1893-10-10

line just as the starting gun was fired,
leaving the Vigilant to come up q couple
of lengths behind her.
At that time the wind was blowing about
thirteen miles an hour from southwest by
south. half south. There was. of course,
dead beat to wiudward from Sandy Hook
Lightship into Long Branch. on the New
jersey shore. The Vigilant got quickly
into the wind, and followed Valkyrie over
the line. The handler Of the American
yacht evidently felt that he must gain
in windward work, and very quickly,
what he had lost in lateral distance. He
began to pinch his boat high up into the
wind. and her head sails shook as though
there was not enough wind to fill them.
and she dropped behind.
The Valkyrie went ahead through the
water with great speed. 1t looked as
though she was skipping right away from
the Vigilant and so she was. in way,
but the Vigilant's center-board prevented
that boat from sagging to leeward, whereas
the keel of the cutter could only produce
in a small part the same effect.
Presently the sails of the Vigilant were
seen to belly ont well, and from that mo-
ment the American boat began to win the
race. She passed the Valkyrie at IL :05,
forty minutes after the start. and was
never afterward headed or touched under
any conditions or circumstances. When
the Valkyrie saw that her opponent was
going ahead she hauled down the big top
sail with the intention of putting up a
small one like the Vigilant's. but while
the changing was going on Captain Gran
field decided to 20 about. No sooner had
the Englishman gone around than the
American followed suit. As the boats
stood off on the port tack it was seen that
the Vigilant was over quarter of mile
ahead, and about just as much to wind
ward. They tried hard on the VaIkyrie TO
send her head up into the wind, but she
could not better herself q single inch
When the Vigilant got around the first leg
she was over mile in the lead, but the
Valkyrie stuck to her work.
The wind was almost directly over the
starboard quarter as they started on the sec
ond leg. The Valkyrie now had chance to
show what she could do in running before
real sailing breeze. The steady claim of
the cutter men has been that the model Of
their choica was sure to beat centerboard
in that sort of work. Instead of doing so
the centerboard increased her lead to an
extent that made verybody, friends and
enemies. dumfounded.
1t was fair and square open sea race.
both boats finding every breath that was
astr. When the Vigilant turned the flag
at the end of the second leg she was a good
two miles in advance.
Having rounded that mark there came
another leg, on which the cutter was sup
posed 10 be much the better boat. The
| wind was pretty nearly abeam and the
sheets were hauled aft away. It was a
pretty good specimen Of reach and yet
the light-draughted boat knocked the spots
out of the deep craft. There is but one
thing to say about it: The Vigilant con-
tinued to increase her lead from the time
she began the leg until she crossed the
finish line. She had made ON an average
and just about actually gain of a mile on
each OF the three legs. 1t was an ample
test on each of the three epoints-windward
work. reaching and running.
1t has been generally admitted that the
Valkyre is the best boat England has ever
sent over to win the America cup. She
has met, however, yacht that is so far
her superior that her hitherto admirers all
say there can be no doubt the Vigilant
will win three straight races and there
fore the match. There still remains, how
ever, the question as to which Of the boats
is the more seaworthy in half gale and
| a very rough sea.
The official time was: Vigilant-Start
II %. finish 2:50:01, elapsed time 8 :25 ;01,
corrected time 3:25:01; Valkyrie-11 :25,
finish 3:02:24. elapsed time 3:37 "a: cor
rected time 3:35 :36.
Thus the Vigilant beat the Valkyrie by
II minutes 90 seconds. on lapsed time,
after taking off 1 minute 48 seconds. time
allowance. by 10 minutes 35 seconds
The regatta committee say the Vigilant
crossed the starting line two seconds
ahead of the Valkyrie. This would re-
duce the victory of the Vigilant by two
seconds in actual time, but it does not
count, as the yachts had equal chances in
the start at the one-gun signal. The gains
of the Vigilant are officially reported to be
4 minutes 45 seconds in the first leg; 4
minutes II seconds on the second, and 4
minutes 26 seconds on the third.