The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-10-03
She Tackled .n Seven Points IN Friday
sail

The Na.ky-ie was cut sailing again yes
te-iay. aud ia The 7ood breeze that was
blowiuc 4.. 5ay long she showed up TO
much better atvaatagc than she did on
THURSDAY The wind blew strongly from
the rorth-uorthvcst and the upper bay
. covered with white caps. AT times the
. wiuf h,ew twenty miles an hour and a
I better chance 20 test she sails and see
I how they fitted could not have been had.
] l. was the sort Of weather that all lovers
( OF Yachting would ike for the cup races
/ next week. good WHOLESALE breeze and a
/ little sea.
Lord Dunraven. accompanied by Charles
/ Kerr. Designer George L. Watson and
/ Sailmaker T Ratsev. left the Waldorf
/ before o'clock yesterday morning and
| went down TO Bay Ridge, where theY
| boarded the Nalkyrie. II. Maitland
| kersey and Pilot Martin Lyons We're
already on hand. As soon as the carl
boarded the yacht preparations were
made 10 get under way. The blg malnsall
! was hoisted in the peculiar way adopted
| by al English yachts The sailors
| swarmed up the shrouds and grasping the
main and peak halyards rode them down
| to the deck, thus hosting the sail by
! their weight As soon as a man touched
| the deck he followed the others up the
! shrouds and came down with the
| halyards.
! When the mainsail was hoisted, the iib
and staysai were set in stops, and then
| the Yacht cast off from the moOrings. At
| 10 minutes past II o'clock she was under
way, and with her boom eased well of to
port she ran down through the NarrOws,
heading toward the Hook When well
under way the jib and fore staysail were
broken out. All the sails set remarkaD ply
well Hardly a wrinkle was noticed IN
her big mainsail, it having stretched well
into shape. BY next Thursday the main
sail will be in fine condition, and set as
well as that of the Vigilant.
The set of the jib and fore staysail is
simply perfectl and old salts who watched
| the yacht yesterday went into raptures
over these two sails. Two better fitting
sails have rarely been seen in this country
on any yacht.
The Valkyrie went very fast through
the Narrows and into the lower bay. She
made very little fuss in the water and
| rapidly left the schooner yachts Ariel
and Yampa, which were evidently trying
to measure the yachts abilities. The
yacht at times seemed to be going too fast
| for Lord Dunraven, who was evidently
out only to test the sails, and after get
| ting through the narrOws the main sheet
was trimmed in. In spite of this she
| rounded the Southwest Spit Buoy at
I L.
! she cast off from her mOOrlngs off the At
| lantic Yacht Club house, at Bay Ridge
! The distance of the run was a little less
| than ten miles.
The Valkyrie jibed the spit buoy and
| then reached out toward the point of
| Sandy Hook. When well out at sea she
turned back and started TO beat back up
| the harbor She seemed to be sailing
about with no definite idea of reaching
any given point, but merely TO test her
sails in the wind. She made several
short tacks off the Hook and astOnished
everyone by the way she went about.
Her sails filled away on the opposite tack
each time in remarkably quick time and
lost no Roadway, as she tackled.
In the windward work she stood up like
a church and pointed very high. One
yachtsman. who followed closely in her
wake, said that she tackled in seven
points, or, in other words, she sailed 3l5
points off the wind. Whether this is the
best she can do, of course, no one can tell
but no one believes that the Nalkyrie is
going to show all she can do during her
trial spins in these waters.
The Valkyrie reached the Narrows on
her way back at 2:20 o'clock, and then
worked up the Staten Island shore by a
| series Of short tacks, giving those who
were watching her on the fort chance
to see how quick she was in stays. She
had set her sprittopsail and stood up very
stif1ly, in spite of the hard blow and the
choppy sea, which was worse in the
upper bay than it was below the Mar
rows.
When off Tompkinsville she started off
! to run before the wind again, and, going
like a scared deer, she ran over to Coney
Island Point in fifteen minutes The
yacht then went about and beat up to her
| anchorage off Bay Ridge. As soon as she
came to anchor, Lord Dunraven and the
other gentlemen with him on the yacht
returned TO the city.
The mainsail which the Va.kyrie is
using is not new one, but was well
! stretched when the yacht was in England.
| When there was a possibility of the Val
| kyrie sailing against the Nayahoe for the
! Cape May and Brenton Reef Cups Lord
| Dunrayen had a larger mainsail made.
| The Valkyrie has been carrying an
! eighty-siX-foot boom in her English races,
| but a new one was made ninety feet six
| inches in length. This is the boom she is
| carrying now. The mainsail was cut to
! fit this boom, and, although it was never
used in a race in English waters, it was
| well stretched while the yacht was get
| ting ready.
Some yachtsmen have criticised Lord
| DunraveL for attempting to get main
/ sail stretched in three or four days. They
{ CTlllClS6u WITHOUT KNOW llS bnG ldClS.
/ The club topsail carried by the Valkyrie
! is also a larger one than she used in
England. The English Yacht-Racing AS
ISOLATION taxes clubtopsails, so she used a
smaller one then. Now her sail is quite
! as large, if not larger, than the Vigilants
! Her bowsprit is several feet more out
board than it was in England. This is to
balance the bigger mainsail
Work on the Nigiant progressed Very
| favorably yesterday. Her topsides were
| painted and one side of her Tobin bronze
bottom was cleaned off. Capt. Hansen
says that she will be all ready tonight
but will remain on the ways until Monday
morning, when she will be launched and
will take sail on the sound to try the
new hollow boom made by Piepgras Yes
/ terday six inches was cut off the forward
end of the boom, The Hattie Palmer is
hauled out alongside the Vigilant, Me
1 and Hattie" have to be together. whether
/ or out of the water. n. G. Herreshofi
is at Bristol. He will return in time to
! see the yacht before it goes overheard on
Monday morning.
The Regatta committee has not yet
completed the sailing conditions for the
races. 1t is expected that they win be
ready to-day. Until these details OF thf
| races are made known no one can say for
certain where the races will be sailed OF
the time of the start.
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