The morning call., 1894-07-07
TO-DAY'S YACHT RACE.

The yacht race which will be sailed to-
day in English waters will take the shape
of an international contest, for the TWO
chief competitors will be the Prince OF
Wales yacht Britannia and the Vigilant,
sailed and owned by Mr.. Gould. The
race on Thursday was victory Tor
the Prince by about three minutes and
half It seems to have been fair
race throughout; as Mr.. Gould says.
he was simply defeated. He makes
the points that his crew were unaccus-
toned to the rig of his boat and that mis-
pilot was not Clyde pilot. 1t is pity
he did not hire the right men and it is to be
hoped that he will repair the bluuder to-
day. From the other side we hear nothing
except the opinion Of the London Times
that while the American boat can over
reach the Engishman in sailing to wind
ward the Britannia is the faster craft with
wind aft. 1t seems that the Vigilant
might have overtaken the Britannia toward
the end of the race If the helmsman of the
latter had not steered SO as TO make it i'm
possible for the American to pass.
The race of to-day will be watched with
interest and not without anxiety. If the
Britannia should win 1t will be legitimate
to infer that while American centerboards
beat English cutters in American waters
English cutters can more than hold their
own in British waters. The Valkyrie-
which has gone to her rest-was supposed
to be a better boat than the Britannia.
When Lord Dunraven brought her over
she was thought to be the fastest thing
English builders could produce Yet the
Nigilant beat her so decidedly that public
opinion in Great Britain, as in this
country. reached a consensus that the
| American build and rig were superior to
anything the English could show. Now
If the Britannia beats the Vigilant to- day
| this view will have to be reconsidered.
Whether the English keel is better than
the American centerboard will again be-
come an open question on which nautical
opinion may divide, and in this country a
clamor will arise for new trial of speed
That clamor will probably soon be graft
fed, for the English will insist on the
Britannia competing for the Americas
cup. She will have to accept challenge
which the New York Yacht Club will no
doubt promptly issue. Courtesy will re-
Quire the Prince to sail her himself, and
thus New York, which has lately been
surfeted with persons of title, may have
an opportunity of entertaining. in less
than a twelvemonth. the heir to the i'm
perial crown of Great Britain. Thirty
four years have elapsed since he visited
this country, and since then both it and
he have changed good deal. Not many
persons are now living who remember the
hall at which old Peter Cooper backed
before the Prince with his long coat
tails Tapping round his legs, to intro
duce him to lovely Lily Mason, who
must now be an old woman, and who then
opened the ball with his Royal Highness.
while the Duke OF Newcastle. standing
erect like granite rock, did not suffer his
iron features to show tremor of emotion
when the floor gave way.
Perhaps before the June regatta Of
New ork. further light may have been
thrown on the respective merits Of center
board and keel by the races which are to
be sailed in April next off Nice. When
the Vigilant and Valkyrie sailed their
race last year. the builder of the for
mer observed that yacht-building was a
progressive science, and that with the ex-
perience OF that race to guide him he
would build yacht which would be as far
faster than the Vigilant as the latter was
faster than the Priscilla or the Puritan. If
so the yacht club had better give him an
order to build rthwith, and the other
purveyors of naval materials had better
be set to work likewise. When the Vigi-
liant beat the VAlkyrie her bottom was
sheathed with a new kind of bronze which
had never been used for that purpose be-
fore, and she was provided with
suit of sails made of new
combination of silk and fax. which was
not to DE supplied to any other yacht 1t
is not likely that the fount of invention
has run dry; still smoother bronze and
still tougher salcloth may be devised !;
improvements may be made in the lines of
new yacht.
But all this assumes that the Britannia
will win to-day; and she NAV lose.