The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-20
DEFENDER FIT AS A FIDDLE.
THE CRACK YACHT TUNED UP TO
RACING PITCH.

Ready for Both the Trial and the
Battle With British VaIkyrfe-De-
fender Makes Sail in a Spanking
Breeze Yesterday and ON Her Run
Down the Bay Overtakes and Beats
Two steamers-The Course in and
Conditions of the Trial Race.
New York, Aug. 19.-The Valkyrie was
lowed to the Erie basin to-day. where her
racing spars will be substituted for those
she used in crossing the ocean. She will
then be docked and cleaned, scraped and
painted The dock she will use is now
occupied by a Spanish steamer. but that
will not cause any delay, as the work of
changing the spars and rigging will take
four days.
The final preparations have been made
for the first trial races to determine what
yacht shall meet the challenger for the
Americas cup, and the Defender and
vigilant will meet off Sandy Hook for
battle royal Both yachts are in bet
ter trim than ever before, and both will
be sailed to the limit of their abilities.
Without question the Defender has been
ing has been intended, the syndicate
boat has not shown her full ability to go.
The newness Of her spars, sails and fit
tings has made her people cautious about
subjecting her to the heavy strain that
she must endure when pushed. Now that
her sails have been stretched and rig
ging gradually made taut, the boat is
ready for her full powers to be tested. She
70 saat4 tfa.a n
Herreshoff mainsail aboard, and it now
equipped as she will be for the interna-
tional races, provided she is chosen to de-
fend the cup Her crew had a busy day
to-day. They put the last finishing touches
on her and This afternoon she was towed
from her moorings off New Rochelle to
New York. The recent painting and
scraping of her aluminium sides and bronze
underbody and the new spars and sails,
make her the most handsome cup defender
yankee ingenuity has ever put together.
At o'clock this afternoon the Defender
made sail and started down the bay to-
ward the narrows. There was a spanking
breeze from the north-northwest, and un-
der mainsail, forestay-sail and jib, the
crack sloop ran away from her tender, the
Hattie Palmer, and easily passed the iron
steamboat Taurus with load of excur-
sionists bound for Coney Island.
The Defender passed the narrows at 4:30
o'clock, and with her white sides gleam-
ing in the sunlight, swept down the lower
bay to an anchorage in the horse shoe,
where the Vigilant has been since yester-
day.
The vigilant remained quietly at anchor
to-day. She is in perfect condition for
one more try at the Defender, and Mr..
George j. Gould. who has not spared
money or trouble, and Mr.. E. A. Willard,
who has devoted months of time, deserve
much credit for their genuine sportsman
ship. Although they saw fit to retire the
Vigilant from further races at Newport,
owing to the alleged disregard of the
customary rules of yachting, they have
kept their word and placed the cup de-
fender Of 1893 at the disposal of the Amer
lea cup committee for the trial races.
Mr.. Willard has stated, however, that
any further disregard of the rules of the
road by Mr.. Iselin, or the skipper of the
Defender will he at their risk, as he does
not propose to keep on forever giving
way to the new boat Although the re-
gatta committee decided against Mr.. VIII
lard's protest, the consensus of opinion
among yachtmen Is that the Defender at
tempted to hog the line" The unpleas-
ant occurrence is not likely to be repeat
ed, as neither Mr.. Willard nor Mr.. Iselin
want to see the Defender in collision.
The race tomorrow will be one of two
which are set by the Americas cup COM
mittee to determine which is the best
yacht to meet Lord Dunraven's challen-
ger. Gen. Paine'S Jubilee will not take
part in the trial and the contest will be
between Defender and Vigilant. Should
one boat win tomorrow and the other
boat the second race, third race may be
fixed up for Saturday. From the show
Ing the Defender has already made in her
races with the Vigilant there is little
doubt that she will be selected to meet
Valkyrie III.
The race tomorrow, wind and weather
permitting, will be started at II O'Clock
a. m, from either the Sandy Hook light
ship, nine miles outside of Sandy Hook
or the Scotland lightship, four miles out
and will be over one of these two courses
The courses will be ten miles to windward
or leeward and return, and an equilateral
triangle with probably seven miles to
the leg
Ex-Commodore James d. Smith, chair
man of the Americas cup committee
SAID to-day that the course in the trial
race tomorrow will be ten miles to wind
ward or leeward and return, the commit
Tee reserving the right to order the boats
70 go over the course a second time if
they deem it advisable.
Hltherto the races have been for thirty
Ihhes distance and this shortening to
twenty miles is altogether an innovation.
AS to the distance of each leg in the
Triangular race of Thursday, Commodore
smith was not positive, but he thought
the committee might decide on seven miles
or twenty-one miles in ALL
me Americas cup committee and the
regatta committee of the New York Yacht
Nlub will view the race from the fast
ocean going tug Luckenback. There will
pc big attendance of steam and sailing
yachts and excursion steamers, and
large crowd of spectators for now that the
aIKyrie III. is here, interest in the per-
daily