The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-08-20
BOTH YACHTS ARE IN TRIM
FINAL PREPARATIONS HAVE BEEN
 MADE FOR TRIAL RACES.

There Is No Question But That the De-
 fender Has Been Held Back and Has Not
 Shown What She Can Do-The Course
 Over Which the Boats VIII Sail To-day.
 New York, Aug. 1s.-The final prepa- rations have been made for the trial races to determine what yacht shall meet the Valkyrie, and the Defender and vigilant will meet off Sandy Hook
 tomorrow for a battle royal Both
 yachts are in better trim than ever be-
 fore. and both will be sailed to the
 limit of their abilities. Without ques- tion the Defender has been held back,
 and while no jockeying has been in
 tended the sydicate boat has not shown
 her spars, sails and fittings 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 her rig
 ging gradually made taut, the boat is
 ready to have her full powers tested.
 She has her big 105-foot boom and larg-
 est Herreshoff mainsail aboard, and is
 now equipped as she will be for the
 international races, provided she is
 chosen to defend the cup. Her crew
 had a busy day to-day. They put the
 last touches to her. and this afternoon she was lowed from her moorings off
 New Rochelle to New York. The recenb.
 painting and scraping of her aluminium
 sides and bronze body and her new sails make her the handsomest cup defender ever put together
 At 4 o'clock this afternoon the De fender made sail and started down the
 bay toward the Narrows. There was
 a spanking breeze from the north northwest, and under mainsail, fore
 staysail and jib the crack sloop ran away from her tender. the Hattie Palm CT, and easily passed the iron steamboat
 Taurus, with a load of excursionists Z bound for Coney Island.
 The Defender passed the Narrows at
 4S0, swept down the lower bay to an \ anchorage in the Horseshoe, where the Vigilant has been since yesterday. The Y Horseshoe is inside of Sandy Hook and \ is a safe anchorage ground near the \ starting point of the races. The Vigi- < lant remained quietly at anchor to-day. z She is in perfect condition for one e more try at Defender.
 < The cup committee and the regatta \ committee will view the race from the X fast ocean going tug Luckenbach. \ There will be a big attendance of steam < and sailing yachts and excursion sI steamers, and large crowd of specta- tors, who, now that the Valkyrie TIL 7 is here, interest In the performance of < the Defender is increasing daily A Valkyri III. was lowed into the Erie 5 basin at o'clock this afternoon. ' The courses will be ten miles to wind
 ward or leeward and return and an < equilatera1 triangle, with probably 2 seven miles to the leg. Ex-Commodore { James D. Smith, chairman of the Amer < ica's cup committee, said to-day the x course in the trial race will be ten X miles to windward or leeward and re- turn, the committee reservingi the right < to order the boats over a second time, if they deem it advisable
 Hitherto the races have been of thir- ty miles distance, and this shortening M lis altogether an innovation. As to the x distance of each leg in the triangle race of Thursday Commodore Smith 9 was not positive, but he thought the 6 committee might decide on seven miles, < or tWenty-one miles in all.