St. Paul daily globe., 1895-07-23
VIGILANT UNABLE TO PASS THE
FLEET DEFENDER AT ANY
TIME.
BEATEN BY NINE MINUTES
THE NEW BOAT, FOR LIGHT
WEATHER SAILING, A PER-
Feet WONDER.
A GOOD TEST of QUALITIES
All Sorts of Breezes and the Vici-
liant Proves Only IL Trife
Dangerous.

NEW YORK, July 22.-The second
trial that the Defender had in New
York waters against the Vigilant
today only furnished more evidence
that the new boat is better than the
old in light weather. They sailed
over a triangular course outside of
Sandy Hook, and were tested in
pretty nearly every kind of sailing.
They started out before the wind;
before they got half way on the
journey of the first leg of ten miles
they were sailing with the wind over
the quarter; before they got to the
end of that first leg they. We're even
more closely hauled On the second
leg they were reaching free and
tacl1ing, and on the final angle were
able to head to the home mark with
a fairly well-lifted sheet. The result
left no doubt as to the respective
qualities of the boats in the kind
of weather that prevailed, but that
weather was of the lightest char
acter. At no time did the breeze
blow harder than twelve knots an
hour, and it fell at times to four.
On the run out before the wind at
the start the Vigilant not only held
her own for time, but at the end
of four miles was we'll ahead of the
Defender. This run was made with
spinnakers set and drawing, under
which conditions it is almost uni
Versally conceded that the Vigilant
is the fastest boat in the world She
showed those same qualities here as
we'll as on the other side of the At
lantic. When it came to the point.
however, where, because of a little
Shift in the wind, spinnakers had to
be hauled in and booms hauled on
board, the Defender instantly shot
ahead. She kept ahead and was new
er afterward overhauled during the
entire thirty miles, unless it might
have been on certain little portions
of the course where the wind
dropped to almost nothing. In those
spaces it seemed as though the Wig
liant picked up, but the gain was
inconsiderable. The runs between
the marks show that the Defender
gained on each of the three angles,
BARNACLES REMOVED.
1t was expected that the Vigilant
would show up with new sails this
morning, but it turned out that she
only had time to make a few altera-.
tions in the canvas that she used
on Saturday. One Improvement
there certainly was in her outfit
the cleaning of her centerboard. a.
diver was sent down to examine the
centerboard yesterday while the
boat lay inside of the Sandy Hook
horseshoe He found it covered
with barnacles and grass. The board
had not been touched for polishing
purposes when the Vigilant was
docked at the Erie basin for the
cleaning of her hull, because there
was not room to lower it for exam
ination. This Improvement, when
the diver had finished, was no small
one. 1t, together with the change
in the cut of her sails, made the
boat do better without doubt than
she did on Saturday. Yet the only
time she gained on the Defender
was when she had that same old
| champion centerboard hauled up and
| of no use whatever The Defender
| appeared in just about the same form
| as she showed in the first race.
| Trif1ing improvements had been
made in her block work and a small
cut of her club topsail. If there was
any Improvement in form it was in
the Vigilant, and that makes the
| Defenders performances more re-
| markable Directly after the start
| the racers found themselves run
ming dead before the wind. Down
went the Vigilant's spinnaker boom
at the first sign of a dead eastern
wind, and it was not a minute later
| that Defender followed suit.
DEFENDER IN THE WAY.
The Vigilant met with a mishap at
| the start for the reason that a small
| sloop got in her way. She was on the
starboard tack, while Defender was
| still on the port. The Defender came
| around just before the line was
reached, but refused to give way to the
! old boat which, because she was on
| the starboard tack, had the right of
way. 1t looked as though there would
be collision, but the older boat, by
| courtesy, waived her right and went
about to the port tack, passing in un-
| der the Defenders lee quarter until
| she was clear. The Vigilant at once
raised a flag of protest, but no notice
was taken of it at the time by the
committee. The yachts went over the
! line with jib topsails flying and con-
tinued up to the time that the spin
makers were set. After the spinnakers
were hauled in the Defender began to
| go ahead. Within the space of a mile
from the time the spinnakers were
hauled down the Defender was good
sixteenth of a mile ahead. Rounding
the first mark despite the fact that
Defender had some little further dis
tance to go, she perceptibly gained on
the Vigilapt, making a. very pretty
turn within twenty feet of the buoy,
and bore away on the starboard tack
with sails quite full, in true racing
style. She was very quick coming
into the wind and, as the main sheet
was hauled aft, she held her head up
and went quickly through the water,
close hauled, making the course south
west in a wind that had died down to
about six miles an hour. The Vigilant
| did not go so close to the buoy but
she went around it just as fast.
JIB TOPSAILS UP.
Jib topsails were run up at the begin
ming of this second leg and as the wind
freshened little bit the contestants
presented pretty picture. At 2:20 the
| Defender found she could not weather
the second mark. so she went about to
port, and, as there was bit of a
breeze at the moment, she showed how
cha could c,oira rra,,, o,,o