The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-07-31

and She is lowed Into the Port of Des-
Accident She Would Have Won Easily
Beautiful Race Under Heavy Sail
lime Behavior of the Constellation, a
Boston Craft.
New London, July 30.-Vigilant beat
! Defender today in run of sixty-four
miles from Eaton Point on the Long
| Island shore five miles from Hunt
| ington Harbor to this port, The cup
| defender gave up the race not far
| from this place because her steering
| gear became disarranged.
a strong southwest by south breeze
| varying in strength from is to % knots
| blew throughout the greater part of the
! race which was a broad reach on the
/ stdrbOard tack from start TO finish and
/ with hardly the shift of a sail. When
/ Defender dropped out il was estima ted
that she was fully five minutes ahead
OF the Vigilant and the new yacht was
/ looked upon as sure winner barring
| accidents; but the unexpected accident
occurred and Defender received her
first defeat.
y better day for racing than today
could hardly be imagined. The wind
WIS strong and true and increased in
StIcuS u Until lnlS port was reached
| when a stiff % knot breeze was blow
ing ard just as the last yacht made
New London a severe rain and wind
sQuall, lasting about an hour, sprang
up and set the people at Bridgeport
and New Haven wondering whether
the smaller yachts were caught out in ii
Happily such was not the case and bar
ring the damage TO Defenders steer
ing gear the splitting of one of her
club topsails and a jib and the loss of
a boat from overheard the schooner
yacht Montauk, there was no accidents
to record.
The Vigilant mad little the best OF
the start and kept well ahead for some
time. Finally, however, she got into
a luffing match with Defender, the lat
ter pressing her closely, and Defender
walked up ahead and to windward, pull
ling gradually away. 1t is estimated
that Defender was about five minutes
ahead, when nearing Newton, she sud-
denly luffed up toward her topsails;
signalled for a tug and was towed to
shore in the hdrbOr. The general opin-
ion expressed after the race was end
ed was that Defender would have I'M
doubtedly won the race had she been
able to finish. Nigilant thereupon sail
ed grandiy across the line and up the
harbor winner in 4:40:31, over the Six
ty-four mile course
the finest sights ever witnessed by the
oldest yachtsmen here. The breeze
was strong enough to test the sail
carrying power of any sailing yacht
afioat but they all chung onto the full
sail from scratch TO finish and made a
strong record-breaking pace.
The result of todays race demon
strates very little unless it is that on
a broad reach over sixty miles in a
stiff breeze Defender can beat Vigilant
but not by quite as wide a margin as
her admirers would like to see. The
Constellation, of Boston, in the schoon-
CT class, made a remarkable run, cover
ing the course in 1864 a really re-
markable performance She was the
first yacht TO reach this harbor, and her
time compares fairly with the Vigilant
4:40:37.
The race today was started with the
first of the ebb tide which helped the
yachts greatly.
After the race the Associated Press
tug, Alert, went alongside both the
Nigilant and Defender and asked Cap
tain Barr and Captain Haf for their
views of the race. The former would
only say that the race spoke for itself
and the latter simply admitted that
the Defender had split a few sails but
the Defender people did not look hap
py.
~
race from the schooner Iroquis, which |
also made a remarkably fine run said
the stiffness of the breeze was about
IL a. m, when he estimated that il was
blowing fully % knots, and the Defend |
er during the worst of it slowly crept !
away from the Vigilant, both yachts
standing up grandly, considering He
added, however, that he hoped Vigilant |
had been greatly improved, otherwise |
he
in danger.
Another expert yachtsman said De- |
fender was undoubtedly the best boat |
and that she could beat Vigilant in any
weather by a good margin, but, he add
ed, she viii be much faster when she |
meets Valkyrie Ill.
New London never looked so gay as
x did this evening. To be sure the |
New York yacht fleet put in here every |
year but this year the contest between |
the old and new cup defenders has |
proved 4 drawing card that brought |
out such a feet as even the capacious
deep water harbor Of New London |
never saw before.
! The Nigilant. like the Defender, was
the center of a feet of row boats, sail
boats and launches whose occupants
looked with all their eyes at these tri- !
Umphas Of American ship building skill !
The United States dispatch boat Dol |
phin. Secretary HeTbert's flagship, was
one of the conspicuous objects in the |
Larbor and did not suffer in COMPARE |
son with even the smartest OF the steam
yachts.
This evening Defenders damaged |
steering geer was taken ashore to the |
Morgan Iron works where several men |
were put to work on il. II is expect |
ed Defender Will he bile to start with |
the rest OF the fleet tomorrow.