The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-08-07
The SIoop That Will Meet the
VaIkyrie III Outsails the
Vigilant.
FINISHED FIRST WITH EASE
Close of the New York Yacht Clubs
Cruise in a Great Blaze or
Glory.

fender won the Drexel cup to-day, the
cruise of the New York Yacht Club ended
in blaze of glory tonight and the Amer
lea CUP committee has set August 20 and
% for the trial races off Sandy Hook. The
Yacht which will undoubtedly be chosen
to meet Lord Dunraven's challenger
showed her powers by defeating the Vigi-
liant six minutes and thirty seconds over
twenty-one-mile triangular course in
light wind. There were seven miles of
windward work on the first leg and the
Defender gained five minutes and eighteen
seconds.
The second leg was a reach and the new
sloop did the seven miles in 1 minute and7
seconds less time than the Vigilant. On
the last leg the Vigilant used spinnaker
part of the way, while the Defender did
not, and the 93 boat also got an advantage
from the wind shifting. AS a result she
gained thirty seconds on the Defender. 1t
was on the programme for the yachts to
90 twice over the course, but sea fog
i. came up suddenly just as the Defender
finished the first round, and the regatta
. committee stopped the race at the 21-mile
point.
There were six 5000 medals offered by
Captain J. R. Drexel of Philadelphia.
. which were raced for to-day by as many
classes of schooners and sloops. The
winners were:
Second-class chooners-Emerald de-
foated Marguerite.
Fourth-class chooners-Amerita de-
feated Elsemarie.
Fifth-class schooners-Loyal defeated
Neara.
Third-class sloops-Queen Nab defeated
Hildegard.
Sixth-class sloops - Uvira defeated
Norota and Gossoon.
The last named did not finish owing to
broken spreader.
The cruise to-day was from Brentons
Reef lightshfp, seven miles southwest half
west. to and around the whistling buoy off
Point Judith, seven miles east by south
three-quarters south, to and around white
spar out to sea and seven miles north
three-quarters west, to Brentons Reef light
ship, twenty-one miles to be sailed twice
over, unless otherwise signaled.
: At 1o:40 the flagship Sylvia, with the
regatta committee on board, arrived off the
lightship and signaled the course. at Ii
o'clock the preparatory gun doomed.
One minute before the gun was fired the
two big sloops were north of the lightship,
iockeying for the windward position. The
Vigilant was nearest the hne heading for
it first. Captain Barr aimed to swing
under the stern of the lightship as close as
he could run without hitting it. Captain
Half shook out the baby jib topsail on the
Defender, and with her largest mainsail,
largest club topsail and big jib and staysail
pulling for all they were worth the
new boat jumped through the water, over
taking the VigiIant and tapping her on the
starboard side. There was not room for
the Defender to squeeze in between the
Vigilant and the sturdy old lightship, and
what little roll there was was occupied by
the steam yacht Gladys of Kingston, Ont.
Captain Haff held his course and every
body stopped breathing in order not to
miss the disaster which seemed inevitable.
. Mr.. Iselin, standing on the deck of the
Defender, yelled at the owner of the
Gladys, who stood at the wheel: "Get
out of the way. You've no possible excuse
for being there"
The captain of the Gladys gave his shaft
a turn backward and his mainmast poked
a hole in the lifeboat swinging from ttfe dav-
butted against the big hulk, and with a
crash his mainmast snapped short off, and
ratings, flagstaff and deck fixtures aft
were smashed, and the British ensign
went down with a run. Meanwhile Cap
tain Barr let the Vigilant run off a couple
of points to port, giving the Defender room
to slide in between him and the lightship
and cross the line first, although he was
clearly entitled to hold his course. The
tactics of Captain Half were practically the
same as in Mondays race off Sandy Hook,
when Mr.. Willard filed protest. No ac-
ton has been taken on the protest.
After the advantage thus gained crossing
the line the Defender had the race all her
own way. Five minutes after crossing she
tackled toward shore. The Vigilant fol-
lowed suit The Defender made ita long
board and when she went about off Mar
raganset pier at 11:50 A. NJ. she was good
half mile to windward of the Vigilant.
Both boats then took short tacks on and
off shore down toward Point Judith. AT
1870 the Defender was abreast of Point
Judith, leading the Vigilant by one mile.
AT 12:37:1 the Defender turned the first
mark. The Vigilant turned at 12:43:20.
The wind was now freshenlng trlf1e,
and the boats had reach of the second
mark with the wind just forward of the
beam and booms to port. The Defender
gibed about the second mark at 1:16:14
and the Vigilant at L :23 As.
For the run home the Defender used
balloon iib topsail and got her spinnaker
pole ready, but it was not used. The
Vigilant set her spinnaker for the last half
OF the run and gained thirty seconds, the
spinnaker and freshening wind at the end
doing the work The Defender turned
Brentons Reef Ightship and started on
her second round at 2:10:13. Then came |
the fog, and a gun from the Sylvia with |
two balls displayed called the Defender off, |
and she scudded into the harbor once more |
a victor.
The Queen Nab led the small sIoops /