St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-21
SWIFT rs 4 BIRD.
DEFENDER A WINGED BEAUTY
AND A MARVEL ON
WATER.
VAhQUlSHED THE ViGILANT.
THE NEW BOAT DEMONSTRATES
HER SUPERIORITY OVER
THE OLD.
VANQUlSHED THE VlGILAN7
THE YAcHTsMEN IN EcsTAcIEs.
Former Cup Defender OutsaiIed
Against and Before the
Wind.

NEW YORK, July 20-Defender
has met Vigilant and vanquished
her over a course of fifteen miles to
windward and return, in the same
waters that the cup race will take
place in September. The course was
one Of the kind wherein VaIkyrie
viii meet the cup defender, and that
Defender is a boat much superior to
the Nigilant was clearly proven.
The new boat not only outsailed the
old champion to a remarkable ex-
tent, but she outfooted her as well
when sailing to windward More
over, on the run home before the
wind, with Vigilant's centerboard
hauled, she gained on the champion,
an advantage that her most en-
thusiastic admirers did not antici-
pate. The weather was about what
is TO be expected during the season
in which the cup races will take
place. There was a good breeze of
from twelve to fifteen knots an hour
/ blowing throughout the day, and
the sea was smooth. Taking every
was all that could have been asked
for in its results II is believed that
! the Vigilant has beer improved from
I five TO ten minutes in a course of
thirty miles over her form Of 1898,
| and if this is the case, the Defender
must be marvel. The public did
not seem to understand that the
race Of today and that of Monday
may do away altogether with the
necessity of formal trial races.
Therefore the very Interesting race
was witnessed by q comparatively
small number Of people. A yachts
man, who has witnessed all the
races during the last twenty years,
says that in his experience he never
saw anything prettier in the way of
a start than that of today. They
were both on the move and away
so quickly after the starting gun
doomed that every on-fooker knew
that the fight was to be to the
death.
A WORTHY FOE.
Vigilant was in perfect trim. It is
thought that the owner of the Wig
liant has spent anywhere from $780,
900 to S75,0 900 in getting his boat
ready, either to beat the Defender,
and in that way enable him to carry
out cherished desire, or to con-
vince the America cup committee
that in beating his boat the Defend
er viii be well worthy of her name.
There is no doubt in the mind Of any
expert who saw the race today that
the Vigilant was sailed for all that
( was in her. That she was beaten
+ can be explained in only one way
that is, that the other racer was a
better boat. The programme called
for a. start at II a. m, and it was
! only twenty minutes after that hour
| that the regatta committee Of the
! New York Yacht club, VINO had ar
! ranged the race and We're on Com
modore Browns steam yacht Sylvia,
ordered the firing Of the preparatory
gun The Sylvia took up position
to the eastward of the Scotland
| lightship and notified the yacts by
| signal that the course was to be
from an imaginary line between the
| flagship and the mainmast of the
! Scotland lightship to windward out
into the open sea- or down the New
! Jersey coast, and return before the
wind. The wind at this time was
blowing about ten miles an hour.
almost due from the south. The same
breeze held all day; it even increased
during the afternoon, but the sea
was at no time rough.
ALWAYS IN THE LEAD.