San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-09-06


Valkyrie white and the application
of the Japanese lacquer on the I'M
der body, to give her as fine rae
ing bottom as possible, was practi-
cally finished last evening. After
a thorough inspection, Captains
Cranfield and Syracuse said they
were thoroughly satisfied with it.
The Valkyrie will be floated this
morning. 1t has leaked out with
in a day or two that those in charge
of the Valkyrie are not quite salts
fed with the stability Of their
craft in strong breeze. They
have said that her angle Of keel
under such conditions is not we'll
defined that is, when she is in a
breeze she does not act like other
boats after reaching her bearing
but keeps on heeling. Judging
from what Captain Cranfield has
recently said, it would seem that
he is not at all sure that the Val
kyrie will do the runaway act with
the Defender, leaving her from the
first race a thoroughly defeated
boat. This well-known British
skipper is reported to have recent
ly said to friend: ~ shall be
glad when the whole thing is over.
l shall not let 1t worry me any
more. The boat does not seem to
60 as she ought, and 1 cannot help
it." And yet the Valkyrie has
firm friends as was shown to be
the case today. The yacht races
have, of course, been much talked
of on the Stock Exchange. Din
ners, hats, suits of clothes and
such minor and easily settled wag-
ers have been numerous in conse-
quence. 1t was left until now,
however, for the men Of small bets
to take back seat. This they did
when Davis Barnes announced
that he had several thousand dol
lars to invest in the success of the
British craft and that his terms
were 5 to 6. That is he wanted all
the Defenders supporters. who
were willing to speculate to give
him $4,000 to $1,000, and that pro-
portionately to the tune of other
thousands If such Defender men
existed.
Building and sailing ninety
foot racing cutter is a luxury that
taxes the income of even a million
aire. The light construction nova
days, since manganese and Tobin
bronze and aluminium have begun
to play so important part in
yacht building, costs three and four
times what the old wooden or steel
boats used to. Everything on big
boat now is built as lightly and
strongly as possible. The cost of
constructing the Defender and rae
ing her will be nearly $500, 600, 1t is
said, and the Valkyrie ILL.,, al
though built of wood and steel, will
cost her owners from $4,000 to
100000.
This is much more than any one
man, however wealthy he may be,
cares to spend for one seasons
sport, so that syndicates are formed
now to defray the cost of the boats.
Lord Dunraven formed a syndicate
OF Englishmen to build the Valky-
rie when he challenged for the
cup, and after the chal-
lenge was accepted a syndicate Of
was formed to construct
a yacht for the defense Of the cup.
The American syndicate is COM
posed OF w. X. Vanderbilt, G. Oil
yer Iselin and E. ID. Morgan. There
is wealth enough in this syndicate
to almost build yacht of gold il
the members wanted to. The Eng
lish syndicate is composed OF Lord
Dunraven, Lord Lonsdale, Lord
and Harry L. B. Mccall
mont.
or the American syndicate, G. o.
Iselin and E. ID. Morgan have been
prominent yachtsmen for several
years. w. X. Vanderbilt has own
ed steam yachts, notably the Alva
and the Valiant, but has never
been a sailing yachtsman. In 1898
he v as one of five who contributed
toward the construction and rae
ing expenses of the Colonia. Mr..
is a thorough sports
man, and is patron Of many
other sports in a quiet way. His
greatest pleasure, though, seems
to be cruising in his steam yacht.
The Alva, which was wrecked
three years ago, was then one OF
the finest in the country. When
that boat was lost, he commission
nd St Clara Burma md tho Il .aird