The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-09-09
PROUD OF THE DEFENDER
Local Yachtsmen Busily Dis
cuSSed the American Vic
tory Yesterday.
CAPTAIN TURNER'S IDEAS.
He Says That Superior Yankee
Skill in Sailing Mainly Explains
the Surprising Result.

| Never before in the history of San Fran
cisco has so general an interest been shown
in the international yacht races as exists
during the present contests between the
Defender and the Valkyrie.
Men who know little or nothing of
yachting are proudly talking of the great
victory OF the American yacht. At the
various yachting clubs in this City yester-
day the main theme OF conversation was
that of the great race of Saturday and the
surprising victory of the American yacht.
Not that the Defender was expected to
lose, but that she gained the victory so
easily and so completely out-footed her
adversary under conditions claimed by
Lord Dunraven to be most favorable to his
craft.
If the British boat be so completely
beaten under such conditions what will be
the result when the conditions are re-
versed as to wind and wave? This is a
question which will continue as the
nucleus of speculation until a race under
such conditions takes place.
Yachtsmen are patriotic to a man. and
the retention of the cup is to each one of
them as personal victory. That the sub
sequent races of this meeting will be
watched with, if possible, @ growing in
terest, there can be no doubt.
The enterprise of THE CALL in so ad-
mirably Illustrating the progress OF the
race by miniature yachts on top OF its
Market street office, was commended on
every hand.
1T was stroke of enterprise that cap
| tured every lover of yachting in the city,
! said Commodore Atkinson.
at was practical idea and gave to the
public the best possible idea of the race, )"
said Captain Cummings, whose twenty
eight trips around the Horn entities his
opinion to respect.
| A call was made upon CAPTAIN Mathew
| Turner, whose experience OF sixty years in
nautical matters as seaman, commander
and designer and builder of all kinds OF
sailing vessels renders his opinions most
valuable. He said:
81 am delighted That am surprised
renders my rejoicing but the more marked.
The Defender won a signal victory, and
that, too, under conditions supposed to be
the most favorable to her opponent.
| II am glad to note that so far as heard
there has been no plea or excuse advanced
| by Lord Dunraven for the defeat OF his
! boat. There could be no reasonable excuse
advanced, and it is much to his credit that
| none whatever has been made. Ii our Brit
| ish cousins are ever going to win they
| should have done it on Saturday last. The
| plain and simple truth is now as it has ever
| been, that is, that Yankee skill, pluck and
enterprise, born of superior intelligence,
have again defeated them.
"a good yachtsman must think instantly
and act simultaneously with the thought.
Judgment and execution must be one, and
in this important quality the American
yachtsmen seem to have decided advant-
age. On what other grounds may the in
/ L. e l,
Englishmen in these races since 1851 be
attributed? / had concluded from the in
formation given to the public through the
press and from photos of the two yachts
that the British boat would win over the
American. but it seems that | was mis-
taken and l am also glad of that. You
see it is impossible for any one to form
anything like correct idea of the lines
upon which a boat is built from the ordi-
nary illustration. Nothing less than skele-
ton lines showing accurately the measure
ments according to scale in construction
could convey an intelligent idea upon
which to base ones Judgment.
Zone of the main reasons upon which
based this impression rather than judg-
ment was that the beam of the Defender
was something like four feet less than that
of the English boat. Again, the Ameri-
cans have heretofore won with boats con-
structed on the wide and shallow plan with
great length of beam, but now the Yankees
come out victorious with boat built, as
the Defender is, OF a more narrow and
deeper pattern than the English. The
English have ever been copyists. We have
taught them all they know of Yachting,
and seem able to devise some material lln-
provements every year while they are
busily engaged in modelling after previous
designs.
"The problem of constructing racing
&c, h,nl, ha 100
ton of scientific principles in greater de-
gree than almost any other that | know of
in the ship-building line. 1t is not only
problem of construction, but one of sail
and ballast as well-the proper adjust
ment of ballast so as to carry the greatest
amount of effective sail. The lines of the
Defender would seem to indicate that she
has the proper greatest over all length
nicely proportioned to the shortest posi-
BILE water-line, com bned with the greatest
area of sail which is adjusted to the best
possible amount of ballast in both weight
and arrangement. / shall look anxiously
for the test of speed in strong wind and
rough sea. 1t may be that the impressions
which have been spread abroad as to the
most favorable weather for the Valkyrie
III are erroneous, and that she will prove
a surprise when the conditions are re-
versed. / hope not, but then we must not
be too sure until she has been defeated
under opposite conditions.
IF the narrower and deeper style of
boat should continue to show superiority
it may be attributed to the adjustment of
greater ballast to greater area of sail.
In a strong wind l shall look for the Val
kyrie III to ride the waves more smoothly
than the Defender"
Falling into reminiscent vein Captain
Turner continued:
sin 1851 the America won the Queens
cup. sailing against some fourteen or fif-
teen yachts of the Thames Yacht Club
The course then was around the Isle of
Wight The America was built by George
Steers and proved genuine surprise to
Englishmen, as she was at variance with
every idea which they then had of yacht
building.
What boat was second?' asked the
Queen, to which the reply was given,
There is no second, your Majesty the
Yankee boat having left the entire fleet of
English yachts out of sight. Then came
Commodore Asbury to this side with the
Cambria, and sailing against the New
York Yacht Clubs feet came in sixth.
1.-THE English since then have met only
defeat, as also have the Canadians when
ever they have entered the contests.
"This last event would seem to prove
conclusively that they are no match for us