The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1895-09-14
Defender Walked Away From
Valkyrle III.
WON BY OVER EIGHT MINUTES
Was Ahead at the Outer Mark and In
creased the Lead All the
Way Home.

today, finishing far ahead of the Eng |
fish challenger, Valkyrie III. and Civ
ing every evidence Of outclassing the |
Dunraven boat in almost any kind of |
weather. 1t was nip and tuck from the |
first gun signal and until within a
short distance of the mark, and then
Defender caught the breeze and to the
delight of thousands simply sailed
away from her rival. From that mo-
ment she Went on increasing her lead
to the end, winning by the surprising
margin of eight minutes and 40 sec
onds.
No incident i'm the history of sport
ever excited the interest shown in the
race today. off Bay Ridge there were
gathered most of the crack yachts of
the port and some visitors, and all
along the line boats lay in readiness to
join the boats around Scotland light
ship. 1t was just as grand, just as inn
posing, and the steamers bore just as
interested thousands as though the day
had been a veritable yachtsman day
and the sky had been unclouded over
head.
FIGHT FOR POSITION.
A grander fight for position was new
err seen, and almost to the end of the
| outward course it seemed at times as
! though the two boats were one, viewed
| from directly across the water bows.
The start was off Seabright, some miles
from the lightship. When the single
stickers drew up to the starting boat
great fleet was in waiting and strung
for miles behind the rear guard, APP
parently countless in number and end
less in variety. A forest of spars and
deep wall OF smoke was the back
ground, and in the center of the pic
ture were the two narrow, seemingly
fragile boats, standing high up above
the others, clad in white, decked only
with swiftly moving figures and even
in that light breeze skimming over the
water like beings endowed with life
and beauty.
When the preparatory gun was fired
the spectators on the beach saw the
smoke and strained their eyes for the
start. The two winged creatures tack
ed about for the word and they seemed
to close with each other, like wrestlers
trying for a hold Several times they
came about exactly together as one
boat but it was finally observed that
the Englishman would undoubtedly
cross the line first. Amid the plaudits
of those who watched them from the
steamships Captain Haff brought De
fender quickly about with her rival on
the last tack, and the Englishman
crossed only four seconds ahead with
Defender having the wind. The course
was Is miles to windward and return,
and the boats went off on the starbOard
tack.
BRITISH BOAT LED.
The British boat led out into the fog
and rain toward the turning mark
nearing which Defender passed her an
tagonist and turned ahead. On the run
home the identity of the yachts could
not be disclosed. owing to the thick
ness Of the fog. uAtn they were close
Il the finish. : few minutes before
the turn was reached ths boats seem
ed to come well together and within
a moment it was observed that they
had squared away for the mark. Then
Defender forged ahead. Previous to
this their relative positions had been
fixed merely by the angle from which
the boats were observed or when OBJ
served directly across their bows, mere
ly by the bobbing waves. There was
no mistake now, however, as the out
leader of Defender was giving out, and
she was sailing away from her rival
amid the cheers of thousands OF
staunch admirers. She came straight
to the mark, and would have rounded
1t perfectly had not a big excursion
steamer shut out the wind a moment
The double lines Of steam vessels were
there in waiting to send the boats of
on their homeward course.
The manner in which Defender out
footed Vallxyrie made even old yachts
men stare, for it was a remarkable
performance for one boat, after sailing
almost even with another for many
miles to come out at the end with a lead
of almost a half mile, gained in the
last two. She was almost three minutes
and a half ahead OF the other at the
turning stake. On the home run they
brought out a balloon jib. but the Val
kyries did not seem to fill so well as
that on Defender. The wind, which
had increased during the early part Of
the afternoon to about eight miles ar
hour, died away considerably and II
was in this forlorn hope that Valkyrit
put her faith. Valkyrie had already
given evidences of speed in light wealth
er, several times during the race. and II
was believed by some that she would
gather herself together for final burst
of speed. But although for moment
it looked as though she really did gair
a trifie, her chances were lost soon af
. terward when 1t was clearly evident
that Defender was steadily increasing
! the distance between them and so fin
! ished in the lightest breeze of the day
! Valkyrie standing UP straight more
, than q mile en- the distance Defender