The San Francisco call., 1895-08-03
The New Herreshoff Creation
Was Speeding Away From
Competitors.
THE vIGILANT WON EASILY,
One Hundred Crack Yachts OF the
American Fleet at the New
port Regatta.

fender lost her hrSt race lo-udy, anu great
was the pity of it, for she had walked away
from her three competitors and was near
ing home when a new-fangled gaff at the
ton of her mainsail broke and most in
gIoriousIy the aspirant for cup honors was
Obliged to take a line from common,
everyday tug and retire from the race, al
lowing the Vigilant to win. The $500 cup
offered by Ogden Goelet was the prize for
which the syndicate boat was racing, but
the fair fame of a craft that seeks inter
national honors was at stake. Pitted
against her were the persistent antago-
nists, George ]. Gould's Vigilant, the pre-
server of the America cup in 1894, and
General Charles ]. Paine's unknown,
Jubilee, built for a cup-defender in 1893,
but not chosen, and also j. Malcolm
Forbes successful cup-defender of 1887,
the Volunteer.
With three opponents fit to try her fleet
qualities the latest Herreshoff creation
went out to Brentons Reef Hghtship, off
the entrance to Newport Harbor, and put
up a race that delighted the big crowd OF
spectators until after rounding the second
turn, sailing thirty-two miles of the thirty
eight of the course. Then her new hollow
gaff broke near its middle and the great
mainsail became a misshapen bag. An
unconscious groan escaped from the crowd
and doubtless there were words spoken on
the decks of the Defender which might
have shocked Mrs. Iselin, who was on
board. The spar was followed out and
bound together ike a barrel in order to
save weight. Hollow spars were first used
in England and the Herreshoffs have
elaborated on the foreign idea. Better go
back to the solid Yankee stick" was the
general opinion OF yachtsmen to-day, who
were coniecturing as to ''where we would
be at if such an accident happened in a
cup race.
Before the mlshap the Defender had
dressed to windward seventeen and a half
miles and run eighteen miles with the
wind astern and spinnaker out, and had
turned the second mark with IL minutes
and 50 seconds advantage over the Vigi-
liant, Is minutes 81 seconds over the Jubi-
lee, and 81 minutes 33 seconds over the
Volunteer. This was clearly demonstra-
ton of what the new boat is capable of.
In the windward work the gain over the
Vigilant was minutes % seconds, and in
the run minutes 6 seconds. The wind
was about IA knots an hour at the start
dropping to 10 knots at the first turn and
increasing during the run to Is knots, at
which rate it was blowing when the gaff
gave way. The boat was close pulled at
the time and there was Iumpy bit of
weather, which may have had something
to do with the carrying away of the gaff.
After the Defender withdrew the Vigilant
sailed home an easy winner. General
Paine's Jubilee not only failed to crowd
the Defender, but could not push the Vigi-
liant near as hard as she did In the trial
races of 1893, showing that either changes
in the Vigilant have improved her or the
changes in the Jubilee have not improved
her.
Calculations of the Valkyrie's perform
ances, taking her superiority to the Britain
MIA and the latter's defeat of the Vigilant
in British waters, will not hold good,
therefore, for the Defender beats the i'm
proved Vigilant and not merely the old
Vigilant. The performance of the old
Volunteer to-day showed how much we
have progressed in yacht-building since
1887 when the boat which was over half
an hour slower than the model of 1895
easily beat the Thistle.
The race of the sloops diverted attention |
from the race for the $1,000 schooners' cup, |
also offered by Mr.. Goelet, which was |
sailed at the same time over the same |
course. There were nine crack schooners |
in the race. The best elapsed time was |
made by the Lasca, and was hours AZ |
min. Sc sec. The Vigilant covered the |
distance in 5 hours min. SO sec., or almost |
80 minutes better than the best of the |
schooners. Emerald was the second |
oh To Gric yiu
on time allowance. Amorita was the third. |
Others finished in the following order: |
Mayfower, Merlin, Elsemarie, Neara and
Loyal. The last two are schooners of
class five, and were racing for special cup
which was offered at the New York Yacht
Club regatta June 49, but was not decided
then, owing to mistake in classification.
The Loyal won the prize to-day, by 2 min.
10 sec. corrected time.
In all Newport's history of yachting no
such attendant feet accompanied the
racers over the course as was the case to-
day. To-day was perfect one for comfort
as well as fine one for sailing. In the
early morning there was so little air that
many of the yachts were obliged to tow
down past the Dumplings, in order to
reach the starting line. This delayed the
signal for the race for half an hour. When
all had arrived the scene off Brentons
Reef was one thai viii be long remembered.
In the feet were 100 of the finest steam
yachts that float on American waters,
score of passenger steamers and tugs and
sailboats and launches without number.
Secretary of the Navy Herbert, with
large party of guests, was present on the
Dolphin, and Uncle Sans yacht followed
the race from the start to finish. The Sec
retary's boat did what great many of the
others failed to dot kept at respectful
distance from the competing yachts, and
neither gave the wash nor shut off the
wind. William K. Vanderbilt's big
Valiant and score of other yachts and
steamboats, did both.
The scene at the start reminded one of