The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-08-27
MINNEAPOLIS BOATS WINNERS IN
THE INITIAL RACES AT MIME
TONKA.
AGAIN A STRONG GALE.
RACES SAILED UNDER nOTRru
REEFS IN WEATHER SUITING
THE MINNEAPOLIS sLOOP.
compelled to Withdraw From tho
Contest Before 1t Was a
Third Over.

Tartar and veruna. the Minnetonka
sloop and cat boat, were the winners Of
the big interlake yacht race at Minne-
tonka yesterday, although the Nushka.
nao the misfortune to break down after
the race was third over and had to
pull out with a parted forestay. Amid
the deafening toots of numerous steam
ooats, the wild yells Of big crowd
and the firing Of guns, Tartar fairly
Jumped across the finish line a winner
| by seven minutes over the champion
of White Bear.
The wind blew almost as strong as
on Tuesday, and all boats were COM
PEELED to take two or more reefs. The
| water was not quite as rough as ON
the day previous, but the wind. which
pleW west by northwest gave the sail
ofs all they wanted to do to keep right
side up. Every man was drenched be-
1ore the boats had been out five min
| utes Alfr1da had been thoroughly re-
paired and was in excellent trim. The
sloops were started by the gun from
the Judges boat at exactly 2:55. AL
Irloa made the best start. Tartar had
monkeyed around the club house a lit
Tie TOO long, and was handicapped bY
about nineteen seconds, Alfrida cross
ing the line almost on the report of the
gun. The two crack sloops were Off
before one could hardly realize it. and
though they were sailing right into
the teeth of the wind they tore through
the water at a terrific. rate The gem
eral opinion was that Tartar would
have very hard time overcoming the
lead gained by Alfrida In the start but
II was not to be so. Alfrida was mov-
ing much faster than the Minnetonka
boat, but it soon became apparent that
she was oolng so rrom the ract that she
was running off the wind more than
/ was Tartar. The latter held right up
INTO the teeth of the wind, and soon
! AlIrlda, although ahead was so far to
] leeWard that when the boats came
about 1t was easy to be seen that Tar
! tar had slight lead. As Alfrida came
about for the first time Tartar bore
down directly upon her. and being on
the starboard tack had the right OF
way. Alfrida was, of course, forced to
come about in a hurry to avoid a col
lision. She lost much headway by this
act.
While these two sloops were doing
4 their preliminary fighting, the cat boats
/ were started. AT O'Clock the gun was
! fired. Nushka had been too ambitious
and crossed the line q second before the
| explosion. She had to come about
/ and try 1t over again, but she did not
lose much, since the Varuna could not
round the starting bouy on the tack
she was then on. And so 1t happened
| that both boats had to make a second
! attempt at a start. The result was
that Nushka lost forty five seconds and
| Varuna followed twenty seconds after
| wards. The race was now on in all
| quarters, and it must be frankly stated
that the first leg was the only really
| exciting part, since, after that had
been sailed, the Minnetonka boats were
so far in the lead as to eliminate close
competition. But that first leg, the run
to windward to the Crystal bay bouy,
was one which will not soon be forgot
ten by the yachting cranks who saw
! it. The cat boats ran as If they were
tied together. For half the length Of
the course they were not more than a
| beats length apart
The Tartar began to gain rapidly over
! the Alfrida after their little encounter,
| and when off the lower end of Big
! island, was fully two hundred yards
ahead. At the same point Varuna be-
gan to pull slightly away from Nush-
ka. The Tartar rounded the first bouy
at 312:30 having made the run to wind
ward in II minutes and Is seconds.
1t was two and one-half minutes later
before Alfrida, which had started first,
rounded the first bouy and chased down
the lake like mad after her bifurcated
| rival. 1t was a continual chase after
that all the way through the race.
with Tartar slowly, but surely increas-
ing the lead.
When the two cat boats had finished
the hard windward run and rounded
the first bouy 1t was seen that Varuna
had made a gain of minutes and 4
seconds, thus covering her time allow
ance of minute and AZ seconds, which
she had to give to Nushka.
The boats remained in the same rel
ative positions up the third leg Of the
course to the home buoy, which Tartar
rounded at 3:28:08. Alfrida was still
two and one-half minutes behind. On
the second run to windward Nushka
| had her mishap. The strain was toe
great and her fore-stay parted, letting
the sail futter about like loose bag.
There was no remedy and she simply
had to pull out Of the race. Varuna's
skipper, after some hesitation, decided
to sail over the course alone anyway.
All interest was now centered in Tartar
and Alfrida.
When the home buoy was reached a
second time Tartar was minutes Is
seconds in the lead. Alfrida was al
| most a leg behind. The third and last
round did not improve her condition,
| although as soon as she struck free
work again, she changed her little
| storm jib for full grown one and this
made some improvement.
The judges boat now churned around
to position at the home buoy to take
the time Of the finish. Tartar rounded
| the last buoy at the lower end of the
lake. and with her sails stretched till
| it seemed as though they would split,
| came rushing home. When she crossed
the line winner by minutes and "a
seconds and also breaker Of the Min
netonka record, there was a scene Of
enthusiasm that has never been
| equalled at the Minnetonka club house.
Men and women shouted themselves
hoarse and the steamboats, had little
steam pandemonium on the side. AL
frida was given a salute when she
crossed in her turn, but there was a
damp, sad air about her crew that did
not encourage enthusiasm. Varuna
| finished few minutes later her time
| being 1861.
The White Bear people are praying
for a light wind today, for they think
that Alfrida will stand q much better
show under those conditions than she
did yesterday when half the attention
OF her shippers had to be given to pre-
vent capsize. There was general
| criticism Of the way the crew Of the
| Alfrida was distributed, all the weight
| being in her stern, seeming to form q
| drag.