The San Francisco call., 1897-06-28

The big brown man has long been known
as a daredevil, but when those big boats
cut loose TO leave him yesterday their
crews saw him do something that causei
them to fairly gasp for breath. Although
the wind was increasing in its fury every
minute and was warming others to short
en- sail, the admiral began TO pack on ex-
ira canvas liz a most recklp lpss manner.
To their horror he hoisted up gigantic
gaff topsaii with a 32-foot club that
reached twenty feet above the masthead,
and these IN addition to spinnaker AMI
water sails under both mainsail and spin
maker. The Whirlwind under this cloud
of canvas presented a spectacular but
hair-raising picture. 1t was sail enough
for a vessel four times her size even in d
light breeze.
1t was by this desperate eIpedient that
Won Schmidt prevented the big fellows
from getting Tar enough away from him
to cut Materially into his time allowance.
With his mast creaking and ready to pull
out, and with every bolt ami lashing
aboard working loose, this hatless and
half ude seadog held laughingly on and
won the race, with minutes TO spare.
''The Edna and the En- bla were the
only ones l was really afraid Of" said the
ad mtral, after the day had been won.
THAT Edna Is a tremendously fast boat,
and so big, too. In the hands of a man
like Commo odore Lancaster she is terror
for any body. Then the Embla is a brand
new boat, and to me was practically an
unknown quantity. She's fast and no
mistake. When she gets tuned up and is
NIT ~ h ho
will keep them all guessing. In this race
she had on a borrowed spinnaker and no
other extra sails worth speaking OF. The
Edna was somewhat handicapped, too.
She had part of her shoe off, and that
certainly made trouble for her."
The Edna and Embia are so near size
that they made a pretty race by them
selves. 1t was nip and tuck between them
all the way. Those who watched the race
predict that when these two boats get at
1t again, and the new one is fully equipped
with canvas, the Edna will have 10 take a
back seat. As it was yesterday, the Edna
made tie fastest time of all of them over
the course. and even then the Embla was
only a short distance behind her. After
the time allowances we're figured up and
the WhiTlwind proclaimed the victor. the
Edna was formally awarded second place
and the EN- bla third. The other finished
in this order over the line, not iguring
on the time allowances; Whirlwind, Flash,
Thelma and . and l.
The Thelma would have made a much
better showing than she did had she not
got into troU bic. 1t appears that she lost
her spinnaker in the blow and sacrificed
some valuable time by having to pull up.
The Sea Fox, like the Phenicia, did not
finish at all. Captain Clay had his family
aboard the yacht and when the We ther
got nasty he elected to pull out rather
than subject them to a wettIng.
The regatta was handled admirably by
com mlttee composed of J. w. Horner.
c. z. Moore and f. H. Reid. c. b. Hill
served as Judge, and Messrs. Horner and
Moore as timers. The course was from
the Rarrow-gauge pier head to and arounc
Presidio shoal buoy, thence back to the
starting point, a distance altogether O
Iweve nautical miles. The following
table furnishes the time and details of thu
race: