The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-06-05
WIERDLING A WEIRD ONE
NEW DOUGLASS YACHT a SEN
SATION AT WHITE BEAR

SATION AT WHITE BEAR
With a spinnaker New to Those Wa
tiers, She Gave the Queen, Alkela,
a Fast Race Yesterday Afternoon
Their Respective Classes-Wind
Was Light at the Start.
What the White Bear Yacht club is to
do In the matter of maintaining it's
supremacy in inland lake waters was
partially indicated yesterday by the
performance OF the Weirdling in it's test
race against the big champions Of last
season, the Akela and Aurelia.
The new sloop is the first of the four
new boats that are to contest for the
honor of representing the club in the
inland lake races next August. While
Its showing was not of the best in cold
figures. it may be explained that the
boat was not in the same class with
its two big opponents, carrying but 500
feet Of canvas to their 700 feet, and
also that it was the initial trip of the
new candidate for championship honors,
two facts which make the owner, F. M.
Douglass, confident that the Weirdling
will keep its rivals guessing until the
final buoy in the seasons championship
races has been rounded.
Yesterdays races were the first Of
the regular pennant races of the sea-
son. A light breeze from the south
west made it a question at the start
whether or not the course could be COW
cred in the time limit, but before the
Dellwood buoy had been reached It
had freshened to an eight-knot wind.
The tWenty-one-footer were the first
to get off, the Falcon crossing the line
ten seconds after the firing of the signal
gun, followed by the Torpedo, formerly
the Merry Girl, ten seconds later, the
Jennie close behind and the Pastime in
the wake, thirty seconds behind the
Falcon
The starting gun for the seventeen
footers caught all hands below deck 1t
was minute and a quarter before the
Goblin hove in sight on the line with
the Xenia in hot chase anywhere less
than half a mile in the rear.
But in. fine contrast was the wide
awake manner in which the Akela and
the Weirdling came up to the lines
crossing almost with the signal gun.
the Aurelia, by some misunderstanding
being nearly three minutes behind.
AS the new boat went over the line
cloud of canvass futtered to the mast
of the fleet were not long in discovering
was a spinna ker-the first spinnaker
ever seen ON White Bear waters.
To the ordinary observer it was white
but to the Akela it was g red flag and
like an enraged Spanish bull the cham
pion turned on the impudent stranger
and crowded it off it's course until the
offending canvas hung as limp and life
less as a dish-rag. The maneuver gave
"a n odI toc
which was not lost to the finish of the
race.
In the other classes the Torpedo and
the Gobelin had been rapidly forging
ahead, with the Pastime closing up on
the Falcon and Jennie, passing both
near the Dellwood buoy and maintain
ing second place to the end.
In spite of it's big spinnaker the
Weirdling had not made the best show
ing in the free run to Dellwood, prob
ably owing to the light wind, but when
that buoy was rounded it's abilities in
windward work began to be apparent,
and the new boat for time seemed to
close UP on the Akela, being quite evil
IDENTIFY able to outpoint it's rival In
the meantime the Aurelia was closing
in on the Wierdlng, coming down the
lake like a race horse, though not sail
ing so close to the wind as the other
sloops.
But the lead of the Akela was so
great by this time that the race had
developed into a fight between the
Wierdling and the Aurelia for second
place. The Wierdling wasn't going to
be left if she had to resort to all the
tricks known to the whole Spanish
navy, and coming down to the Clark
street buoy she developed another sur
prise for her new friends by breaking
out balloon jib, and on rounding the
buoy, by adding the spinnaker, dash
ing UP the lake to Wildwood under
such a cloud of canvas as was never
before seen on Minnesota waters.
1t was here that the Aurela showed
her quality. She doggedly held on to
the chase, following in the wake of
the sloop as If in tow at the end of a
cable.
Again after rounding the Wildwood
buoy, when under ordinary canvas the
Wierdling showed its ability in wind
ward work, and from that time until
the line was crossed the two boats were
neck and neck in beating up to the
home buoy.
In the dash for the buoy the Wierd-
ling was slightly In the lead, but was
forced off It's course within a boat
length of the buoy by the Falcon,
which, in the finish, had the right Of
way. The loss of time, though very
slight, was sufficient to allow the Au-
relia to slide over the line first. Follow
ing is the official time:
Twenty one-foot Glass