The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1899-10-06
RACE A FIZZLE.

FIRST RACE A FIZZLE.
Time Limit Bars Out Sham
rock and Columbia.
BOTH ABBREVIATED IN THE LEAD.
Start Promised Well, but After the Limo
Was Crossed tho Wind Turned Flukey.
Shamrock Quarter Mile Ahead when
Race is Declared or.
New YORK, Oct. As the sun set a
great ball Of fire behind the Nayesink
hills and the sparkling stars came into
the HAWKES. heavens the biggest crowd
Of sightseers and yachtsmen who ever
sailed down Sandy Hook to witness the
attempt Of a foreign mug-hunter to
wrest from America the yachting SUI
premacy of the world, returned to New
York c%restfallen and disappointed. The
winds from the v of old ocean had
proven too light and shifty and the first
OF the international series of 1899 be-
tween the two greatest racing machines
ever produced by England and America
degenerated into a drifting match and
had to be declared off because neither
could reach the finish line in the time
allotted by the rules.
To avoid just such winds as occurred
yesterday, in which luck and not the
crew and yachts win, the rules provide
that if one of the boats does not finish
within five and a half hours the race is
declared off, SO at the end of the time
last evening when the yachts were still
four miles from home, with the Sham
rock leading by something more than q
quarter of a mile the committee off,
cially declared that there had been no
tow by their respective tugs and brought
back to their anchorage inside Sandy
Hook. The clean-limbed racers had
sailed out yesterday morning fresh for
battle, but the sea had refused them a
field of conflict. Under the rules the
first race is now postponed until tomor-
row.
Fizzle From the Start.
The day promised well at first. The
sky was smirched with a few dirty
clouds, but clear enough to permit the
thousands of spectators who lined the
Jersey shore to see almost every foot Of
the course. The waves were crested
with white caps here and there and q
fairly fresh breeze blew out of the north
northeast, but after the Shamrock had
crossed the line the wind turned fukey
and variable, and the race was a fZzle
from the start. But the fuke gave the
yachting sharps and the spectators
much to think about and some surprises.
The Columbia is undoubtedly the
prettiest boat. She is tall and stately,
with graceful lines and towering masts.
The Irish boat,;:with her broader beam
and longer base line, lookedsslower and
heavier. Perhaps her green color
, makes her look clumsier, as if she were
forced through the water, while the
slim Columbia pierces it like q rapier.
Though indecisive in every respect as
to the abilities Of the great rival single
stickers, yesterdays race indicates that
the Irish boat, with her English skip
per and her Scotch crew, is the ablest
sloop ever sent across the Atlantic in
the hope Of lifting the 100 guinea cup
which the America brought back 4S
years ago and which has since been sue
cessfully defended against the world.
Roth A1fernafed In the Lead
During the five and a half hours sail
ing the Shamrock was thrice ahead and
twice the Yankee boat showed the way.
For the first 10 minutes the Shamrock
led, then for five the Columbia's grace
full bow showed ahead of the green boat;
for 45 minutes following the Shamrock,
then for three hours the Columbia, and
for the last hour and a half it was the
Shamrock that led the way. The breeze
blew as high as IL knots an hour and as
low as three and shifted about through
eight points of the compass.
Each in turn beat the other running
before the wind and was in turn beaten
beating against the wind at various
stages of the race, 20 that many of the
experts who saw the two boats sail are
disinclined to believe that there is a
pin to choose between them, but when
the ace is closely analysed it is abso.
lutely proven that the Columbia showed
her superiority at every point of run.
ming, sailing, reaching and boating
whenever the wind freshened and thai
it was only in the highest air that the
Shamrock couldsmake Roadway against
her. Both had their share of good and
bad luck. The Columbia had the bet.
ter of the shifting winds on the run
down to the mark and beat the Sham.
rock . minutes and Al seconds, while
on the beat home, after increasing he,
lead to over a mile at one time, the
Shamrock ~overhauled the Yankee and
was a quarter of a mile ahead when the
time allowance expired.
Sale of Sioux City and Northern.