The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-08-11
DEFENDER SHOWS UP WELL
SOUL-STIRRING RACE WITH COLU UM.
 BIA YESTERDAY.
Only Margin of One Minu te and Four- teen Seconds Between the Famous Sloops at the Finish and With Tim. Allowance the Old Boat Was the Vlc- tor-Weatifer Very Boisterous,

Allowance the Old Boat Was the Vlc-
 tor-Weatlfer Very Boisterous,
 | vineyard Haven, Mass, Aug. 1O.-The
 old yacht champion, Defender. practi-
 cally won race against Columbia to-
 uay' II tune allowance was given, in the
 dlrtlest sort of weather for a yacht club
 cruise. But the victory, it must be ad-
 mltted, was more than well earned and
 the yachtsmen of the New York club
 and their guests never saw before and
 may not see again for years, such a
 sailing event. The margin between the
 two famous sloops was fourteen seconds over minute in the thirty-seven mile
 run from Brenton's reef lightship off | Newport, to the West Chop buoy, in | Vineyard sound, with a change in course at Vineyard sound lightship, sev- | enteen and one-quarter miles from the start. Taking out of consideration the magnificent spectacle of the great fleet I VA >AeAS eeeiiiiie oliuCI ilCdNy CdHVdS OU- ly, some of the smaller ones with reefs taken in their mainsails, the race be- tween Columbia and Defender was fair ly soul-stirring.
 After both got away over the starting line it was nip and tuck, with eased sheets, for almost an hour Defender just a hairsbreadth, comparatively 1xi1,u ;,, t1,o abeam Even after Columbia made gain so that Defender could cross under her stern, Columbia did not walk away as the heavy breeze hove the latter down and made her lose distance on re- peated luffs. The fleet got away from Newport with miserable weather pros- poets and rain fell through the entire day and the southerly fifteen-knot wind brought in a wringing wet mist from seaward. The run out to the lightship was quickly made and all the boats got by the flagship Corsair between 1O:45 and Ii o'clock and all finished off west chop shortly after o'clock.
 The two big sloops were held back, Defender crossing the line at 11:20:10 and Columbia at 11:20:40 Columbia at once bore down on Defenders weather quarter, but could not get by her and for fifteen miles the boats sailed by side by side. Just before reaching Vineyard Haven lightship. seventeen and one- quarter miles from the start, Columbia managed to pass Defender. Just be- fore reaching the lightship both boats set Mo- 1 jib topsails and three strong puffs knocked both we'll down and Co., lumbia was forced to Huff each time. From the lightship to the finish nearly twenty miles, the boats ran somewhat more off the wind, and Columbia drew away from Defender, finishing 1:14 ahead of her. To-day's race and the performance of Columbia was satisfac- tory on the score of heavy weather She took all that came and while she eased up several times that was no evidence that she would have had too much of a good thing if stake was pending on the outcome of the race. All the other boats found that the weather was bois- terous enough for the time being and some of the schooners fairly flew through tn water, carrying some risky looking "bones in their teeth"