The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-08-15
GETS ASTOR CUP.
Columbia Follows
Precedent Of Old
Defenders.
WINS BY THIRTEEN MINUTES.
New Yacht Showed Her
Superiority On
Every Leg.
WINS BY THIRTEEN MINUTES.

Newport, r. l., Aug. 1.-THE new cup
defender Columbia added another vic |
tory to her already splendid record to-
day, by defeating the Defender, cham
pion of 1895, 10 minutes and seconds,
over a 5S-mile course, and the slippery
little Amorita defeated the Colonia, |
the Quisetta and the Ariel in the
schooner class, finishing II seconds |
ahead Of the Colonia, which was second
boat, and winning the race by minute
and IA seconds, corrected time
These races. which brought together
the fastest sloops and schooners ON this |
side of the water, at least, were given |
in conjunction with the cruise of the |
New York Yacht Club, and nearly all |
the steam and sailing vessels which |
comprise the squadron taking part in |
the cruise were outside Brenton's Reef |
lightship to witness the sport. The |
prizes were two magnificent cups, |
valued at $500 and $1,000 each for the |
lsloop and schooner classes, respectively,
which were offered by Col. John Jacob |
Astor.
The Columbia sailed a splendid race
and showed that in light air she is
many minutes faster than the boat that
defeated Valkyrie III in 1896. On every
leg of the course she made great gains
over the Defender, and this was more
noticeable on the first leg, which was
a spinnaker run of 1914 miles. On the
second leg, which promised to be at
the outset dead beat to windward of
IL miles, the Columbia showed again
that she could both outfoot and out
| point the older boat. The wind shifted
several points at time until 1t had
swung from northwest to almost south
| east.
This did not materially affect the
positions of the racers except on the
windward work, and then a sudden
change from about northeast to east
illustrated what a great difference a
sudden shift will make as regards the
position Of the leader. After rounding
/ the Block Island mark boat, the Column
bia started to bear to the West Island
mark boat with a lead of 2 minutes
and 40 seconds over the Defender. The
/ Columbia immediately lacked to4re,-t.
I and neadad IN toward Point Judith
shore. The Defender tackled in Column
bias wake and followed her for over
half an hour. In the meantime the
four schooners had rounded the leeward
mark and stood out to sea on a port
| tack
The boats encountered a favorable
shift OF the wind after they had been
Then the schooners tackled to starboard
and to the amazement of every one, the
Amorita and the Colonia, which were
| leading that class, would have crossed
the Columbia's bow had she not come
about to leeward Of the Colonia One
can imagine from the fact that the
Amorita did not round the mark until
| 10 minutes after the Columbia, the
great advantage they gained by stand
ing out to sea.
The Defender was also out min
utes behind the Columbia when she
tackled under the lee of the Colonia.
But instead of following her fast rival,
Capt. Rhodes stood out to sea and
found that there was some advantage
to be gained by so doing. When the
Defender finally came about on the
Istarboard tack it was seen that
she had lessened the distance between
herself and the Columbia by about 2
minutes and later on this leg of the |
course, she got another favorable shift |
which helped her Immensely Never |
theless, the Columbia made the great |
speed with sheets flattened and at the |
West Island mark had added minutes |
and 5 seconds to her lead. On the |
run home the Defender tried to carry |
a spinnaker, but when Capt Rhodes |
found that In order to keep it full he |
would have to head away off the course,
he dropped it below decks in a hurry |
The Columbia on rounding the weather
mark set her big balloon jib and it
pulled splendidly. but in addition to
this Capt. Barr set a balloon stay sail |
which helped wonderfully.
In the schooner class the race was
q hot one between the Amorita and |
the Colonia- The latter started over |
minutes behind the Amorita, but the |
run before the wind was so much to
her liking that she rounded the first |
mark close behind the Amorita in sec
ond place, 1t was give and take all the
way up to West Island, but the little
Amorita managed to reach it first by |
a few seconds margin.
Off the wind the Colonia pulled out |
to weather Of her rival and ran by, but |
the Amorita duplicated the perform
ance. All the way to the finish the |
two schooners alternated in getting the |
lead. and as they swept up toward the |
line the Colonia had her rival under her |
lee, but to no avail, for just before the |
finish was reached the Anorita pulled |
through, crossing a little over her |
length ahead of the Colonia.