The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1899-10-04
YACHT RACE
DECLAREDO OFF
Could Not Finish Inside Time
Allowed by Rules.
A FAST BOAT
Bests Columbia 10 Light Breeze and
Beaten 10 Turn BY Ysakee Boat
VIII Race TOMORROW.
SHAMROCK A FAST BOAT

NEW YORK. Oct. S.-As the sun Sc,
a great hall OF fire behind the Nave
Sink hills and the sparkling stars camc
out into the heavens. the biggest crowd
Of sight seers and yachtsmen who ever
sailed down to Sandy Hook to witness
the attempt OF a foreign mughunter "a
wrest from America the yachting su-
premacy Of the world, returned to-
hight crestfallen and disappointed. The
winds from the caves OF old ocean had
proved too light and shifting. and the
first OF the international series Of races
Of 1893 between the two greatest rae
ing machines ever produced by Eng
land and America, degenerated into a
drifting match and had to be declared
on because neither could reach the I'm
lsh line In the time allotted by the rules.
To avoid just such winds as occurred
today In which luck and not the crew
and yachts win, the rules provide THAI
II one Of the boats does not finish with
in five and one-half hours. the race is
to be declared of, so at the end OF
the time. when yachts were still four
miles from home with the Shamrock
leading by something more than a
quarter of a mile, the committee off,
cially declared there had been no race.
The yachts were then taken in tow by
their respective tugs and brought back
TO their anchorage inside Of Sandy
Hook, Under the rules. the first race
Is now postponed for two days or until
Thursday.
The day promised well at first, the sky
was smirched with few dirty clouds,
but clear enough to permit thousands
o:. spectators who lined the Jersey shore
tc see almost every foot OF the course.
The waves were crested with white
caps here and there and fairly breeze
blew out OF north northwest, but af-
ter the Columbia and Shamrock had
crossed the line the wind turned fiukey
and the race was a fzzle almost from
the start. But the fiuke gave the
yachting sharps and spectators much
to think about and some surprises.
Though indecislve in every respect as
to the abilities Of the great rival single
stickers, today's race indicated that the
Irish boat. with her English skipper
and her Scotch crew, is the ablest sloop
ever sent across the Atlantic In the
hope OF lifting the one hundred guinea
cup, which America brought back 4S
years ago and which has since been
successfully defended against the
world.
During the five and half hours the
Shamrock was thrice ahead and twice
the Yankee boat showed the way, For
the first ten minutes the Shamrock led
and then for five minutes the Column
bias graceful bow showed ahead Of the
green bow, and for As minutes the
Shamrock was ahead, then for three
hours the Columbia and for the last
hour and a half 1t was the Shamrock
that led the way. The breeze blew as
high as 10 knots per hour and as low
as three, and shifted about through
eight points OF the compass.
Each in turn beat the other before
the wind and was in turn beaten, beat
ing against the WIND, al various slases
OF the race, so that many of the ex-
perts who saw the two boats sail today
are disinolined to believe that there Is
a pin to choose between them, but
when the race is closely analysed 1t is
proven that the Columbia
showed her superiority at every point
of selling, running, reaching and beat
ing whenever the wind freshened, and
that it was only in the lightest air that
the shamrock could make headway
against her Both had their share of
good and bad luck. The Columbia had
the better OF the shifting wind on the
run down to the mark and beat the
Shamrock two minutes and four sec
onds while on the beat home, increas-
~ - -. n, LT,..kt