The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-06-26
COLUMBIA A SWIFT CRAFT
SHOWS FINE SAILING QUALITIES
 ON HER FIRST TRIAL.

fender Yesterday iu D Friendly Brusl,
 of Mile to the Wtndward- Nat Her.
 reshoF ut the WheeI-ConditiOns O1
 Sails the Same.
 Newport, R. l., June s5,-The first
 trial trip of the new American cup de-
 fender, Columbia, which took place in
 Narragansett Bay to-day, turned out to
 be more successful than either her
 builders or her owners had reason to hope. Not only did the new boat show herself to be able in every particular,
 but she met the old racer, Defender, in
 a friendly brush of mile to windward
 and vanquished her with the greatest
 ease The race between the flyers, which
 was over in five minutes, was sailed in | an eight -knot breeze under the same
 conditions, each boat carrying three lower sails, with sheets well tiattened.
 It took the Columbia about three min
 utes sailing from the Defenders wealth
 CT quarter, to blanket her and in five
 minutes she was one hundred yards
 ahead, going past the old cup defender
 as if the latter was anchored. Under these conditions it would seem as if the Columbia was fifteen to twenty seconds l a mile faster than the Defender, and if | she can make the same gain in hard | blow, anxiety as to the safety of the l Americas cup will be considerably al-
 layed. The trip to-day was the build CTS trial and although the managing
 owner, C.. Oliver Iselin, and number of
 his yachting friends were on board, still
 the Columbia's famous designer, Nat
 Herreshoff, was in charge,
 The Columbia left Bristol shortly be-
 fore g o'clock under her own sail, with
 Nat Herreshoff at the wheel. The
 weather was threatening, but the wind
 had died almost to a calm, It was 9
 repetition of tacks to get out of the har- bor into Narragansett Bay, and it took | just an hour to beat from Hog Island | lightship. at the entrance of Bristol har- | Dor, to Rowe Island, off Newport, nine | miles, with a favorable tide. Her last | tack was over towards Conanicut lsl- l and As she came out after the latter | tack she met the Defender and Navahoe l coming out of Newport harbor, accom- panied by a fleet of steam yachts and sailing craft The Navahoe hauled up to the Windward, but the Defender came down the wind, passing under the stern of the Columbia. Instead of keeping on the Columbia was headed after the De- fender and the two boats sailed three miles up the bay before the wind. Just before the Defender came out the working topsail was set on the Colum- bia, but 1t was taken in immediately, and the boats had their first trial to- gether under the same sails-mainsail forestaysal and jib The Columbia was first to swing around into the wind af- ter the ru nto leeward and the Defend- CT followed immediately. Both boats made a number of short hitches, but as they were half a mile apart little could be judged of their comparative speed. The Columbia was to the windward and seemed to gain on the Defender, point
 ing higher and outfooting her. Just af- ter the two boats had tackled to port under the Jamestown shore the Colum- bia was eased off, and, running down toward the Defender, took position on the Defenders weather quarter Cap tain Barr, on the Columbia, berthed the new boat in the worst possible position for a race, and with the two yachts scarcely fifty yards apart the first real brush to windward between the old and new boats was on.
 Captain Barr gave the Columbia a good rap full, while Captain Rhoades, on the Defender, did not try to pinch out ahead. It was a fair, honest test of the sailing merits of the two boats under fiattened sheets. The Defender had plenty of room to reach out ahead of her rival and only required the nec- essary speed to do it. That she failed in the attempt must be the source of the greatest qualification to American yachtsmen in general and her owners and builders in particular, for it showed | the new boat to be another wonder and that the Shamrock will have to sail with | marvellous speed to win the Americas i cup,
 Within three minutes after Captain | Barr started he had blanketed the De- fender, and in five minutes he was well ahead Both boats stood over towards | Fort Adams and then the staysails of | the Columbia came down and she was headed for an anCnOfage outside the | torpedo station, while the entire NoRth Atlantic squadron and a dozen or more large sailing yachts, including Commo- dore Morgan's flagship Corsair, gave her a silent welcome by dipping their colors. The Defender ran in and anchored near the Columbia, and Butler Duncan who has the old cup defender in charge, went aboard the Columbia to offer his con- It was expected that the two boats would have another try in the bay during the afternoon, but the weather killed the wind. In an interview MT. Iselin stated that he hoped to have the Columbia out for short sail tomorrow and would endeav- or to bring her down to Newport again on Tuesday.
 Are you satisfied with the boat?' was shouted from the press boat, Very much" answered MT. Iselin. The rail continued all the afternoon and about ? o'clock the tender St. Michaels took the Columbia in tow and started up the bay to Bristol.