The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-05
COLUMBIA WAS FIRST.
AGAIN DEFEATED DEFENDER IN A
RACE THAT TESTED BOATS
THoROUa8sIx

AGAIN DEFEATED DEFENDER IN A
RACE THAT TESTED BOATS
YACHTsMEN ARR lELIGHTED
| Satisfied With the sTNnrk of the
Yacht That Is to MeN Shamrock
In Defense of thes AaHerica's Cup,
and Confident That 8She Is the
Fastest Graft of Fief Kind AaOat-
Choice Not Annoua1c ed.
NEWPORT, r. l.. sept. 4.--In today's
race. the second and Mst of the official
trial races for the settlement of de-
fender for the Americas cup, the Col
umbia again demonstratedS that she is
the superior of the Defender, the 1895
champion, by defeating her ten minutes
and seven seconds over a triangular
course in an eight-knot breeze and
smooth sea. The contest was a process
sion throughout, with the Columbia lead
ing at the start by thirteen. seconds
and gaining on every leg: The first leg
was a reach from the starting line at
! Brenton's Reef lightship southeast one
half east to flag mark, distance of
ten miles, and from the moment Column
bia crossed the line she steadily sailed
away from her rival, rounding the first
mark three minutes and thirty-six Sec
onds ahead. The second leg was also
reach, a little broader than the first, but,
even If the Defender did, set her
spinnal1er a mile from the turn she
| dropped two. minutes and nineteen sec
onds more in the run to the. second mark
The third leg of the triangle was almost
! dead beat to the finish; the two boats
/ making the long hitch clear up to the
| Narragansett shore The Columbia made
two other short tacks before she crossed
the line, but the Defender, by holding
/ longer in shore, managed to reach the
hghtship without another tack. Still
the Columbia gained showing that with
sheets close-hauled she is the fastest
American sailing yacht a1oat On this
last leg she added four minutes and
| twenty-five seconds to her lead, making
total for the entire. course Of ten mill
utes and seven seconds.
There will be no more official races, no
! doubt existing in the minds Of the COM
mittee which of the two boats is the bet
! ter able to meet the Shamrock The
cup committee, however, is permitted to
| defer announcing the name of the yacht
! selected to defend the cup until a week
! prior to the date Of the; first contest,
and, therefore, the decision was not made
public today. OF course there is not
the slightest doubt that the Columbia
will be the craft chosen.
FURTHER TESTS DESIRED.
What all the yachtsmen would like to
see is a race between the, boats when
they could carry only their lower sails.
On the run of the New York Yacht
club from this city to- Vineyard Ha-
ven during the recent cruise in hall
gale Defender practically defeated Col
un1bia on time allowance, and there are
today many who think that the old
boat is the faster in a stiff breeze, with
lifted sheets. On the run to Vine
ward Columbia had a. pine mast, which
no doubt Handicapped her to some ex-
tent, and what remains to be seen IS
whether she. improved in heavy wealth.
| er by the steel mast as much as she Is
In moderate breezes. 4: s:s-!i..s, !. a..
t CoIumbia's mainsail fitted a little bet
ter today than it did on Saturday, due
| FIRST trial race, and to the subsequent
hauling out on the boom and gait. Still
| there Is an opportunity for much i'm
/ proyement,r as there is a,eurl to the leach
| that some of the yachtsmeAesdo notEflike,
| particularly when they compare 1t with
! the Defenders perfect-htting sail. Col
/ umbia's topsail was a bit better today
than in the previous race, but there was
a f1uttering at the head that did the boat
| little good.
All doubt as to the strength of the
rigging aand the steel mast must have
been dispelled by the thorough tests they
received both before. and during the race.
For fifteen minutes before the start, while
joekeying for position Columbia was
swung round with sheets ftattened 50 that
she heeled down to an angle of nearly
As degrees, still everything stood the
strain. There was little opportunity for
shifting sails although at one time the
crew of Defender were kept pretty busy
|'setting and taking in spinnaker which
they accomplished within the short period
| Of ten minutes.
On the first leg both boats dropped their
balloon staysails, which they hofsted at
the start, and substituted working stay
sails. AS the shift was made it gave the
erroneous impression that something had
4 gone wrong with those sails. Aside from
! changing lib topsans Z two or three
times the Columbias crew had little to
do but lie out to windward.
DELIGHTED WITH L, COLUMBIA.
Everyone who was on Columbia today
was delighted with her work, and one
gentleman said afterward 5that they had
got Columbia about right now, and that
there would be but few changes made be-
fore the cup races in October
There will be a race TOMORROW between
the Columbia and Defender for a cup Of
fered by William Goddard, oof Providence,
Mr.. Iselin's father-in-lawot The contest
will be over course fifteen miles to
| windward or leeward and return, starting
from Brentons Reef lfghtship at p. m.
The race will be run by the New York
Yacht club regatta committee. The rea-
son for holding this race is to try a
new and lighter weight mainsail on Col
umbia. Summary:
start-Columbia, 1:26:O9; Defender,
11:26:22
Finish-Columbia. 2:4s:ss; Defender,
2:53:5S
Elapsed time-Columbia 3:17:24; De-
fender, 3:27:31.
Columbia wins by 10 minutes seconds.
First mark-Columbi 12:24:45;1a De-
| fender, 12:2S:24.; e.-
Second mark-Columbia, 1878; De-
! fender, 1:33 :5I-;r. - .fi'e7-
So the Columbia wins by: 10 minutes 7
seconds actual time ina race of close to
thirty-three miles, for about three miles
must be added for windward work sailed
in the last leg Of the course. Therefore,
the Columbia averaged ten miles an hour
for the entire distance.