The Saint Paul globe., 1899-07-07


HIVE Done Much Better but for
Lack of Tautness In Her Sails
This Weakness VIII BE Remedied
at Once-NauticaI Description of
the Exciting Trial Race.
NEW YORK, July 6.-By the race be-
tween the new defender Columbia, and
the old Defender, sailed today over a
triangular course of thirty miles, ten
miles to a leg, It has been plainly demon
strated that. no matter how skillfully
constructed a yacht may be, her sailing
and ability to go to windward may be
killed by imperfectly setting sails.
The Columbia won the race by mar
gin of minutes SO seconds (uno1hclal
time. There is no doubt she would nave
wen by a larger margin if her sails had
ftted as well as the Defenders. In the
windward work, while the wind was
strong. Columbia was unable either 10
out-foot or out-point the Defender chlet-
X, ON account Of the bad set of her CLUB
sail. lib topsail and fore staysall' 0he
covered the first leg of ten miles to wlno-
ward three minutes faster than DeIehu-
or b,t one minute of that gain was MADE
when the wind became limp and less than
two miles from the turning point.
ON the second leg the Columbia gained
IS seconds. 1t was a reach, both yachts
ARRIVING large (not balloon) jib top sails
ON the last leg-close-hauled work IN
1iqbt breeze-she lost five SECONDS TO lhe
Defender.
Over a triangular course Of thirty miles,
A., cornDaratively light winds, the ne"
.olip-NTorgan Yacht Columbia today van
,,,isbad the Vanderbilt yacht Defender
- cor,,inced the yachtsmen who sa" the
ro,,a1 struggle that she was worthy oA
attending the precious trophy Whlch 0lr
rrborras Linton and his merry tars nope
80 bacl, with them in the Sham
rock, next fall "a ol,,b
.,-ov are ANYTHING but perfect ana
- q General way she will need soo"
5oo1 of tuning up. Yet, based upon Ihe
,a,,-iney she made as better poat tnah
1,o defender. under adverse condltlohs,
49, ,o,,+ical sharps are strongly con-
I'D that Sir Thomas will sail nome
without the cup, the possession OIL wiiiele
tae given us the yachting supremacy %
the world since 1851.
RACE UNsATIsFACTORE'
d.. 4odax,s race was an unsatisfactory
Sbifting. battling winds ana "S'u'
},,r,,nv sea. with rain squalls maze .iio
CONDITIONS anything but IDEAL 1or y"O's
TO- The billows of mist which ehshrouu-
"a +,o Jersey shore prevented the crowd
tba Highlands of Navesink and SANDY
IIoolr from seeing the race, but the ei1-
-.o1o,,,,,q haze only added picturesque
~ 20 the contest for those VINO went
,1+.ida in fancy craft to see IT. + or
tto,o tho world was blotted out, and over
+,o dim gray sea, under the dull SKY
,ba Yachts raced with nothing o"t thein-
,aI,,cs and the attendant train OF toi-
.,,ino boa+s TO witness the contest.
In yindwarl work the Columbia with
.o,1s drawing badly, demonstrated her
,,,,.ario.itv. and in a long reach with
eboets eased she out-fOoted the NahdeI-
hu+ boat. Sudden shifting of wind pre-
vented a trial running with spinnakers'
In light weather, close-hauled, therefore,
- aa1 he said that she is undoubtedly
the Defenders superior, but what she
can do in a piping breeze remains 10 oe
seen. +1;
A thick haze hung over the harbor TINS
morning when the two superb yachts lelt
their anchorages off Tompkinsvllle'
astern of two proudly putting tugs, Tor
the arena of tcdays battle. AS the
Columbia passed out she was saluted py
every steam craft in the lower pay. 80
gentle were the pulsaticnS OF the waves
in tho barbor that many craft Of many
kinds ventured out. The large Meet lno
oIuded side-wheelers, swift steam pleas
IRE yachts, stub-nosed tug boats and sail
ing craft of all descriptions They led,
followed and accompanied the racers.
Small stick slOops and schooners there
we're in profusion Fortunately most Of
them kept their distance, and few OF
them bothered the racers with wash or
swell
DELAY AT START.
There was considerable delay at the
start The breeze had freshened as the
yachts got outside, and what the old
salts term lumpy sea was running
After Commodore MOrgans flagship, the
Corsair with Commodore Morgan, Ches-
ter Griswold, ex-COmmodore Nichol-
son Kane. Rear Admiral Francis Higgin-
son, Irving Grinnell and a large party
of guests aboard, had signaled the
course, and the racers had cast off their
lines, a sharp rain sQuall killed the
breeze. But the sQuau was brief, and a
half hour later a steady twelve knot
breeze was blowing from the southwest
The Ccrsair sigpaled the first leg tC
windward down the Jersey coast and the
yachts began to jockey for positions
Capt. Barr had the tiller of the Columbia
and aboard with him were c. Oliver Ise-
lin Mrs. Iselin, Newbury Thorne, Will
lam Iselin, Herbert Leeds and Woodbury.
Kane. Capt Rhoads had the helm of the
Defender. William Putler Duncan and
John BeresfOrd We're aboard Of her. AS
the warning gun was fired the Columbia
without waiting for the starting gun
rounded Sandy Hook lightship and head
ed across the line. Either ii was a bad
blunder en- the part OF Capt Barr. or il
was designed to give the Defender 6
start equal to her time allowance which
Is figured at about two minutes. Just as
the starting gun doomed the Defender
crossed on the port tack Meantime the
Columbia jibed and, returning. came
about and headed for the lire, crossing
it exactly two minutes after the De.
fender. Both yachts carried fore stay.
sails, jib baby jib tops and club top.
sails.
The beat to windward made an inter
esting race. The excitement was intens,
for the first few minutes, as the big racer.
entered upon their test Of speed. TIL,
Defender had the weather gauge by 10
yards, and was several lengths ahead.
At first the Columbia seemed to ont