The Worcester spy., 1899-08-13
BREEZES LIGHT.
But Columbia Won
BY Over Nineteen
Minutes.
WAS PERFECTLY HANDLED.
Yacht Has Now Expert.
enced Weather Conditions
of All Kinds.
WAS PERFECTLY HANDLED.

Newport, r. l., Aug. 12.-The New York
yacht squadron is again at anchor to-
night, in the harbor, and so far as the
club runs are concerned the cruise of
1899 is over. The last run today from
New Bedford, of % miles, to this port
was not much of an improvement over
yesterdays hukiness, for while the
wind held on longer the yachts ran in
| to soft spots, and five miles from the
finish the entire fleet was becalmed for
half an hour
Columbia kept up her record Of VIC
tories of the week, not only leading all
| the yachts over the line, but defeating
Defender IS minutes and 4 seconds
elapsed time. The actual distance,
| however, between the boats was less
than two miles, for the old boat came
up very slowly in the light air, besides
being somewhat delayed by a short luf-
| fing match with the schooner Colonia,
which finished about the same time.
Columbias victory was, nevertheless,
perfectly legitimate, and she showed
| herself a marvel in light weather. The
wind was light throughout, and at one
| time failed altogether, but it treated
| both boats alike, barring a short spell
| just before the finish. when the Column
| bia caught the breeze a few minutes
| before her rival.
| 1t was a spinnaker day almost from
| the start, and the yachts carried their
| light sails throughout. Starting in a
| five-knot northeast breeze, off New
Bedford, Defender 10 seconds in the
! lead, the yachts ran before the wind for
the first six miles down Buzzards bay
| to the Hen and Chickens lightship. On
the way down Columbia caught and
passed Defender, rounding the light
| ship minute and 81 seconds in the
| lead, besides catching half of the feet,
which had started 20 minutes ahead. A
| few minutes after rounding the wind
hauled more to the eastward, and
again spinnakers, which had been ta-
| ken off, were hoiSted for the run to the
finish, 16 miles away.
Half way to that point off Sekonnet
light the wind again hauled to the
/ southeast, and Columbia ran rapidly
| through the fleet passing boat after
| boat, until she established herself well
in the lead of all the yachts. On the
run to Sekonnet, under perfectly fair
conditions as far as the wind was con-
cerned, Columbia gained rapidly, lead
| ing Defender at the light by II minutes
and 2S seconds.
| The southeast breeze left both the
yachts about the same time, but when
it came in again, Columbia picked it up
first and crossed the line at 4.1502. De-
fender crossing at 4.3347. But few
| mistakes were made on either boat, and
both were certainly sailed for all there
was in them.
| Columbia's sails were shifted fre-
| quently to catch favorable breezes and
the men handled the great sheets of
| canvas quicker tfw1 ever before In
fact, the new boat was very lively
throughout the day and seemed to have
a surprising faculty of picking up a
breeze and keeping 1t on all occasions.
| Much of this is no doubt due to her
excellent handling, for throughout the
| cruise of five days, during which the
| breezes, with one exception, have been
very battling, she has always managed
| to find fortunate shifts, which has put
| her invariably far in the lead. All this
| is very pleasing, not only to her own
| erS, but the yacht club in general, and
| in this respect the cruise has been en-
| inently successful AS for the other
| boats in the fleet all had a hard day
with the light, shifting airs, and for
once the Vigilant was well in the rear
of the fleet, although she beat out her
only competitor Navahoe At one
| time, however 1t looked as if the lat
| ter had captured the lead during the
| shift of wind to southeast, which left
| the Vigilant becalmed. But the Car
roll boat could not keep the breeze and
! Vigilant slipped in ahead.
Colonia again led the schooners over
nearly the entire course, finishing well
in the lead, with Amorita a good second
and winning in her class. The yachts
were so slow in finishing that a fog
caught a good number, and the flag
ship, leaving the tug to take the time,
ran into the harbor.
Fortunately the Columbia and De-
fender reached their moorings before
the fog shut down, but tonight it is
very thick and the fleet is enveloped in
the mists. The thick fog was all that
was necessary to complete the variety
| of weather since the cruise started in
Tuesday, and tonight the yachtsmen
say that all sorts and conditions have
been met and in the end surnounted
SIOOPS-CLASS G.