The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1899-07-07
CUP DEFEN-
DERS RACE
Columbia 0utruns the De-
fender and Shows Her
Superiority.
WEATHER WAS VERY BAD
Conditions UnfayOratIe for Best
Results, but Yachtmen
Are Confident.
THE CUP SURE TO STAY
So Experts Declare Who Saw the CO.
lumbIa's Pretty Work No Fear
Of the Shamrock.
THE CUP SURE TO STAY

NEW YORK. July 5.-oyer a triangular
course of D miles, In comparatively
light wind. the now lselln Morgan yach
Columbia today yanqulshed the Wander
bit yacht Defender and convinced the
yuchtmcn who saw the royal struggle
tha, she s worthy Of defending .he pre-
ciou- trophy which Sir Thomas Upton
hupes to take back with him In the
Shamrock next fall The Columba's fore
stay and club top slit are anything but
perfect and IN a general way she vii.
reed q good deal Of tuning up Yet based
upon the showing she made az a better
boa, than the Defender under adverse
conditions nnutical sharpers are strongly
convinced that Sir Thomas will sail hyme
without the silver mug. possession Of
which has given Us yachting supremacy
OF the world since 1851,
Hut today's race was 81 unsatisfactory
one. Shifting, bafnlng winds and a bad.
umpy sea. wiki dirty rain squalls, made
the conditions anything but ideal for a
yach, race.
In windward work the Columbia. with
sails drawing badly, demonstrated her
superiority. and in long reaches. with
sheets eased. she outtoo;ed the Wander
bni boal. The sudden shifting Of the
wind prevented a trial at running with
splnnakers. In Hight weather close
hauled. II can De said aha, she Is un-
doubicdly the Defenders superior, but
what she can do on the piping breeze,
remains to be seen.
Both yachts carried four staysails,
jibs baby so, topsails and club ,opsails.
The beat 80 windward made beautiful
race Interest was intense for the first
few minutes as the big racers with every
thing close hauled, entered upon their
tes, Of speed. The Defender had the
weather gauge by 100 yards and was sew
eral lengths ahead. At drst the Columbia
seemed to outfoot her rival and there
seemed t. be no prccepIible difference in
their ability to hug the wind. Nautical
experts were jub!lanL
Then both yachts went over on the
starboard tack for a long beg, They
heelcd until yards OF their bronze bodies
were exposed, The Columbia seemed
more tender than the Defender, but per-
haps more stately, as she lay down to
her work She heeled enough to let the
seas swirl and bubble along her lee rail
and some times when she smashed big
wave into tatters, she shipped some
water forward.
Then the talent began to get nervous,
but surely the Defender was
drawing ahead and 1t was also apparent
that she was pointing higher than the
Columbia, II did not take yachtmen hong
10 discover the cause, The Defenders
sails NJ to perfection and every inch Of
canvas drew, The club topsail OF the Co.
Iumbla on the other hand was loose and
tracked In the wind, The forestaysail
lid not draw and might as we'll have
been slowed In the locker below
BY this time the breeze was blowing
ubout 10 knots per hour and while 1t
continued at that clip the Defender con-
inued to gain slowly. A half an hour
ater the wind sank to about five knots
'er hour, and Immediately the sails of
he Columbia continued to gain on every
ack and few minutes before the first
mark was reached she crossed the De-
'euders bow on the starboard tack and
won the race by a margin Of minutes
md So seconds.