The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1899-10-04
FIRST RACE WAS
DECLARED Off
The Yachts Failed to Finish in
Time Limit
WINDS PR'zy5S TOO LIGHT
IS.
The Sham $ d by More Than a
- Or Of Mile.
WILL BE Run OVER TOMORROW
ed and it Proved a Fizzle from
the Start-Shores Lined
With Spectators

New York, October S-As the sun set
| great ball of fire. behind the Navasink
hills and the sparkling stars came out into
| the fawless heavens, the biggest crowd of
| sightseers and yachtsmen who ever sailed
| down to Sandy Hook to witness the at
| tempt of a foreign mug hunter to wrest
from America the yachting supremacy of
the world returned to New York crest
fallen and disappointed. The winds from
Caves -old-ocean had proved too light
and shifty, and the first of the internation-
al series of 1899 between the greatest rae
ing machines ever produced by England
and America, degenerated into a drifting
match, and had to be declared off because
neither could reach the finish line in the
time allotted by the rules.
To avoid just such winds as occurred to-
day, in which luck and not the crew and
yachts win, the rules provide that if one
of the boats does not finish within five and
O half hours the race Is declared off, SO
at the end of the time this evening, when
the yachts were still four miles from home,
with the Shamrock leading by some thing
more than a quarter of a mile, the COM
mittee officially declared that there had
been no race. The yachts where then taken
In tow by their respective tugs and brought
back to their anchorage inside Sandy
| Hook. The clean limbed racers had sailed
| out this morning fresh for battle, but the
! sea had refused them a field of conflict
| Under the rules the first race is now post
poned for two days, or until Thursday.
Promising Day
The day promised well at first. The sky
was smirched with a few dirty clouds, but
clear enough to permit the thousands of
spectators who lined the Jersey shore to see
almost every foot of the course. The waves
were crested with white caps here and
there, and fairly fresh breeze blew out of
the north northeast, but after the Columbia
and Shamrock had crossed the line, the
wind turned fukey and variable and the
race was a fizzle almost from the start.
But the fuke today gave the yachting
sharks and the spectators much to think
about, and some surprises.
The Columbia is undoubtedly the prettier
boat. She is tall, stately, with graceful
lines and towering masts.
The Irish boat with her broader beam
and longer base line, looked slower and
heavier. Perhaps her green color makes
her look clumsier, as if she were forced
ehiou5H lhc Wdlci, Wbiic tiiC Siiii Soiuihpio
pierces 1t like a rapier.
Shamrock Best Boat Ever Sent Over
Though indecisive in every respect as to
| the abilities of the great rival single stick
| ers, today's race indicates that the Irish
| boat, with her English skipper and her
| Scotch crew. is the ablest sloop ever sent
| across the Atlantic in the hope of lifting
| the one hundred guina cut which the
America brought back forty-eight years
ago and which has since been successfully
defended against the world
During the five and half hours sail the
Shamrock was thrice ahead and twice the
Yankee boat showed the way For the first
ten minutes the Shamrock lead then for
five the Columbia's graceful bow showed
ahead Of the green boat; for forty-1ve
minutes following the Shamrock, then for
three hours the Columbia and for the last
hour and half 1t was the Shamrock that
lead the way.
The breeze blew high 12 knots an
hour and as low three and shifted about
through points of the compass.
Took Turns Beating Each other
Each In turn beat the other in running
before the wind, and was in turn beaten.
of the race, so that many of the experts
who saw the two boats sail today are dis
inclined to believe there is pin to choose
between them; but when the race is closely
analyzed 1t is absolutely proven that the
Columbia showed her superiority at every
point of sailing, running, reaching and
beating whenever the wind freshened, and
that it was only in the lightest air that
the Shamrock could make headway against
her. Both had their share of good and bad
luck. The Columbia had the better of the
shifting wind on the run down to the mark,
and beat the Shamrock two minutes and
forty-four seconds, while on the beat home
after increasing her lead to over a mile at
one time, the Shamrock overhauled the
Yankee and was quarter of a mile ahead
when the time allowance expired.
On board the Shamrock, besides her Cap
tains, Hogarth and Wringe, were Vice
Commodore Sharman Crawford and Hugh
McGill Downey, of the Royal Ulster Yacht
club; Sailmaker Ratzey, Navigator Hami-
ton and Henry Z. Lipptt, the last named
representing the New York Yacht club.
On board the Columbia, besides G. Oliver