New-York tribune., 1899-10-02
FIRST RACE TOMORROW
POWERS AND PEDIGREES OF THE COM
PETING YACHTS.

MUCH DEPENDS on THE VELOCITY OF THE
WIND - THE COLUMBIA BUILT FOR
LIGHT AIRS AND THE SHAMROCK
FOR STRONGER FREEZES
Tho first race for the Americas Cup In the
series Of 1899 will be sailed tomorrow The best
that the United States and England could pro-
duce in the way Of racing yachts will he
matched. The best available yacht designing.
the best available engineering skill and the
latest discoveries in the way OF torpedo boat
construction have been put into both craft
The crews that Will set the canvas on the boats
Sre the best that America and England could
furnish. The two captains Of the English craft
have been selected on account Of their prowess
on other fast boats and they are probably as
good as England and Scotland could supply.
They have to meet powerful combination.
1t Is true that Barr. the profe -sonal skipper
OF the Columbia. had his early tra ing in the
same schools as did the British captains md for
( that reason he might he supposed not 70 exceed
them in skill But Barr has for many years
since he became an American citizen been con-
testing against American skppers. and holding
his own with the best Of them. Whatever Barr
had 70 acquire from the Yankee sailors he has
acquired. At first he had to learn a good deal
Cranfeld. who sailed the two Valkyries, in 1893
and 1895. learned a good deal. Every English
skipper will pick UP az least something from the
American methods in yacht racing. The two
English captains ~ the Shamrock will probably
know more about these methods before the fun
IS over
But Barr Is supplemented hy A man who may
J he to
Iselln has a will power that Is hard to beat. In
/ the presence of impending and almost assured
defeat ne has proved himself master. Any
body who saw the Vgant return fifteen miles
/ before a gale of wind. carrying her largest club
Pantopsan. her balloon jib and her largest spin
maker. IN that memorable last race with the
Vakyrie II knows that c. Oliver Iselin will
stick at nothing In the way Of piling on canvas
70 shove the boat That a time in which
daring was wanted. To send up those sails In
that wind required nerve, for II seemed 10 he
! blowing hard enough 70 split every sail, as
! indeed Il did with the Nalkyre. whose
two splnnakers went 10 rags as soon as
they were hung up. That was time. TOO
when the money element had to he represented
in the boat No ordinary skipper would believe
that he had the right 10 run the boat to almost
certain wreckage by setting those huge sails
There was somebody then wanted on the Vlgi-
liant who did not care whether he wrecked the
boat or not so long as ne pushed her. And he
did, She was slght-nfted clear out forward
by the twin balloons in front-and she had to
do it all to win by forty seconds.
THE DASH OF IsELIN
man who has sailed all his life with c.
! Oliver Isein said 70 the writer the other day:
There Isn't anybody that raises such particular
h on n boat at the proper time as ollie
Iselin."
From the story that told by the old
friend It may we'll be believed that the historic
race Of the Vlgilaut, the greatest race that was
ever sailed. won by dash and spirit 1t
may sound odd to outsiders. but experienced
racing men will generally admit that there are
times on a racing yacht when nothing but
raising particular b." viii do the business.
There are times when the ethargy that comes
over men IN the presence Of almost assured
defeat or disaster requires some dynamic will
to stir them This is one reason why Mr.. Iselin
Is 50 valuable on a boat. He plays the limit
Fertile in expedient. beforehand with his plans,
he is a rapid thinker. and when all other things
are about equal between two boats 1t is the
| quickest thinker that wins
The result is that Americans have much con-
| fdence in the way in which the American boat
Will be handled in the race to- morrow and on
the other race days Of the series. And this
point is taken first for consideration because
of its extreme Importance Whole chapters may
be written about the build and the peculiarlties
OF the boats, but when all is said and done as to
the material nature Of the craft X Is their i'm
material equipment that has TO be considered
first.
THE MEN WHO BUILT THE COLUMBIA
Tho craft that has been built to hold the Cup
50 often successfully defended. represents the
best Judgment Of the men who produced the
Defender the winner Of 1890 and the Vgant
which retained the Cup even more satisfactorily
in 1Sg3 In the year they also produced
the Colonla which is now the fastest schooner of
her length In the world. All that these men
could learn from the work Of the Defender and
previous boats utilized In creating the CO.
lumbia and they had an advantage over other
people in that they themselves had always pos
sessed the best They had no need 70 study what
/ better men had done before. II is true that they
went on their own lines and did not borrow the
models that have proved faster than that u the
Defender proportionatey in the smaller classes
and it is also true that they have not reached
the limit Of a yachts speed in their designing:
but they have produced the most beautiful racer
that was ever seen. and the fastest light weather
craft that has been known this side of the
ocean
/ on an average this boat beat the De-
fender in light weather about five or six min
utes in q thirty mile course. and no one can
understand how greatly this fact commends the
/ Columbia unless he has some understanding Of
/ what good boat the Defender was and is. The
victor Of % was marvel In the defence Of
the cup she was a scientific certainty. In the
question of the adjustment Of weights apart
from an questions Of sailing, she had the Eng
l.h beat beaten practically before the races
BEGAN. She was m engineering triumph and
was also I'm her construction the product Of