The Portland daily press., 1899-10-21
The Victorious Yacht Won bv a
Little Over Six Minutes.
Defeat Was n Sad Blow TO Sir Thomas
But He May Come Again.

New York, October 90 0-Throueh rough
seas and in breeze that approached the
dignity Of gale. the sloop Columbia to.
day yanquished the British challenger
Shamrock by six minutes and eighteen
seconts actual time. and six minutes
ana thirty four seconds corrected time,
thus completing the series for ths Ameri.
cas- cup with q magnificent rough wealth
or duel and glorious Yankee victory.
For the eleventh time the attempt of a
foreigner to wrest from America the
yachting supremacy of the world has
failed.
The trophy won by the old Schooner
America 4s years ago, is still ours, a
monument 10 the superiority Of American
seamansbip and American naval archl-
lecture and a perpetual challenge to the
yachtsmen Of all nations. 10 Sir Thom-
as Upton, whose name is now added to
the list Of defeated aspirants for the hon.
or of carrying the cup back across the,At-
lautio, the failure was o severe blow. But,
as he is true sportsman, the sting of
defeat has left no bitterness and he inti-
mates that he may be back next year With
better boat to try again.
During his stay here, Sir Thomas has
made himself more popular than any
previous challenger, and the yachtsmen
OF this country will be glad TO welcome
aim back. Except for the repeated fiukes
and the acoidsnt to the challenger on
Tuesday. tho series OF races has been
unmarried by single outward incident.
The boats have had two fair and square
races, one in Light airs and the other in a
heavy blow, and Sir Thomas is satisfied
that he was bsaten by the tstter boat.
Toiay's race was q fine test of the
rough weather qualities OF the two big
sleeps. There was too much frostiness
In the air for comfort and it was far too
rough for lund lub5erA. The sky was
overcast with gray clouds and a chilling
wind was blowing out of the northeast.
Ihe ocean was riot of white caps. Some
of the holiday feet declined to go outside
and those that did rolled and plunged in
tie tumbling billows, sending all but the
old salts fellow. The prayer of Sir Thom-
as for wind was answered. 1t was blow
irg 25 miles an hour at the lightship,
enough wind and enough sea to make
any racing machine Singer. Even the
pilot boats were under shortened sail
The course, 10 miles before the wind.
south by west. carried the yachts straight
down the Jersey coast to point of Long
Branch, so that the race was sailed In
plain view Of the thousands perched upon
the heights OF Navesink aud along the
shore from Seabrlght to Asbury Park.
The crew Of the Columbia wore oil-skins
and sou'westers and the crew of the
Shamrock wore white canvass. 1t was
blowing too hard for club topsails and
both shippers contented themselves with
hoisting small working topsails. Roth
yachts sped across the starting line be-
fore the 25-knot breeze wing and wing,
with their spInnakers breaking out. The
Shamrock was over minute and one
second before the defender. But this was
not due to superior seamanship. Capt.
Barr held of fer that length of time. af.
ter the Shamrock crossed in order that hs
might get the position astern, where he
could have an opportunity to blanket his
rival.
The Columbia carried her spinnaker
baom at an angle of almost 45 degrees
This allowed the big sail to belly far out
forward and draw like "a locomotive.
But 1t was rather dangerous and twloe
an extra puff CT wind carried the sail
forward and up until it tumbled over
the stay. But the Lear Isle sailors each
time had it back in place in iiffy. The
Shamrock had no such mishap. as Ho-
garth carried his boom much lower. The
Yankee trick, however. did its work, lift.
ing the head of the Columbia out of the
water, until she seemed to be skimming