The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-09-27
A RACE THAT FAILED
YACHTsMEN SUFFERED DISAP-
POINTMENT YESTERDAY.
THE BREEZE WAS TOO LIGHT.
But THE AMERICAN CARRIED OFF
ALL THE HoNORs.

The Columbia, Regarded by Her
Friends as a Heavy Weather Boat,
Proved Marvel in the Light
weather of Yesterday-A Thing of
Life md Beauty, She Outmaneuv-
cred the Britisher at Every Point.
In Twenty-Five Tacks She Had the
Best of All but One, and Was
Three-auarters of Mile I'm the
Lead when the Wind Died Away.
Shamrock III Looks to he Easy, but
There May he a Different Tale to
TeII-Race VIII BE ResaiIed Sat
urday.
New York, Sept 26.-One of the big
gest crowds that ever put to sea went
down to the Sandy Hook lightship to-
day to witness Sir Thomas Liptons
second challenger, Shamrock III, and
the white flyer, Columbia, which sue
cessfully defended the old Americas
cup against his first trophy hunter two
years ago, struggle for the yachting
supremacy of the world in the first of
the cup races of 1901. But the excursion
fleet returned disappointed. The great
single stickers went out this morning
fresh for the battle but the sea refused
them field of conflict. The wind, never
more than nine and sometimes as low
as three knots, was too light and shifty
to carry the contestants over the thir~
ty-mle course in the time allotted by
the rules At the end of five and half
hours, the prescribed time, the race
was officially declared off and the
yachts were towed back to their berths
inside Sandy Hook. When the gun
aboard the committee boat was fired
to call attention to the signal declaring
the race off the American yacht was
still five miles from the finish line. The
Englishman was hull down astern of
her. the experts estimating her dis
tance behind the Columbia at over
three quarters of mile.
The CoIumbin's Good Work.
Americans will have reason to con-
graduate themselves upon the result
of the first trial. The yacht which
carried j. p. Morgans private signal
a black pennant, with a yellow Maltese
cross, to victory two years ago, was
headed but once in the twenty-five
undiscovered, and then the English
man showed the way for only five min
utes. In the windward work the CO.
lumbia beat the foreigner seven min
utes and fifteen seconds to the outer
mark and increased her lead somewhat
in the broad reach for home. While
the test was unsatisfactory, the yacht
ing sharps who have been skeptical up
to this time as to the ability OF the
Columbia to successfully defend the
cup, are more confident tonight that
it will still remain on this side of the
Atlantic a while longer. Certainly Co.
lumbia's superiority in light airs ap-
pears to have been demonstrated TO-
day. Shamrock II did not, in fact,
make as good a showing as did Lip
tons first challenger in the half-dozen
fiukes that preceded the actual races
two years ago. What Shamrock may
be able to do in heavy weather is, OF
course problematical, but Columbia
has been tried, and all her admirers
insist that she is distinctively heavy
weather boat.
The day had promised well at first.
A strong northeast wind had peen
blowing for two hours and the weather
prophets had offered assurance that IL
would hold.
II had piled up what sailormen call
d
fore the race began was whipping the
foam off the crests of the waves. A
heavy haze, which hung over the bay,
had been blown away by the bright
sunlight which gilded the crinkling wa
ter into glory.
Many MiIIionaires' Yachts.
The procession that sailed out of
New York harbor anticipated fine
days sport. So numerous were the
various kinds of craft that they SEEM
ed to fill the broad expanse of ocean
between the Long Island and Jersey
shores as with a countless fleet. Con-
spicuous among the yachts were j. T.
Morgan's Corsair, F. w. Vanderbilts
Conqueror, Cornelius Vanderbilt's Mi
rage, Howard Gould's Niagara, e. L.
Gerrys Electra, John Jacob Astor s
Nourmahal, August Belmont's Stout,
Col. Albert Paine's Aphrodite, and half
hundred others, each flying the New
York Yacht Clubs pennant at the fore
and the private signal of the owner at
the main.
The big racers had already been
towed out and when the fleet arrived
they were circlng and wheeling like
great gulls about the lightship. The
polished bronze hull of the Shamrock,
cleaning and glistening in the brilliant
sun, made her look like a craft of gold,
ions spread. The white revenue cut
ters and yachts of the patrol fleet, each
with the vertically striped revenue
flag at the fore peak, marshalled the
excursion fleet behind the line. Shortly
before II o'clock big black tug flying
the blue flag of the Regatta Commit
tee puffed through the fleet, measured
off the 200 yards starting line from
the lightship, let go her anchor and
their hoisted the signal ID. B. "" in
dicating that the course would be east
by north, fifteen miles straight into
the eye of the wind and re-
turn. Then another big tug
started off straight out the
the Long Island shore to set the outer
mark
Charlie Barr's Fine Work.
At 1856 o'clock a puff of smoke burst
from the committee boat. The blue
pennant went up and the preparatory
signal for the race had been given
Then began the jockeying behind the
line, of which Charlie Barr, the Ameri.
can skipper, has proved himself SC
many times a grand master. And the
skill he displayed to-day was enough
TO warm the cookies of those who saw
It, He got into the windward berti
and try as the Englishman would, h,
could not shake him off. As the rec
ball, which marked the warning sig
1.la.Naas