The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1901-10-04

blowing around is knots out of the
northwest and at every point of sail
ing, except. perhaps, running before
the wind, in which the defender has al
ready taken the measure of the chal-
Ilenger, the Yankee sloop proved herself
ADLER than the Watson model. From
the time she crossed the starting line,
minute "a seconds behind the%cup
hunter, until she picked up and
passed the Irish boat three miles after
rounding the second mark, Columbia's
pace was faster and she behaved bet
ter than her rival.
Reaching for the first mark 10 miles
down the Long Island shore with the
wind abaft the beam, she gained %
seconds. In the closer reach for the
second stake she gained 80 seconds and
in the thresh to windward on the leg
home she gained exactly two minutes.
Not perhaps as thrilling as the remark
able contest of last Saturday, today's
race was, nevertheless, stirring from
start to finish and as a marine spec
tacle it could hardly have been sur
passed.
1t was an ideal October day at sea.
There was just enough freshness to
clear the atmosphere and make the
whole course visible from shore. The
breeze from the land piled up little
swells, but it was strong enough to
whip the froth out of the racing waves
until it whitened the face of the sea-
It's claws caught the black smoke from
the stacks of the excursion fleet and
the white steam from their exhaust
pipes and tore them into fragments.
The ensigns and flags with which the
vessels were dressed stood out like
painted boards. The tall canyas-cloud-
ed racers heeied as the wind smote
them until their crews could with diff
ficulty keep their footing on the slip
perry slipping decks, and the squirting
spray was tossed 30 feet high as they
shook their lean noses free of the foam
ing crests. On the thresh to windward
| their decks were a smother of white
! and fountains of foam curled away
4 from their graceful bows.
| The Yankee victory began with the
start when the crafty Barr, by a sys-
TEN of manOeuvring, convinced his ad-
| versary that he was trying to cross the
line first. Capt. Sycamore promptly
took the bait and rushing his boat into
| position sent her away almost in the
smoke of the gun. Thereupon Capt.
! Barr having accomplished his purpose
! tackled about back of the line and held
| off for more than a minute Then with
I
the handicap gun was fired Some of
the patriots were disappointed until the
experts explained that there was no
windward berth in reach where the
boats could lay their course straight
for the mark and that the position
astern where Barr could keep his eye
| on every move of his rival was the
commanding one. He could watch Capt.
| Sycamore like hawk, knowing that
when the gap between them was closed
the race was his.
| For the first Is miles no human eye
could tell which ship, if either, was
/ gaining, so closely were they matched.
| the Columbia was overhauling the fly
/ ing challenger. Slowly. inch by inch,
! and foot by foot the white boat
/ gained Both were going at a terrific
| pace The patrol fleet to leeward,
steaming line ahead at intervals of 400
yards had no difficulty in keeping the
excursion fleet clear of the winged
| giants. Everything in the fleet had to
crowd on steam to keep the racers in
sight, and the gait at which they were
| going left the tugboats and some Of the
steam yachts astern.
The guide boat, which started Is
minutes before the racers. tore ahead
at full speed, but she was hardly able
to log off the distance and get the float
| overheard before the racers were upon
her. While going out, the big North
German Lloyd liner Deutschland. out
ward bound to Cherbourg went through
the edge of the excursion craft, halI
! mile to the southwark. The Meet
seemed anchored, SO fast she went