Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1901-10-04
WON FIRST RACE
BEST YACHT RACE YET RUN.
Shamrock III. Was Ahead Over Half
the Course-Enylish Were Jubilant
Columbia Took a Squirt and Won
Out-Lipton Steam Yacht in Coll
Iision-Was Slightly Injured.


for the Americas cup, the white flyer
Columbia Saturday beat the British
challenger over a windward and lee
ward course of 80 nautical miles by
the narrow, heart breaking margin
of SO seconds. AS Liptons latest aspi-
rant for cup honors must allow the
defender 43 seconds on account of the
extra 1913 So. #. of canvas in her sail
area, the official record, under the
rules, gives her the victory by / min
ute and % seconds.
AS a spectacle the contest was SUI
perb. From the time the two sky
scraping racers crossed the starting
line until they fled across the finish
line, four and half hours later, the
result was in doubt and the excitement
aboard the excursion fleet increased
until men became frenzied and women
almost hysterical.
So evenly matched were these two
scientific racing machines that never
after they started were the rival skip
pers out of each others hail and more
than three quarters of the time they
were so close that Charlie Barr, who
had the tiller aboard the Columbia,
could have tossed a biscuit to Captain
Sycamore on the Shamrock. For miles
as they beat their way to the outed
mark the black shadow of Shamrock's
huge topsail was painted on the big
mainsail of the Columbia and for an
hour on the run home, with the yachts
flying like scared deer before the wind,
they ran almost beam to beam, as if
they had been harnessed together.
The memory of the races between the
Genesta and the Puritan in 1885 and
Lord Dunraven's first Valkyrie and
the Vigilant in 1893, which have been
treasured by yachtsmen up to this
time, will be forgotten after this mag
nificent duel. 1t will live forever in
the memory of those who witnessed
it. In the years to come yachtsmen of
two nations will recount the thrilling
story of the celebrated first race be-
tween the Columbia and the Sham
rock H., sailed off New York harbor
in the first year of the new century.
AS q result of the race, though faith
in the Columbia, still remains in the
hearts of the patriots, all the experts
admit that the British boat is the
ablest sloop sent to these waters to
life the 100 guinea cup which the old
schooner America brought across the
Atlantic so years ago, and the superb
GRITTY of American seamanship and
American naval architecture as repre-
scented by the defender remains to be
established. The quality Of sailing
ship is measured by her ability to
carve her way into an adverse wind
and in the Is miles thresh to wind
ward today the golden challenger
gained SO seconds, while on the run
home her lead was eaten up and the
Columbia crossed the finish line ex-
actly 81 seconds before Shamrock. 1t
must be, remembered that the chal
lenger had the weather gauge in the
beat to windward, no mean advantage,
and the nautical experts said after
the race that during the outward jour
ney she had been sailed to absolute
perfection, while before the wind the
American not only showed fleeter
pair of heels, but, in the opinion of
the sharps, was better handled.
The start was thrilling. The yachts
bounded away across the line like a
couple of runaway horses, the chal-
lenger half length ahead and to the
windward. In the maneouvering be-
fore the start Captain Sycamore had
given the willy Yankee skipper a genu-
inc surprise. returning Roland for
the Oliver he received on Thursday.
Just when Barr thought he had him
under his lee the Englishman dead
ened his Roadway and then luffed I'M
der the Columbia's stern into the
weather berth. This victory for the
Shamrock at the very first of the race
the Columbia could not overcome in
the long beat to windward.
The two big yachts were an inspir-
ing sight to the spectators as they
plunged seward, pounding great
fountains of spray from their bows
and drenching the crews lined up
along the weather rail. They heeled
to the wind until their lee rails were
awash in the swirling, bubbling seas
and from the windward side they
showed yards of their bronze under.
bodies. Neck and neck, tack and
tack, they raced like a team of horses.
Dismay began to be written on the
faces of the patriots as Barr tried
once, twice and finally a third time to
cross the bow of the foreigner only
to be forced around each time by the
lean, golden muzzle of the Britisher.
Visions of the dear old cup that means
the yachting supremacy of the world,
vanishing across the waters danced
before their eyes. On and on they
few, turning twin wings of foam from
their bows, and the Columbia seem
ingly falling back rather than gaining
The hearts of the patriots sank lower
and lower. AS the yachts got further
out the swells heightened and the
white flyer seemed to labor more heav.
lily in the long waves.
AS the Shamrock wore around with