The sun., 1901-08-11

DHArS COLUMBIA BY = MINUTES
4 8 SECONDS.

,sfe SECONDS.
z Aeu16mW 70 on Champieas Bewsprit
@Arsuds end steering Gear Delay
ur Absut i've Minutes s-Bosts SAN
Y.ss n Q 30-knot Breeze-Csnstitu-
uGup Mainssii Sets Badly, but she
~ Hsus at . rate Better Msn
n Ensh IN Heur-virginia Beats
nanbsw fss SIR Thomas Lipten's
CD-vigilant wins In the vswi Ciass.
MUroar. Aug. io.-The Constitution
anA Columbia racsd to-day In . fresh breeze
and u roughsst sea In which these yachts
hAvs sailsd this year. 1t was the first race
of ~ Constitution since she has had the
ohsness made In her rig and every one
waa anxious to see how the new yacht would
saQ With the champion OF %. The Con-
stitsztion won the race, beating the Co
hambia minutes Q seconds over the course.
OF this gain she made minutes seconds
beatlng hftsen miles and minute seconds
SunninS homo. The race was q very fast
- and was satisfactory In that It showed
that The Constitution ID q good boat In q
blow and her spars and rigging stood the
tost weIl, much to tho satisfaction Of those
who bad thought her to be only vessel for
Meht brssxes. Whether she could have
boatsn TIE Columbia II that boat had not
MT with an accident u q question that
hAs caused no end OF discussion among
yaahtMmen tonight
About eighteen minutes after the yachts
had bssn sent OF the Columbia suddenly
lzCsd Into the wind. She was at that time
about IN eighth Of . mile to windward Of
Constitution. At first it was thought she
was tacking. but she hung in the wind
and men were at work on the bowsprit.
Aftsr hanging for more than three minutes
she paid OF again and then yawed and
went from ono tack to another. 1t was
more than Ave minutes before she settled
down on her course again and the Consti-
tuition, In the meantime, had crossed her
bow and taken the lead in the race. The
accident was due to the stacking Of the
bowuprit shrouds. A new bowsprit had
bssn put In position, but it did not fit and
had to b taken ashore and the old
bowsprit used again. The shrouds had
not been set up properly and Mate Miller
saw that unless something was done at
once there would be q serious accident.
Il was impossible to make the shrouds
taut while the yacht was sailing on her
course and she was lufYed into the wind.
When all was ready again some accident
happened to the steering gear, but what
II was no one on the yacht knows. When
the gear was examined the cause OF the
trouble had gone and then the yacht went
on with the race. She was more than Ave
minutes In the wind and the Constitution
had gained the weather position and an ad-
vantage which the Columbia could not
Offset. The general opinion is that with
the advantage Capt. Barr had gained at
the start the Columbia would have been
able to keep the weather position to the
windward mark. and running home the
Constitution did not gain enough to Offset
the time allowance that the Columbia re-
ceivsd. Mr.. W. B. Duncan. Jr.. and ex-
Commodore E. d. Morgan have requested
that their boats be remeasured and 90 no
time allowance II shown In the table Of
the Regatta Committee. The difference in
the measurement Of the two yachts will be
very slight and the Constitution will allow
I minute II seconds TO the Columbia over
Q thirty-mile course.
Tho Constitution used the mainsail that
she had when she lost her mast. It fitted
very poorly and was much too full on the
leach. 90 that the gan swung outboard
moro than II should. The mainsail was
q very good one, much better than the one
used on the Columbia. After the race
Mr.. Duncan was asked il he thought the
Constitution would have won II the accident
had not happened to the Columbia. He
said: THAT Is hard to say. She was TO
windward Of US and was pinching out,
but the Constitution was footing very fast.
The accident. Of course. gave an advantage
TO the Constitution. but how much Ia more
than I can say. Our mainsail was q very
bad one and would not sit at all, and going
topsail 10 have been on deck rather than
where II was. We would have done much
better without II. think that the changes
made IN the lead Of the peak halliards have
improved the yachts sailing qualities,
and with . good fitting mainsail on she
will do much better than she has DONE
The Virginia and Rainbow raced for the
given Last year by Sir Thomas Upton.
This cup was raced for last September
and was won then by the Rainbow. but
that yacht was disqualified. The second
yacht to finish was the Mneola but Vice
Commodore August Belmont had neglected
70 make q formal entry for his yacht 30
abe was not entitled to the cup. The Vir-
ginia was the third boat In the race but
w. X. Vanderbilt, Jr.. her owner. declined
TO accept q cup won in such a way and
It was decided to race again The Rainbow
got the best Of the start and kept the read
until we'll past Point Judith Then the
Virginia drew up. passed the Rainbo
and eventually won the race handily. The
Rainbow staggered under big club top =
sail while the Virginia made better weather
OF II with q smaller one. Three yawls,
the Ailsa. Vigilant and Navahoe. raced for
special cup. When doing very well and
leading the Ailsa pulled out her bobstay
and was forced to retire. The Vigilan
Aniahed first but Mr.. Royal Phelps Carroll
has asked for a remeasurement Of his yacrt
and he may win the cup on time allowan e,
the Navahoe being much smaller than
the vigilant.
There was very poor prospect OF good
race early in the morning; a heavy fog
hung like pail over the harbor and not a
single yacht dared to start outside. There
was little breeze from the southeast and
II was bringing the fog in with it. The