The sun., 1901-08-04

1 holding and, possibly, increasing In force.
Several times htrly there has been good
! hreeze early in the day. but II has died
away by the time the. yachts were ready
/ tn start. No one on the racing boats was
anxious tn get sail up and II was after
O'Clock before any move MAS made TO ges
ready. The Ailsas mainsail was the first
TO he hoisted and then the cornere were
taken on the Columbia and Independence's
sails and their his pieces q u.n canvas ;,T Wsre
each wanting to see what the other would
do. Capt Barr was the first to make q
move and he had No. 2 club 'opsall sent
UP. The Independence sent up similar
sized sail and then there was another wait.
Ex-Commodore L. d. Morgan went on
board the Columbia, and after a consul.
tation with Capt. Barr the club topsail
was lowered to the deck and the smallest
used on that yacht sent up. No change
was made then on the Independence. and
at 9;40 O'Clock the jib and forestaysai!
were brokn out, the moorings dropped
and the Boston boat on the port tack reached
by Fort Adams and then beat down past
the Dumplings and Beaver Trail toward
Brenton's Reef light vessel % On rsI board
Charles Francis Adams. I'd, G.. c. Clapp
and Designer B. B. Crowninshield. As tho
Independence got under way Mr.. Morgan
and Capt. Barr went Of In launch to have
look at their club topsail. and everything
being satisfactory that yacht slipped her
moorings and went out after the lndepen-
dence. The Navahoe was the first OF the
fleet to leave the harbor and she sent up
her club topsail after getting outside. The
Aisa and vigilant also used big club topsails
and they all carried them well. The
schooner Quissetta set club topsail and
the Elmina came out under working top
sails.
Outside the wind was fresher than it was
inside tho harbor. It was about eighteen
knots strength and coming in from the
south southwest to the south. Working
schooners were seen heeling well over and
sailing under lower sails only and white
caps were rolling In. The Independence
laid well over beating out to the lightshiP
and when she got outside those ON board
decided she would do better without the
big sail aloft. The yacht was held In the
wind while Jimmie Barrie, the masthead
man, went aloft and unlashcd the clubs.
Then the sail was lowered to the deck and
slowed away. A working topsail was set
in its place, and at io;4o o'clock she was
ready for the race. The working topsail
did not fill in the space between the gaff
and topmast. II had the seams running as
a Y through the sail, and was very fiat.
The Quissetta followed the example OF the
Boston boat and changed her club topsail
for working sail.
The steam yacht Nourmahal, owned by
Col. John Jacob Astor, with the Regatta
Committee on board, reached the line at
quarter before II o'clock and signalled
the course. The first leg Of the triangle
was southwest by south ten miles, the
second leg east ten miles and the third leg
north northwest ten miles. The Dreamer
with Thomas W. Lawson on the bridge,
the Electra, Elbridge T. Gerry'ss steamer;
p. A. b. Widener's Josephine, Henry Wal
ter's Nevada, Robert Ballentine's Tusca-
rora and c. X. Billingss Surf were among
the fleet Of steamers out TO follow the
racers. The steamer City OF Lawrence
was out with crowd OF e1cursionists.
At II o clock, the time set for starting. some
Of the yachts were not ready. The English
built cutters were lowering their club top
sails and so the flag for the letter 7 was
flown on the Nourmahal signalling that
the start was postponed for fifteen minutes
The. wind was still increasing. II was
blowing fully twenty knots an hour and
there was weight in II. The clouds were
through. The waves were all crested with
white foam. The Columbia and lnde-
pendence sailed about the light vessel
and Columbia laid over more than she had
ever done before, her rail was well under
and the lee shrouds as they dashed through
the water threw the spray high in the air
At il:i5 O'Clock the warning signal
sounded At that time the Columbia
was south OF the light vessel on the star
board tack, heading TO the east. She wore
round and gybed and on the port tack,
headed to the northwest. The lnde-
pendence was coming in from the west with
the wind abeam on the starboard tack. She
laid over more than one OF these big rae
ing boats had ever been seen 10 heel before
and on the weather side several strealSs
of brunze were visible She bore on and
headed up the harbor. The Column
bia crossed the line from the south and
inst as she did so the Independence gybed
her boom to starboard and both were head
ing in towards the Beaver Tail shore. Then
the preparatory signal was made and the
sloops had five minutes more IN which
TO mannmvre. Capt Haf hauled the
Independence on the wind and then luffed
up, while the Columbia crossed the bow OF
the Boston boat and then she luhed with
the Independence under her lee quarter.
Both then stood toward the shore on the
port tack. Independence, when about
two minutes Of the five were left, tackled
and passed astern of the Columbia and
then the latter boat went on the starboard
tack and again the Columbia had the
weather position.
Both were too soon to stand for the mark
and Capt Barr bore on a little and ran
down on the Independence and then lufed.
The boats were very close and just as the
Columbia luffed her boom swung over the
Independence and just missed the weather
rigging of the Boston boat The end Of
the boom caught the forestry OF the Inde-
pendence and dragged across the fore
staysail Capt Han then lufed the lnde-
pendence sharply to try and keep clear
and IL was wonder that there was no
damage done II was almost repeti-
tion Of rhe Vnkyrie- Defender foul in the
races in 1895 Columbia had run down
10 get the weather position and luffed To
check the Boston boats headway but had
miscalculated Just fraction. They were
then too soon and the Independence passed
astern OF the Committee boat and reached
toward the lee end Of the line with her
sheets pinned in fat
The Columbia stayed and Rybed at the
westward side Of the committee boat and
then came for the line luiIing sharply under
the stern of that vessel. The starting
gun sounded at lI'25 O'Clock and right
on the sigma, Capt Half shot the lndepend-
ence across the line at the leeward end
The Columbia was late about thirty seconds,
but what she lost in time she more than
made up by crossing nj the wirdward end
of the line. They we're both on the star.
board tack and travelling very last. Lee
rails were under and the water was thrown
on each side Of the boats "a their bows
pushed II 10 one side.
The Independence on account OF her
buffer bow made more fuss in the water
than the Columbia, which boat. consider,
ing the conditions. was making beautiful
weather of it. They held on this tack
until lI:332O, when the Columbia went
on the port tack and the Independence
followed 20 seconds later. Columbia had
,.or,, east and haA t,ra ~ ipa llv bra Wn