The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-08
AMERICAS CUP IN DANGER.
LIpton's Chances of Lifting" the
Trophy Better Than Ever.

| NEW YORK, April 7.-Yachtsmen are
agreed that Sir Thomas Liptons chances
! of lifting the cup this time are very
much greater than they were two years
ago, and that If the coveted trophy is
ever to go back to the British Isles it
should he taken home by the new Sham
rock. Sir Thomas Upton was handi-
capped in the last races in having in VIII
Fife. jr., a designer who had had practi-
cally no experience in designing big rae
ing yachts. and whose limited efforts
with boats OF the larger classes had re-
suited in failure. George l.. Watson, the
present designer. outlined the Thistle and
the Valkyries. and has turned out besides
these cup challengers the biggest and
spcediest yachts in British waters, in
Guiding his splendid production of last
season. the Sybarita. which is in the
challenging class, with a load-water line
of 50 feet. foot greater than that of the
first Shamrock.
Another Improvement will be in the
management. On the Shamrock there was
really no manager. and her designer was
unfortunately i'll during the races and
unable to be on board to give any needed
advice. The new Shamrock. on the other
hand, will have her manager William
jameson, the crack amateur yachtsman of
Europe, who has won victories that seem
ed wholly impossible, and who, with the
Britannia, whipped the successful cup de
fender Vigilant in the very days of her
triumph.
The Shamrock, too. was consigned to
the care of two shippers unacquainted
with these waters, while the second Sham
rock will have in Capt. Edward Sycamore
a sailing master who is not only ac-
quainted with American winds and tides
but has sailed cup challenger here, hav-
ing been in charge of the third Valkyrie,
better known perhaps as Valkyrie II.
when she fouled the Defender. More
must be expected from Willie Jameson
and Captain Sycamore than from the
shippers, Hogarth and Wringe although
both are sailing masters of unquestiOned
ability, which they proved during the
contest with the Columbia.
Fife, in turning out the Shamrock,
seems to have gone, the saying is,
clear over his head" and, unused to
working on big craft, produced. compared
with the Columbia, a short, sqaat, coarse,
| and big-bellied boat She was badly
rugged and her spars were too light to
carry sails to drive her. This weakness
| put her out of the second race when,
| twenty-five minutes after the start, in a
/ tWelNe-nlle breeze, her tOpmaSt was car
ried away. Watson Is not likely to turn
! out such heavy boat, having only 70
! feet in the Sybarita, against Sham
rock { u feet inches, although the former
! has an overall length OF l35 feet. while
! the latter had only l29 feet inches.
| Another disadvantage under which
! Thomas Upton labored was his going into
/ the races with his boat practically an I'M
! known quantity. Through the snobbish-
ness of Lord Dunrayen he was left with
! out the natural trial horse. the Valkyrie,
and untried. save for run with the Bri-
tannia, from which nothing of real value
| could be learned the Shamrock crossed
/ the ocean. Here she had merely a few
/ tuning-up spins, which could not reveal
| the qualities about which there was most
! need of knowledge. The new boat will
/ have plenty of racing in British waters
! and her owner Is absolutely independent
! in the matter of trial horse-the trial
( horse he Will, in all probability race
against the new boat on this side over
! the regular course, so that the capabili-
tbs of Shamrock If. In all sort of work
4 and weather may become the subject of
very fine calculation.
! With this positive knowledge 10 go upon,
! with such d boat Watson can turn
! out, and with such manager as Willie
! Jameson and sailing master as CAPTAIN
Sycamore, Sir Thomas Upton must stand
! q better chance OF lifting the cup than
: any man in all the fifty years since IL
/ was captured by the America. But then
| of course he must reckon with w. Butler
! Duncan and ythe Constitution, a name
! with peculiar significance for the Brit
| Usher.