The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-05
DUE TO GOOD WORK
CAPT. BARR's MEN BRING COLUM-
BIA OVER THE FINISH LINE
A WINNER
NEW BOATS GOOD SHOWING
Consensus of Opinion Is That Con-
stitutiOn, With More Seaman
like Handling, Would Have
Won the Race.

| tuition sailed a capital race today agaisSt
| the Columbia over course fifteen miles
to windward and back, in breeze the
force Of which averaged eight knots, its
| greatest power being twelve knots near
| the finish line. The Columbia won by
| seventeen seconds corrected time, the
| Constitution beating her rival on elapsed
| time fifty-four seconds. This does not in
| clude the handicap of twenty-one sec
| onds or more with which Constitution
| started. Had she not been handicapped,
| she would have won. On the windward
/ work she gained on the Columbia thirty
| two seconds and also twenty-one seconds
on the run home before the wind In a
| heavy puff, when close to the finish line,
her balloon jib topSail split in two and
caused a big tangle aloft. The Columbia
| was compelled to haul down her balloon
er at the same time, for the squall car
| ried away the cringle at the head of the
sail. But the big sail on Constitution re-
| fused to be controlled and fiuttered Ia
| SegmentS aloft, and all hands had to do
! their best to muZZle it. On the other
hand. Columbia hauled down her balloon
! jib topsail in seamanlike style and smart
/ ly bending on the spinnaker halyards,
hoisted reaching jib topsail in stops,
and breaking it out quickly darted across
the line a winner In taking in spin
makers, about twenty minutes before the
! finish line was reached by the leader,
Constitutions sail got tangled in the
| head stays and it took several minutes
| to get it on deck. While Tapping aloft,
the balloon jlb topsail had no oppor-
tunity to exert its utmost drawing power.
| All this time the Columbia's hallooner
was doing most effective work. To smart
| handling and excellent judgment Column
| bias victory today was due.
The handicap at the start seemed to
| be due to a lack of smartness aboard the
| Constitution and also to the more able
sea jockeying Of those in charge of the
Columbia. The Constitution allowed her
| self to be forced on the wrong side of the
line. was compelled to jibe around short
! on her heel and then to take the other
| end of the line, deadly handicap. This
and the splitting of her balloon jib top
! sail certainly lost her the race. Had it
not been for these mishaps, the Consti-
tuition would have beaten the Columbia
by small margin beyond the one minute
! and eleven seconds time allowed over
| the thirty-mile course.
| There will be no race for the yachts
| tomorrow and while the challenge COM
mittee held meeting this evening, no
announcement of future races was made.
1t is generally expected, however, that
other contests will be held here late in
| the week.
This morning in Newport harbor there
| was scarcely breath of air stirring.
| There seemed little prospect of a race
! until 80 a. M, when a light south
westerly wind set in. This soon fresh
| ened- into a breeze and the outlook
seemed fattering for a rafting good
race. The Constitution with Nat HERES
hoff on board, in addition to the regular
amateurs and professionals, was the first
| to slip her mornings at noon and beat
out to the starting line
At 12:40 flags were hoisted on the
| Narada, announcing that the course
would be S. S. w. fifteen miles to wind
ward and return. The sea was remark
ably smooth, but there was smoky haze
on the water. The yachts approached
| the starting line on the Starboard tack
with Columbia to windward. The sail
ing master of the Columbia repeated his
| old terrorizing trick of bearing right
down on his rival if about to ram her
shaking the wind out of her sails and
| then luff1ng off and clearing her by the
| smallest of margins. The maneuver he
repeated three times and finally luffed
| across the line At seconds after the start
! ing gun. The Constitution had plenty of
room to tack, but not caring to come
into such close quarters with the enemy,
jibed and on the port tack crossed the
line % seconds, or Whereabouts, after the
handicap gun Both yachts stood on the
port tack toward the Narragansett shore
with Columbia in the weather berth,
| thus having commanding lead. For
| nearly half an hour the yachts stood on
| the port tack with the wind freshenine
| as they sailed shoreward, until it at
| tanned about a nine-knot force. At 1:23
| the Constitution went on the starboard
| tack, followed Immediately by the Column
| bia. By this time the sails of the Con-
! stitution had stretched and it was seen
| that the old mainsail was far superior to
| the new one and also that the retrimmed
headsails set better than those carried
! in the race on Monday. The Constitution
| again at 1:50 went on the port tack,
standing in shore and the Columbia fol-
lowed like a flash For ten minutes they
! held this board and then ensued a, sue
| cession Of short tacks.
At 2:09 the Columbia for the first time
on the port tack crossed the bows of the
! Constitution about one-eighth of mile
ahead.
For nearly an hour the yachts con-
| t1nued to make short tacks. The result
| was far different from the same ma
| neuvers on Monday, when Columbia beat
her rival nearly five minutes on a beat
out to windward of ten miles The Con-
| stitution gained a little in these tacks
and when she was approaching the wind
ward mark the starboard tack she
had considerably diminished the gap. A
| short hitch to port was necessary to en-
able them to round the raft and quite a
| fleet Of steam yachts had assembled to
| the turn. The Columbia rounded at
| 3:O2:44, the Constitution at 3:0325. the
| elapsed time of this fifteen-mile beat be-
| ing 2:00:29 for the former boat and 2:O0:O7
for the latter. The Constitution was first
to set her spinnaker to port, the sail be-
ing handled with commendable speed
| The balloon jib topsail on the Columbia
was first hoisted however, the honors
| thus being even. The Constitution
stealthily crawled up on the Columbia.
the wind being at this time about ten
knots.
At 3:28 the Constitution led for the first
time in the race. Her victory was short
| lived, for at $50 the Columbia was once
more in the van.
Constitution again at 4:10 led by a few
| lengths. The tide had set them consid-
erably to the eastward of the true course
and it became necessary to take in spin
makers. The Columbia set a balloon stay
sail and the Constitution followed. Then
came a savage puff which set the lee
rails of both yachts under Columbia
| blanketed and passed Constitution At
this moment came the squat which split
the CONSTITUTIONS balloon jib topsail fair
| ly in two, the rip being in the center Of
u the sail.
The men had much difficulty in getting
| the pieces in. A few seconds later came
| the accident to the balloon jib topsail Of
the Columbia. Rapidly the sail was haul
ed down and taken Oh beard. A smartly-
reaching jib topsail was tugged out to
the bowsprit end in stops and in a little
| while the sail was broken out and was
| doing some strenuous pulling. 1t was a
daShing piece of good seamanship The
| Constitution did not attempt to set an