The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-29
Shamrock Sometime in the Lead and
Sometimes Columbia, with n
Good Wind Blowing.
TURN AT THE OUTER STAKE
SHAMROCK LEADING AFTER 4 NIP
AND-TUCK BEAT.
Lead Maintained for Some Time
Injury to Steam Yachts Erin and
NourmahaI by Collision.

NEW YORK, Sept. 2S.-In the closest and |
most stirring race ever sailed for the old |
Americas cup the white flyer Columbia |
to-day beat the British challenger over |
windward and leeward course of thirty |
nautical miles by the narrow margin Of |
thirty-nine seconds. AS Lptons latest .
aspirant for cup honOrs must allow the de- |
fender forty-three seconds on account of |
the extra $50 square feet of canvas in her |
sail area, the official record, under the |
rules. gives her the victory by one minute |
and twenty-five seconds.
AS a spectacle the contest was superb. |
From the time the two sky-scraping racers |
crossed the starting line until they finished, |
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 shippers out Of eacn |
others hail and more than three-quarters
of the time they were so close that Charlie
Barr who had the tiller aboard the Ameri-
can boat could have tossed a biscuit to
Capt. Sycamore, on Shamrock. For miles
as they beat their way to the outer mark
the black shadow of Shamrock's huge club
topsail was painted on the big mainsail of
Columbia, and for hour 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 to-
gether.
The memory Of the races between Cen
esta and the Puritan i'm 1885, and Lord
Dunraven's first Valkyrie and Vigilant in
1S93 which have been treasured by yachts
men up to this time. will be forgotten after
the magnificent duel of to-day. In the
years to come yachtsmen of two nations
will recount the thrilling story of the cele-
brated first race between Columbia and
Shamrock II, sailed off New York harbor
in the first year of the new century.
SHAMROCK STOCK UP.
AS a result of to-day's 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 ever sent
to these waters to lift the 1OO-guinea cup
which the old schooner America brought
across the Atlantic fifty years ago, and
that the superiority of American seaman
ship and American naval architecture as
represented by the defender remains to be
established. The quality of a sailing ship
Is measured by her ability TO carve her
way into an adverse wind, and in the fif-
teen-mile thresh to windward to-day the
golden challenger gained 80 seconds, while
on the run home her lead was eaten up
and the Columbia crossed the finish line
exactly 81 seconds before the Shamrock.
1t must be remembered, however, that the
challenger had the weather gauge in the
beat to windward-no mean advantage; and
the nautical experts said after the race
that during the outward journey she had
been sailed to absolute perfection, while
before the wind the American yacht not
only showed a feeter pair of heels but
in the opinion of the sharps, better
Disappointed by the fuke of Thursday,
the crowd which sailed down to the Sandy
Hook llghtshlp to-day was somewhat
smaller than on the opening day. but. even
so, the colony of steam yachts, tugboats,
sailing vessels and excursion craft of every
description formed an angle at the start
ing line miles long. II ideal day
| for race. The curtain of haze which had
hung over bay and shore in the early
morning had lifted, making the whole
| course visible to the thousands along the
| Long island coast. The sun blazed from a
| speckless vault of blue, and the fresh
| breeze, blowing straight in from the At
| lantic, strong enough to spill the
| foam out of the queen SWells and hurry
from the stacks of the excursion fleet. The
old salts who shifted the air said the wind
| was the draught from the big storm which
| was reported to be raging on the south
| Atlantic coast.
The big single stickers. behind proudly
| putting tugs. had preceded the excursion
| fleet TO the stakeboat and had hoisted their
! largest light-weather sails. Sir Thomas
| I'm a yellow field, flew from the main truck
of the British boat. and Mr.. Morgan's
| Colors. a Maltese cross in a field Of black
| futtered from the afterleach of Columbia S
| mainsail. Watson. the designer of the chal-
! lenger. and Ratsey, who is reputed to he
| the best sailmaker in the world, were
passed out from behind the Hook half
! a dozen ocean liners inward bound saluted
| them with ensign and whistle.
STRAIGHT OUT TO SEA
Again to-day the course-east by south
carried the yachts along the Long island
shore straight out to sea. The start was
! thrilling. The yachts bounded away across
! the line like a couple Of runaway horses
! the challenger half a length ahead and to
! windward. In the maneuvering before the
start Captain Sycamore had given the Yam
! kee skipper a genuine surprise, returning
| a Roland for the Oliver he received on
! Thursday. Just when Barr thought he had
/ him under his lee the Englishman dead
! ened his headway and then luffed under
! COlumbia's stern into the weather berth.
This victory for Shamrock. at the very
/ inception OF the race. Columbia could not
| overcome i'm the long beat To windward
/ Neck and neck, tack and tack. they raced
/ be written or the faces of the patriots as
! Barr tried once, twice and finally third
/ time to cross the bow of the foreigner. only
/ 10 be forced around each time by the lean
| golden muzzle Of the Britisher.
| Visions of the dear old cup that means
4 the yachting supremacy OF the world van
i ishing across the waters danced before
1 their eyes On and on they flew. turning
1 twin wings of foam from their bows. and
! Columbia seemingly falling back rather
4 than gaining. Tie hearts OF the patriots
/ sank lower and l. wer. As the yachts got
| further out the swells heightened, and the
/ white flyer seemed 10 labor more heavily
/ In the long waves. 'rhe vessels in the ex-
/ cursion fleet were rolling badly. Many OF
| the spectators were forced. to the seclusion
Of .nf- and hers E.ar.f