The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-05
COLUMBIA BY SMALL MARGIN
Continued from First Page.)

ing most effective work. To smart
 handling and excellent judgment Co.,
 lumbia's victory to-day was due. There
 is no question that the old main sail
 and the altered headsails of the Con-
 stitution which she carried to-day had
 much to do with the improved showing
 she made.
 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 all
 lowed herself to be forced on the wrong
 side of the line, was compelled to gybe
 round short on her heel and then to
 take the other end of the line with a
 deadly handicap. This and the split
 ting of her balloon jibtopsail certainly
 lost her the race. Had it not been for
 these mishaps the Constitution would z have beaten the Columbia by a small
 margin beyond the one minute and
 eleven seconds allowance over the thir-
 ty mile course.
 There will be no race for the yachts
 tomorrow, and while the challenge
 committee held meeting this evening
 AlO 0illlOullC6IntHl OL IuIuTe TdCeS was
 made. It is generally expected, how
 ever, that other contests will be held
 here later in the week.
 The Constitution with Nat Herreshoff saboard in addition to the regular anna < teurs and profession als was the first to
 slip her moorings at noon and beat out
 to the starting lire mark, by the Mar
 ada and Brenton's reef lightship. Off
 Mackerel Cove the Constitution went
 off before the wind her cref being busy < fer some time eetting up the headstays.
 This delayed them for some tine and
 the Columbia overto ok the Constitution and both Of them stood out for the
 lightship.
 Cn the rj>'llmtia c. Oliver Iseil rtr- resented the challenge committee while 4 Malcolm Forbes and Archibald Focers rspi esented the committee on the Con stitution.. August Belmont, her chief owner, was also aboard her. The steam yacht Colonia carried the other mem- bers of the cup committee and kept a watchful eye on the doings of both boats.
 At 12:40 flags were hoisted on the Narada announcing that the course would he S. s. w., fifteen miles to windward and return. This made the weather mark five miles east of Block Island Southeast light.
 The sea was remarkably smooth, not A vestige of the old easterly swell re- maining, but there was a smoky haze on the water that prevented one sec 1 ing far in any direcion. The prepara- tory gun was fired at 12:50:00 Baby | lib topsails were sent up in stops and | at 12:55 the warning signal was sound- | ed. The yachts approached the line on | the starboard tack with Columbia to | wfndward. The sailing master Of the 1 Columbia repeated his old terrorizing trick of bearing right down on his rival as if about to ram her, spiling the wind out of her sails and then Huff ing up and clearing her by the smallest of margins. This manoeuvre he re- pcated three times. When the Colum- bia was almost at the easterly end of the line marked by the Narada he crossed the line forty seconds after the etarting gun. The Constitution had plenty of room to tack about but not caring to come into such close quarters with the enemy-although there was not the slightest danger of foul aybed and on the port tack crossed the line near the lightship twenty-two sec onds or whereabouts after the handicap gun. The Columbia tackled at the same time and 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 freshen- ing as they sailed shoreward until it attained about nine knot force. At l:23 the Constitution went on the star board tack followed immediately by the Columbia's having gone quite close to the beach half a mile south of the Tower at Narragansett Pier. By this time the sails of the Constitution had | stretched and it was seen that the old mainsail was far superior to the new one and also that the re-trimmed head sails set better than those carried in .he race on Monday. At first it looked as though Columbia would again have t all her own way. Nat Herreshoff ;ried some more trimming experiments with the live ballast aboard and the re- ,ults were on the whole satisfactory. The yacht seemed to make less leeWay.
 The Constitution again at 1850 went ,n the port tack, standing in shore, and he Columbia followed like flash. For en minutes they held this board, and hen ensued a succession of short tacks. At this time the wind came in from due ,outh, but the boats were so close to- ,ether that neither benefited by the Unfit.
 At 2:09 the Columbia, for the first ime on the port tack, crossed the bows if the Constitution about one-eghth of mile ahead.
 For nearly an hour the yachts con- inued to make short Jacks. The re- ult was far different from the same on Monday, when the Co., umbia beat her rival nearly five min- ties on a beat out to windward of ten niles. The Constitution gained a little n these tacks, and when she was ap- roaching the windward mark on the tarboard tack she had considerably di- the gap. A short hitch to ort was necessary to enable them to ound the raft, leaving it to starboard, nd quite a fleet of steam yachts had ssembled to see the turn.
 The Columbia rounded at 3:02:44 and he Constitution at 3:03:25, the elapsed