The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1903-08-29
PRETTY AND HARD FOUGHT
CONTEST is CLOSE AND ExClT.
ING FROM THE START UN.
TIL THE FINISH.
BRITISH SKIPPER BuNGLEs
SENDS THE CHALLENGER ACROSS
THE STARTING LINE NINE.
TEEN SECONDS LATE.

New York, Aug. 26.--In a glorious
WHOLESALE breeze, over a triangular
course, ten miles to a leg, the fleet
footed cup defender Reliance again
Tuesday showed her heels to Sir
Thomas Lipton's challenger, taking
the second ace of the cup series of
1903 by the narrow margin of 1 min.
ute and 10 seconds.
1t was as pretty and hard a fought
contest as has ever been sailed off
Sandy Hook and had the wind not
fallen during the last ten minutes, the
record for the course. 3 hours, 12 min
utcs and Is seconds. made by Column
bia two years ago in her race
against Shamrock It,. would have been
broken. As it was. Reliance sailed the
thirty miles within 2 minutes and 80
seconds of the record. which speaks
wonders for her speed in the wind that
was blowing. R%oliance's victory, mar
row as it was. would have been even
smaller had not Captain Wringe, the
skipper OF the British ship.
BungIed the Start,
sending mis- craft over the line nineteen
seconds after the last gun, and handi-
Gaping her to that extent. At every
point Of sailing the defenders super
iority was demonstrated. She gained
l minute and 81 seconds in windward
work, 40 seconds on the run to the
second mark, and As seconds on the
close reach for homo. ],
Based upon the MAGNIFICENT showing
she has made in the two races already
sailed. it is The belief of many experts
that the cup is safe. and that it will
take something better than Flies
latest creation to ever bulge it.
An assemblage of excursion vessels
almost as large as that of last Satur-
day poured down through the Mar
rows and out into the broad Atlantic
to witness the vanishing glory of the
challenger.
The excursion fleet, like a floating
city built upon the floor of the ocean,
lined up rail to rail in a great semi
circle to witness the start. The
course, a beat due south into the wind
for ten miles, then a broad reach or run
as the case might be, off toward the
Cholera Banks and thence home again
to the old red hulled l%ightship, had
been set.
Barr OutgeneraIed Wringe.
The spectators watched the Jockey
Ing for the start with eager interest.
To the uninitiated it was hair raising
to e what close company the giant
single stickers kept. 1t seemed mo-
mentarily as if the spars and hulls
would clash. but they wheeled and
circled like gulls, lacking, gliding and
putting about with wonderful ease
and grace. At last when they bound
ed across the line, ~close-hauled. for
the thresh to %windward, it was seen
that the American skipper by his eX-
tremely clever work had again out
generated his rival and secured the
weather gauge. Not only was the
challenscr's captain defeated in his
effort to secure the windward berth,
but he actually failed to cross in time
to save a handicap, an almost I'M
~pardonable sin in a cup contest. Barr
never r~elinquished his advantage after
the start. holding the challenger under
his lee all the way to the first mark.
AS the clean limbed racers got far
Their out. the weight of the wind stead
lily increased. and the waves began
to spill froth from their green crests.
Both boats. with every stitch of can
vas set, smashed into the seas, heeling
down in the puffs under the press of
thousands Of yards of light canvas un
til their lee rails we're
Awash in the Foaming Brine.
Their crews. piled up to weather, were
repeatedly deluged with the showers
Of spray sent aloft by their shark-like
bows. ~
; Slowly but surely the thousands
aboard the observation fleet saw that
the Reliance was gaining. opening a
wider and wider strength of water be-
tween herself and the challenger. The
excursion fleet does not go to the first
mark In obedience to the regulations
laid down to govern its movements.
AS soon as the Reliance rounded. the
patrol fleet blew their whistles and
changing bells in the engine room sent
the whole fleet at full speed to lee
ward of the last leg of the course,
There the vast %cou Of steam
craft lay w%allowing in the trough of
the sea until the yachts. bowling along
at a terrific pace. turned the second
mark. Reliance sailed this leg of ten
miles in Sc minutes and 20 seconds.
Then the fleet started for the finish
line. steaming a course parallel with
that of the flying yachts. This last
leg was also
Covered at Roaring Speed,
Reliance still increasing her lead, from
her wake streaming a lee a path of
dancing white on the deep blue bosom
of the sparkling sea. The guide boat
sent ahead to show the course was too
slow, although everything aboard of
her was wide open, and Reliance
passed her before the line was
reached. All the ocean-going tugs
and many of the steam yachts were
left astern in the mad race. Just be.
fore the finish the wind died down, but
Reliance went across in ample time
to win, having covered the ten miles
in 81 minutes and 40 seconds. There
followed the usual riot Of whistles.