New-York tribune., 1903-06-09
BRITISH Do NOT FEAR RELIANCE.
THE Yachtsman," of London, Thinks Sham
rock Has IAN Ample Margin of Safety"

In the current issue of THE Yachtsman." of
London. there are some timely and interesting
editorial comments. from the British standpoint, IN
the performance of the Reliance. 1t seems to be
the general opinion there that they have moth
ing TO fear from the Reliance, judging from what
she has done SO far this side. The editorial
says in part
The first two trials between the American Cup
the lightness and fckeness of the wind. but far
as they went they clearly indicate decided su-
vailfng-viz-. light wind and smooth water. In the
rock III would. we believe. have been able to lead
the first Shamrock b. at least twenty minutes,
though precisely what the fourteen and half min
utes by which the Reliance beat the Columbia
bree2 Is b If 1.-The the finished bh in 6T nGf
SAYS that the wind headed the Columbia after the
shaken in confidence to Shamrock III.
fess that Mr. Herreshoff has done more than we
of 1t in disturbed water and light wind almost
goes without sayg % m for ~ no mater how 1aumt bn fer %
motion of the vessel prevents the sails from sleep
long turn to windward is more to the point ard
she will have to beat the Columbia by very hand
some some margin indeed before we need feel disturbed
We are glad that Nat Herreshof has proved to
The next races bid fair to be as interesting as ever
which would not be the case were the Columbia still
has sa listed every one over here and we may feel
quite that will be in considerably better
form before the Cup matches sailed We shall
believe in the possibility of her being beaten
until that possibility becomes fact As our Clyde
correspondent tells US, she marks advance that
is almost. If not quite unique in the history OF
British yachting. much that the boat that
proved herself the superior of the last challenger
is completely OutciaSsed by her to be of
greatly impaired value Il trial Yacht In plnnlng
our faith on the new challenger have not con-
the Reliance must pay for her huge sail spread.
but we shall be interested know how she will
stand in measurement. It is quite possible that
her loadline length may be considerably less than
the S0-foot limit.
The three trial boats started for the third time in
a nice breeze. which however. seems TO have been
fuky The course twice around an 'equilat-
triangle of fifteen miles, and the timing
shows that so far as the Columbia is concerned the
racing was quite unreliable. On the first leg Ga
reach) the Reliance beat the Columbia by minute
SO seconds in six miles. On the next leg talso
reach) she heat the Columbia by minutes 90 sec
onds more, in four and half miles! And she nm
seconds On the whole of the next round the Re
lance beat the Columbia by about one and a hall
mfrutesi From this nothing can be learned except
that 1ukes prevailed. Ia king average, by as
suming that Columbia had bad luck on the
first turn and good the second II might be
judged that she is some eight to ten minutes
slower than the Reliance over the thirty miles
The fact that Lem Miller is where Barr used to
be is a factor not to be forgotten The sailing be-
tween the Reliance and the Constitution was close
and dingdonS They each seem to nave had hukeS
more or less il is clear that the Constitution
in a moderate breeze Is almost as fast as the Re-
lance. the first round the Reliance gained
second "a breeze only - seconds 1t seems
clear that Reliance is not the great hard breeze
flyer that she was expected to be. On the whole
we regard these trials. so far as We can Judge
them from the reports to hand. as showing that
the Shamrock has ample margin of safety