The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1903-09-01
GAINS AGAIN
MAKE FINISH
IMPOSSIBLE
Reliance Fails to Regis
ter Third and Final
Victory.
Lack Of Wind Causes a Pro-
longation of Lipton's :
Agony.
Defender Is HalfMile From Home
When Gun Sounds, With Sham
rock Five Times That
Distance Astern.


one-half hours expired before she could
reach the finish line.
Her margin was approximately the
same as on Thursday last. She was less
than half mile from the finish when the
gun sounded. The Shamrock III was
a faint blur on the horizon, fully two
and a half miles astern. The Reliance's
failure to score the race was the more
exasperating because her ultimate tr1-
umph is now conceded even by Sir Thorn
as himself, to be simply formality. The
superiority of the Herreshoff boat in any
kind of weather is acknowledged by the
yachting critics of both sides of the At
Iantic, and to-day's f1uke only prolongs
the agony of the contest that has already
been decided.
The waning interest in the cup race was
strikingly illustrated by the size of the
observation fleet, if the ships which went
down to the ocean race course to-day
could be dignifed by such title. Out
side of the revenue cutters, which pa
trolled the course it consisted of half a
dozen tugs and a score Of steam yachts.
The easterly wind and rain last night
had served to knock down the sea some
what although it was rough enough the
first two hours of the race to make the
excursion boats tumble about good deal
and the yachts plunge and stagger on
their way to the outer mark. But as the
day wore on the wind hauled to the north
and fell to a mere zephyr, hardly blow
ing strong enough to round out the enor-
nous canvases of the sloops and the sea
subsidized to a smooth surface.
sPIRITLEsS RACE.
The race was spiritiess from the begin
ming. 1t was laid fifteen miles to wind
ward up the Long Island shore and re-
turn. It's saving feature was the start,
in which Captain Wringe, by pretty
piece of maneuvering, neatly turned the
tables on the Yankee skipper and cap
tured the windward berth. Even so, the
yachts crossed the me abreast, like
harnessed team of horses.
But within fifteen minutes the defender
was showing her heels to the challenger
and when the float at the outer mark
was reached she rounded it twenty min
utes and twenty-three seconds, ahead Of
her rival In the five times the boats have
met this was by far the worst beating
the Shamrock III has sustained in wind
ward work The only interest which re-
manned after that was whether the Re
lance would be able to reach the finish
line in time to score the race.
The racers waited about Sandy Hook
! lightship until 1045, when the navigator
signaled that the starting line would be
shifted and the race postponed until later
: in the day After running five miles south
from the lightship the navigator signaled
a windward and leeward course, east
northeast from which direction a five
knot wind was blowing. The easterly
gale had left a long, heavy sea running,
and as the yachts jockeyed about the
starting line they lifted their long. bows
high out of the water on top of the swell
and pounded the sea into a froth.
WRINGE OUTGENERALS BARR.
For the first time in the series Cap
tain Wringe of Shamrock III cleverly
outgeneraled the redoubtable Captain
Barr in the preliminary jockeying. Until
five minutes before the start Captain Barr
held the windward berth. Then both ran
away from the line, the Shamrock lead
ing. Two minutes before the starting gun
the Shamrock headed UP into the wind,
/ tackled forced the Reliance to do the
same and both ran for the line, the Re-
lance leading. They reached. it before
/ the starting gun, and the Reliance had
TO run along the lee side of 1t to await
| the gun. The Shamrock reached the line
/ as the gun sounded and. not having to
sheer off. secured the weather position.
If was a trick which Captain Barr had
! worked often. but never with better
/ fnesse or more satisfactory results. the
| official starting time of both yachts was
| 11:45:26
! The first tack five minutes after cross
| ing the line put the Shamrock III ahead,
J but under the lee bow of the, Reliance.
! CAPTAIN Wringe gave his boat good rap
full and the way she began to walk away
! from the defender made it look as though
! she had found herself at last, but this
was for only a few minutes. When he
began to pinch her into wind it was APP
narent that the Reliance was outpoint-
! ing the challenger and altogether making
/ better work of it.
They held on one tack east-southeast
! for nearly an hour. During that time
] the defender worked up to windward a
good quarter of mile When the Re-
! lance tackled the Shamrock III refused
TO follow suit, so Barr put his craft on
I the mort tack again. This placed the
/ Reliance a mile north of the Shamrock
| III. Fifteen minutes later the wind
suddenly shifted to the northeast and
placed the American boat that distance
dead to the windward. not half of which
she had actually earned. From that
time the Reliance gained steadily.
RELIANCE FAR AHEAD.
The yachts could head within two
points of their course. They held the
tack for twenty minutes and then made
short bitches, in which the Reliance
steadily got the better Of it.
When off Long Beach, at 1:45, the de-
fender was two miles ahead, having
added the second mile by literally out
1 pointing the challenger and at the same
! time maintaining equal speed. The
mark was then in plain view and the
wind was softening After a long board
! off shore the Reliance made short
bitches, which brought her to the turn.
The challengers cause was absolutely
hopeless when the defender rounded the
mark. The British boat was more than
| two miles alec and coming slowly.
The time at the outer mark was: Re-
lance, 3:OO:37; Shamrock Ill, 3:21:00.
The Reliance led by twenty minutes
and twenty-three seconds, barring time
| allowance.
The Reliance at first reached home
ward under balloon jib topsail and then
carried her spinnaker for mile, only to
resort to the ballooner again With
the wind aft of the beam the main
sheet well in and the ballooner bellying
she made good time and drew away
from the challenger until the wind soft
ened, when the speed of both slackened.
! The Shamrock III caught a freshening
wind first and cut down the Reliance's