The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-07-11

their yacht and he said cit would be
an awful shame if this yacht race does
not come off - Then he went to the
managing editor and told him of his
idea. The managing editor took it up.
Phil met me on the street and asked
me to help. / said "There are two men
who will make this race go. One is
Mr.. Childs at the Chamber of Com
meree and the other is Lou Spruanee. -
And this proved to be correct. Mr..
Childs beamed when he went to him
and told him that we wanted the race
| to be run. When Mr.. Spruance was
put on the race committee by the Cham
Der of Commerce he came to the first
meeting. He stood up and spoke very
distinctly. He said it very loud and
clear, / thought he shouted in my ear:
Gentlemen, this race must have an
entry from Los Angeles, this race must
be run and, gentlemen, it will be run. -
That started the movement and the
minor questions of finances and other
details were quickly settled. Captain
Sinclair who won the race two years
ago with his Lurline was easily per.
suaded to enter and then San Diego
and Seattle were notified that the race
was on.
The Lady Maud comes from San Di-
ego, on the Mexican line, and the
Gwendolyn II. comes from Seattle,
close to the Canadian boundary Both
these yachts are manned by amateurs
and they are sportsmen all. The Lady
Maud was scarcely more than half fin
ished when Wilbur Kyle, her owner,
heard that the race was on, but he
entered her, and members of the San
Diego Yacht Club came forward and
offered their services and subscriptions
so that their city might have a repre-
sentative in the great race The Sc
attic boat sailed down the coast and
stayed in San Pedro harbor for more
than three weeks waiting for the post
poned start The owners and crews of
both these yachts \concede that they
have but little chance to win the race,
but they want to be in it and help IN
the laying of that silken thread.
And SO the race was not called off
and every decent sportsman in South
ern California reioiced. | heard that
Captain Sinclair was going to take his
Lurline to San Diego to go on the ma
rine ways, and l asked to go along.
L
many things about this able craft
Below the water-line she is as sweet
as sugar cane, and, despite her twenty
five years, she carries her spars as
proudly as a new Upton racer. There
is a F;g spinnaker added to her sail
list and she is going to be very fast
running before the northeasterly trade
winds. We dropped anchor in San
Pedro harbor last Sunday morning. A |
boat put off from the Hawaii and Cap |
tain Harris came aboard TO pay his re
spects. He stayed to breakfast and I /
met him as | came out of my state !
room. Captain Sinclair introduced us
and then | had the greatest heart |
warming in my life. Captain Harris |
shook my hands, both of them, and |
said that | had made hit with him
when / penned FtHawaii Alloy. |
told him that / was proud to have been
able to express the sentiment of all
Southern California, and then the
steward came in with poached eggs
and bacon.
1t was only two days ago that I
signed on aboard the Hawaii. [ wish
had done it several days before. [
have had no time in which to write,
and now that | have few hours to
sit down quietly, | find myself entirely
unable to tell, in a way that | would
like to, all about the yachts and the
sailors, and what we think of the Ha-
waii and the people who built her.
Through my head are running sweetly
jingEng lines, but it would be vandal
ism to thread them carelessly to-
gether, and 50 | am going to wait
until we are out at sea and then
know that the clean wind will blow
the right words into my brain and |
can sit in this same cabin and write
my thoughts in rhyme and prose so
that they will be presentable.
Technical? 1t is hard to write tech
nically tonight. But | may tell you
that | stood on the bluff this afta~
noon and looked at all four of The
yachts as they lay at anchor. AS /
looked, | went over all the arguments
l have presented to myself to prove
that the Hawaii may win. Thus, 81
know that the Lurline has much more
power IN the water and that she has ]
larger spread of canvas. | am con ]
Vnced that, on paper, she is bound to /
be faster than the Hawaii before the 5
wind But the Hawaii has whole lot Y
IN her favor In the first place. her {
modern bow win lift instead of diving,
and her equally modern stern win pre- I
vent her from squatting. The big {
is better than spinnaker, I
because it will aid in the lifting of ]
her bow and is more easily braced and j
set to the wind than a spinnaker. Then $
he Hawaii is far more easily handled 5