Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-29
MONTGOMERY CUP
SPALDING CUP
nY CHESTER LAWRENCE


than go ashore on these rocks" said
Commodore Spalding, as he ordered a
port tack This tack put us on a south
erly course, which we kept until the
wind veered and came from the west,
then we changed our course back to
its original, when we rounded the
island, which was southwest half south.
Mischief Always In Lead
Occasionally. during the night we
caught a glimmer of light, sometimes
on our port and sometimes on our
starboard side. This we took to be the
Mischief tacking. A heavy dank fog
came up In the night. The commo-
dore stuck by the wheel all night long
while the rest of the crew caught
snatches of sleep. There was one man
up forward, and sometimes, two men
all night long. We ploughed along
slowly. with light winds, and about Q
O'Clock We saw dark form loom up
on our port side. At first we thought
1t was rock, not for long, however,
as the lookout hailed "ship ahoy." We
were ready to faint when the answer
came back AYE, aye sir, the Katrina .
We had imagined the Katrina an
chored somewhere or anywhere be-
tween San Diego and San Francisco
waiting for wind. We expected her
anywhere except where she was. The
commodore took hasty glance at the
compass to see if he had veered from
the course at all, but he had not. We
did not have much to say to the Kat
rina, as this last discovery took the
starch out of us.
AT daybreak We received another
shock, The commodore had been
strafning his eyes ahead trying to
piece the fog and sight the Mischief.
After a while he saw the Mischief, and
he saw also the Arrow, the Katrina,
the Myth, the Muriel and the Shadow
about mile ahead. We were as sur
prised as was the commodore when he
called "All hand to deck and saw the
array of boats ahead of us instead of
two miles behind, as we had left them
at sundown. These boats had worked
close in toward shore and sailed under
the light shore wind that had prevailed
all night, while the Minerva was
obliged to stay out.
Minerva overhauls Katrina
We overhauled the Shadow and the
Katrina at o'clock Sunday morning
and were making fair headway, with
our ballooner set, when the wind sud-
denly deserted us, leaving us to float
as best we could. We were now op-
posite the isthmus and every boat in
the race, except the Mischief. was
within hailing distance. The Mischief
bow and Commodore Spalding know
he could overhaul her il we got a west
erly wind. But we didn't get the wind
for couple hours afterward.
Aided by light winds and some
drifting we neared the end Of the is
land and at 10 o'clock every boat had
reached the extreme end of the is
land, for we overhauled the Mischief,
which had been becalmed for two
hours, and with spinnaker and bal
looner spread, had not been able to
move hundred feet. We were now
practically as we were at the start,
although we knew the Mischief could
not win now because of her handicap.
Great excitement prevailed among the
dinerent crews, each crew wondering
which course the other fellow would
take. Every boat wanted to be in
position to catch the westerly, which
we knew would spring up soon, and.
yet We did not wish to remain where
we We're while waiting for it.
The Myth was the first to make a
course. She tackled to port and drew
In toward shore. Willing to take a
chance at getting little wind, Com
modore Spalding also tackled to port
and cut toward shore We soon saw
the Myths sails Tapping, SO we tackled
to starboard and followed after the
Arrow, now about a quarter of a mile
off our starboard bow.
Mischief Catches Wind
At II o'clock the Mischief caught tho
westerly. She was about a mile off our
port bow and cry went up from the
boats as they saw her gradually pulI
away from them. We were not far be-
hind, however, as we, too, caught the
westerly and the most exciting part of
the race began at this time. We took
down our spinnock, hoisted our ibis and
mizzen main sail, set our course for
northeast-halfeast After ten minutes
scudding before the wind we put out
our balooner. This last move helped
us considerably, and at 11:15 o'clock we
were running parallel with the Mischief.
which we had overtaken. She was on
our windward side, so we tackled to
port and followed her. The Myth and
Shadow had tackled to port when the
westerly struck them and were sailing
away from us. The Arrow and Katrina
were on our starboard stern and gradu-
ally nearing.
The Mischief soon left us, tacking
across our bow to starboard and leav-
ing us to windward With a clear
course ahead we tackled to mort and