Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-08-06
By William B. Laub, Jr.

The chesapeake Bay Yacht RACING AS
ISOLATION regatta was brought to a very
successful close last Sunday with the re-
turn of almost all of the participating
yachts to their respective home ports. The
last half of the affair, from July 90 to "A
was marked by the heaviest weather that
bay yachtsmen have experienced on such
runs. and beginning with the race from
the PatuXent river on the 21st to Nor
folk there were few times that hand on
any of the boats had time to snatch a
sound sleep or get outside of a square
meal. AS one yachtsman remarked. reef
ing gear was we'll worn long before
Hampton roads was reached.
The story Of the final races opens with
the arrival Of the fleet at Drum point on
the Goth, after the run from Cambridge,
Md.
The yawl Dorrette, owned by Commo-
dore Robinette of the Baltimore Yacht
club. won first place in the class, de-
feating the Chenoden by about thirty
minutes, the Ereya by a slightly longer
time because of the fact that the last
named craft was unfortunate enough to
run aground, and the Grace X which
hn1shed three hours or more behind.
The boys on the Grace X. certainly had
their share of hard luck. and this, coupled
really kept the yawl from hitting her
STRIDE After all the yachts had entered
the Patuxent, Clyde Crut reached the
mouth of the river just in time to catch
a southwest twister that washed out both
running lights several times and drove
the yawl up into shoal water on a lee
shore. where the seas We're of course,
heaviest. ard where for time il was
almost Impossible to make any Roadway.
But she finally came through all right
nd <r,Nt
lowing morning. All of the tough luck was
not doled out to Washington yachtsmen,
however. Near the finish of the race for
class sloops on the same day which
the Zillacoa is thought to have won. the
Henderson sloop Ojigwam was disma sted
Off Cove point ard towed in by the local
power yacht Iona, owned by Alvin O..
Portner.
That kept the craft out of the final
runs, and the . class boats, Elinor, Vinqt
started on the morning of the 21st for
the Plankatank. river, the finish OF the
second leg to Norfolk.
AT 1905 am. the committee boat Java
lin hoisted the signal for the class
boats to start, but only the Dorrette and
the Grace X. were on the line, the F'reya
having had to lay off Solomons Island to
take on Coilingwood Sanborn, and the
Chenoden was anchored too far up stream
to reach the starting point off Drum light
the west and with spinnakers set the two
leading yawls held together all the way
down the river until Cedar Point light
was abeam, when the wind hauled to the
southeast. The shift caught the Freya
and Chenoden inside the river and they
had to take a short tack out into the
bay before they could follow the bunch
down the western shore 1t looked like a
steady breeze to the crew of the Grace
X, so they unluckily stood out across the
in Of Hr,Ii fnN t1,A
eastern side.
The theory would probably have worked
out all right had the wind not hauled to
the southwest with little or no warning,
which it did shortly after II o'clock, put
ting every boat in the fleet on the wind
ward shore of the bay with chances of
good slant down and catching the
Grace X. miles off to leeward, which
necessitated close hauling in order to
clear the shoals off South Marsh Island.
Then things became decidedly interesting
for all hands. The wind piped up to a
twenty-mile blow, a squall threatened in
the northwest and sea that called for
oilskins began piling up. The Dorrette
was the only boat to finish in the Pianka-
tank reaching the line the next morning
with no committee boat to take her time,
DR.. Grier having been blown off the bay
in the vicinity Of the Potomac river.
The sloops reached the Great Wicomico,
the Dining yawl Chenoden also anchored
river and the Grace X. in Smith creek.
Portner had to run for the Wicomico also,
and quite a few of the other power
yachtsmen accompanying the fleet were
glad to hunt hollows on that night.
Saturday the ODD, DR.. Grier. on the
Javalin and the crew of the Freya were
picked up off the Coan by Ralph l.. Gait.
who happened along in the Dacota, and
towed until off the Great Wicomico. when
the jOvial eX-commodOre almost pulled
his ship in half. carrying away his stern
bits and a portion of deck. The wind
was breezing up all the time from the
northwest and by the time the Grace *.
hit the bay again the other yachts were
boiling down under masses Of canvas
that fairly made the light craft groan.
Off Tangier Island. Cruit was forced to
put his jigger in stops to take the strain
off the wheel and before RappahannOck
Spit was reached it was necessary to lay
to and slap three reefs into the mainSail.
BY that time the crew was ready to drop
with exhaustion, so the craft staggered
into the Piankatank for shelter. remain
ing there all night
Meanwhile the Freya was giving the
Dorrette and Chenoden hard run for
their bacon. and in order to do so car
ried whole sail and a spinnaker in sea
that must certainly have topped the six
foot mark at times. This phase of the
racing game drives the man of moderate
means into the cruising field. The strain
on her steering gear was so great that
the stock of her rudder SPLIT. giving
away entirely Monday, while racing off
Hampton roads. The Dorrette finished
first in the last run. arriving at Will
loughby Spit Saturday evening in COM
pany with the Norfolk yawl Monsoon,
which Travelled up the bay to meet the
visiting yachtsmen.
The next day. which was Sunday. the
Grace X. stood out of the Piankatank
river with a light northwesterly wind
blowing, that gradually hauled easterly
and then southeastern before York Spit
light was reached. At first it looked as
though the outfit would reach Hampton
roads after one or two short bitches out
into the bay, and so they would have If
the wind hadn't piped up and began
rolling up a sea that had from the coast
of Africa to the western shore Of the bay
to grow in.
Thus by the time Back river light was
sighted, which point Is a bare eight
miles from Old Point. the local yawl had
struck a nest of fifteen and seventeen
foot Jumps where the sea threatened to
Half of the crew were for fighting it
out. and the other half for turning tail
and making for harbor. Tell with
Norfolk was the slogan of the latter
bunch. and Clyde Cruit who is only the
owner and skipper Of the boat, had to
concede. So up the York river forged the
Grace X, to lay there until too late to
continue the trip downstream Mean
while all was merriment at the Hampton
Roads Yacht Club. The biggest reception
during the two weeks of the regatta was
given the visiting yachtsmen Sunday
night Nothing in the way of foodstuffs
was put up in packages for that feed. but
in hogsheads
And as for the quality and tastiness OF