New-York tribune., 1913-08-08
Morton F. Plants Schooner
Wins AStor Cup, with the
IroIita Far in Rear.
LITTLE BREEZE FOR RACE
skilful Seamanship of George
M. Pynchon Brings Carolina
II Home the Victor
Among the Sloops.

Yacht off Newport, r. l., Aug. T.
Sailing at a speed Of not more tnan
two knots. the schooner Elena. owned
by Morton f. Plant, famed along by
q paltrv westerly air that just filled
her balloon jib topsail. crossed the nm
lsh line off Brenton's Reef Light
ship at 5000 this afternoon, the win
ner. for the second time in two years.
of the Astor Cup for schooners.
tragic feature of the Elena's victory
however was the news conveyed to the
Heet soon after anchoring that Mrs.
Plant had died at her New London
home.
Although the second yacht, Z. Walter
CIark's Irolita, was beaten by - min
utes 40 seconds corrected time and %
minutes 80 seconds elapsed time. she
sailed a most creditable race. Starting
half an hour after the Elena by reason
of the light winds prevailing, she cut
that lead down to + minutes 30 seconds
on the first seventeen miles of the
course. when she had a breeze. but lost
again when she ran into some soft
spots"
An interesting feature Of the race
was the remarkable performance OF
the Carolina RI, owned by Pembroke
Jones and sailed by George NJ. Pyn-
chon. She was entered at the last mo-
ment on Wednesday night by con-
sent of the owners of other sloops and
through clever handling won the Astor
Cup for sloops.
Wind Fails the Yachts.
Taken as a whole, the race was not as
successful as in former years, prin-.
cipally because of the light weather
conditions. which prevented fair test
of the speed of the yachts, end also by
reason of the small amount of wind
ward work. There was no lack of in
terest or enthusiasm in the fixture,
either from racing or social view
point. More than the usual number OF
steam yachts, each with Its quota OF
guests on board, gathered off old Bren-
tons Reef Lghtship TO witness tho
start
After heavy showers during the
night. the dark clouds that threatened
more rain during the early morning
hours were displaced by sunshine from
q o'clock on. but there was so little
wind for the next two hours that the
eight sos" entered in the race had to
be towed part way out to the starting
line. The big schooners made the way
out under sail.
u
circling about the old yellow lightship
that marks Brentons Reef when c. h.
g. Bilhngs's big steam yacht Nanadis
fying the regatta committee flag at the
main and Commodore Pratt's flag at
the fore. anchored q cables length
southeast Of the lightship, establishing
the starting line.
At 1915 o'clock, when the course sig
nal, the code flag 3D." was hoisted,
there was a light air from the south
east, but scarcely enough TO give the
yachts steera geway All Of the big
sloops and schooners had clubtopsails
set. The first leg Of the course chosen
was east-southeast twelve miles TO the
VINEYARD Sound lightship. thence
north four and one-half miles TO the
Hen and Chickens Lightship and from
there west sixteen miles TO the finish,
total Of thirty-seven and one-half
miles.
Start a Tedious One.
II is always the aim of the regatta
committee TO give the yachts wind
ward work on one leg Of the course.
To-day at the start IT looked as If the
first leg would be a dead beat to wind
ward. but the breeze canted TO the
southwark after the start. so that all
were able to fetch close TO the Vine
ward Sound Lightship on one long star
board tack, and then with short hitch
20 port they were able to weather IT.
The Elena and the Irolita made II with
one short board to port Of minutes.
There was so little wind when the start
Ing signal for the sloops was given at
1910 o'clock that only five we're able
10 stem the strong west running tide
and get across within the handicap
Time of minutes. These were the
schooner Elena and the sloops Samuri,
Barbara, Avenger and Carolina III. The
Irolita was unable 10 cross the line
until 1115 o'clock. half an hour after
her starting signal.
The Shimna. the Dorello II. the lro-
ouis ii, the Grayling. the Spartan, the
Acushla and the Pleione, were delayed
from 20 minutes TO half an hour while
the little 30-foot sloop Phryne and the
Stamford schooner Elemah were even
later in crossing the line. 1t was one
Of the most tedious starts ever seen In
an Astor Cup race.
At 1:20 o'clock a nice breeze came
from the southeast. The Carolina,
the Elena, the Samuri, the Barbara and
the Avenger caught II first. and with
sheets trimmed fiat on the starboard
tack. heading about east by south, they
Began their first leg Of II miles. The
schooner Irolita and the rest OF the
sloops soon caught the breeze and the
race began in earnest
Elena OF in Lead.
The Elena led the Irolita by mile when
the Clark schooner finally got started.
She began at once gaining on the Plant
Yacht When the Elena passed West ISL
and-elght miles from the start-at ROo
o'clock, the Irolita had gained nearly half
Dl<a