New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1920-07-25
Two Sloops Get to Am
brose Lightship When
25- Knot Southwestern
Causes a Postponenent
Deciding Contest
Will Be Tomorrow
Observers Say High Wind
Would Have Put Skip
pers to the Acid Test
By Jack Lawrence

left at home caused the race COM
mittee OF the New York Yacht Club
and the shippers of Shamrock ~
and Resolute to postpone yesterday
the fifth and deciding Americas Cup
race until tomorrow.
The two slim sloops and the COM
mittee boat Baryton got as far as
Ambrose Lightship yesterday morn
inc when one look at the white
capped course caused all hands to
agree that it was no day for the dig
nifed 75-footers to m1ngle with the
jubilant Atlantic.
The committee boat hoisted signal
asking the opposing shippers whether
they would like to call it a day. Both
yachts flashed back that they would be
delighted, or signals to that effect.
Back to Harbor
The decision to postpone the race
until Monday was then reached and
cast in the teeth of the sizzling south
vester, while the yachts and committee
boat turned tail and scuttlad back to
the protected waters of Sandy Hook
Bay.
The postponement came as a bitter
surprise to 4 great feet of ships
carrying spectators who had made the
long trip to the light vessel to witness
this history making event Many OF
them apparently could not believe that
the yachts had actually quit, ana
eruised about the starting line for
hours after the racers had sought the
safety Of Sandy Hooks encircling arm.
To those who had gathered about the
pitching iightship to see the start of
the big International struggle it
seemed as though the wind was exactly
the one the managers of the contend
ing cup yachts have been wishing for
during the last two weeks. 1t was GER
talnly the first real wind they have en-
countered since the cup series began
and would have put shippers, crews and
yachts to the acid test.
Sir Thomas Upton, owner of the
challenger, was probably the most dis
appointed man on the north Atlantic
seaboard when he heard that the race
mad been called off on account of the
WIND He seemed to see in the twenty
fve-knot breeze his best and possibly
his only chance of taking the famous
tankard back to Britain with him. He
followed Shamrock into Sandy Hook
Bay and after she was safely anchored
sent for her afterguard.
For more than two hours Sir Thomas
vas closeted with Captain William p.
burton and other officers of the sloop.
Committee Holds Race Impossible
The race committee held that it would
nave been impossible to lay windward
and leeward course, with the ghtship
as starting point. In the winf;ward leg
Of fifteen miles, which is called for in
Inc rules governing the fifth race, the
outer mark would have carried the
racers up on the Jersey beach.
inns excuse appeared to carry little
weight with the hundreds of disap-
pointed spectators, who couldn't see
why the race committee should insist
mat the starting and finishing line be
lald at Ambrose Lightship. 1t was sug-
gessed that another mark could be
anchored further out to sea that would
nave permitted the yachts to lay a
miles.
The brisk breeze, which was not of
greater velocity than other cup con-
tests have been sailed under in former
years had the effect of bringing out
hundreds of pleasure yachts carrying
gay parties of yachting fans. At II
ociock 1t seemed certain that the fifth
and last race between Resolute and
snamrock would break all attendance
records for the series. The fact that
the big event was being held on a Sat
uraay also had something to do with
'he great outpouring of pleasure craft.
Waves Pound Beaches
When the cup yachts began making
san ut the Sandy Hook ancnoragcs the
@ial was blowing at twenty knots. Big
tSOihDers were pounding the Jersey
peaches, and big ships at sea were
Sseh to be making heavy weather of it.
nv. me course promised to be so rough
mat Captain Burton decided the deck
=, tne challenger would be no safe
~ Pace Tor his wife, who has been acting
ds oihclal timer for the craft She was
ieft behind on the houseboat Killarney
"hen Shamrock, with mainsail, jib and
the line.
captain Adams contented himself
win mainsail and lib as he cast off his
sToorings and headed for the open sea.
Ne never attempted to set topsail.
,as soon as the yachts poked, their
uses outside the protecting arm of
:. HOOK they heeled down, and the
yves began to break green over their
Had Predicted Fall of Wind
me yachts soon outdistanced the
,'set OF power-driven boats that started
NJ ~ accompany them out to the mark
icy aney neeled down sharply and it was
o "'sh oifiiculty that the foremost hands
saified out their orders. Several times
~ seemed as though some one must be
Washed overheard.
me wind increased before the sloops
p Su rounded the Hook, and Captain
nufton ordered a reef taken in his
msihsail. This huge piece of canvas
was vas new and had been bent on the
,aa ar by her crew the night before
ssa;ssms, although he took no chances
MN MIN top hamper, did not reef his
~ weather sharps had predicted that
hue tre wind would fall away about noon
t pas exactly the reverse proved to be
s sma case. The yachts reached Ambrose
s"ehtg minutes before the preparatory
bsnal was set and by then the breeze
Tsu increased to twenty-five knots
s Ire seas were not big, but they were
Snv.ppy, and Shamrock could be seen to