The Bridgeport times and evening farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 1920-07-13
Riding The Waves On
Shamrock " Exciting
Press Representative Finds Crawling Over Sea
Sp1ashed Decks in Trial Race Isn't AS Com
Portable AS Riding in Sideways.

writhing ropes. Meanwhile orders
came like machine gun bullets.
But order came out of seeming
chaos. AS the two craft crossed the
line and Strengthened out for the first
leg of the triangular course-a 10
mile reach-the crew, their hardest
work for the moment done, dropped
to the windward side of the deck and
chung TO the rail-a barrier almost
three inches high. Its companion
piece on the other side was later
awash.
One Chance to Look.
For the moment there was a
chance to look around. It was a
moment of quarterback strategy. The
trial horse was a short distance be-
hind the challenger. Directors of the
/ Shamrock's fate viewed through their
glasses the quarterback crew of the
Shamrock ", and glasses in turn
1evelled at the Shamrock.
Just an explanation as to why the
Shamrock does not bear any num-
erals after her name. She should, by
right of birth, have been the Sham
rock ". but she was never built to
fight for the Americas Cup and Sir
Thomas refused to give her this
magic number which, indicating the
leaves of a shamrock, he intended
should be carried only by the craft
which he hopes to carry off the COW
eted trophy.
The navigator spent many minutes
with parallel rules and chart, stop
ping now and then to glance a1oft at
the sails and off the port quarter at
wind-ruffled waters. Then he would
confer with the skipper and head
sail would be trimmed. These trim
mings seemed as vigorous as the tug
which a woman som etimes would
give a disordered lack of her hair.
| But it had nautical significance.
AS the two craft drew near the
turning mark, the Shamrock " had
drawn away a little from her COM
petitor, which Jagged behind about
four minutes. The next leg was to be
a run straight before the wind.
Commotion attends this turn. Out
| had to come the spinnaker, a tall
! triangular stretch of canvas, run up
to the masthead and held out on the
| opposite side to the mainsan by a
| light boom. AS soon the leading
yacht began breaking out this auxii-
airy sail, the crew of the meter boat
| hoped to their feet and prepared to
| do likewise. 1t was a race in sail
| setting. Time on a racing yacht is
/ figured in seconds not minutes.
The great string of canvas which
! folded and bound at two-foot inter
walls with light Irvine, had been fed
| out of the sail locker like a frehose
| then was run up and by tackle pull
| ed out to the end of the beam. The
/ first tug broke the first stop and the
wind did the rest. 1t was like a giant
| wave rearing on one end and Their
| breaking.
| Challenger Increases Speed.
q +b Loo he oh Ion cro-
increased her lead and when, &c
miles covered, the yachts started or
! the last and most tactical stretch
| beating up into the wind-it was
| found the Shamrock " had gained
more than five minutes in the last
ten miles.
/ The real jockeying came with the
| lacking. Each skipper hopeful te
| blanket the other-that is, thrust his
$4,000 set of sails between the vino
and the other yacht and cut off pro
polling power as one would snug g
gas light. Great stretches of canvas
such as 75-footerss carry create quite
a hole in the atmosphere.
/ Back and forth the two s1oop:
| tackled. Muffled orders came from
behind the wheel where the Skipper
/ was knee1ing.
cover to feeward-craw1 over one
] by~one, SO they won't see you! Now
then, about we comet"
Round spun the big yacht on an
other tack. 1t apparently took the
other crew by surprise, but it wa
| only few seconds later that the
challenger headed up into the wine
and surged again at another angle.
Wind Plays Franks.
! The wind, which had been flatten
ing out. played a prank on the tria
horse as the Shamrock " was ap
preaching the finish line. While thu
trial horse was slipping slowl.
through the water, the challenge
4 was enjoying a gust which buriet
/ her gunwale- Just as they crossed TIN
4 line, the Shamrock, which was drop
ping behind minute by minute