The Pensacola journal. (Pensacola, Fla.) 1898-1985, 1921-07-02
FIRST OF COMPETING YACHTS
IS SCHEDULED TO REACH PORT
OF PENSACOLA THIS MORNING
BOATS ARE OFF in
MARINE MARATHON
Twenty-Five Motor Cruisers
Leave New Orleans in
the 200-Mile Race.
Especial to The JournaD


motor cruisers of the Southern Yacht
club left here yesterday and last night
on the Southern Marine Marathon 200
mile chase to Pensacola, and when 10
of the fastest cabin sloops of the
clubs sail fleet crossed the starting
line at the west end, at D. m, yes
terday and went away on the 140 mile
run to Mobile bay, started the TWO
longest yacht races conducted by any
institution in the United States.
The New York Yacht Club held the
record for long distance yacht racing
up to the time that it abandoned its
The Southern Yacht Club. the largest
club of it's kind in the world in point
of membership now holds the lead
formerly occupied by the Gotham sail
ors
This will be the tenth year of the
Southern Marine Marathon, a race
which is a test both of the courage
and the ability of the yachtsmen as
navigators, since upwards to sixty
miles of the course lie through. the
open Gulf of Mexico's big briny water,
which, while placid enough at times,
at others, can, and does become decid-
.edly dangerous, and often suddenly
angry, affording trouble even for nav
igators much more experienced than
those of the Southern Yacht Club,
and craft much more sizable and
staunch than their cruisers The race
is a real experience for the test of the
courage and ability of the yachtsmen
who tackle it. Yet not single craft
has been lost on one of the long chases,
several of which have been made in
very heavy weather, when the gulf
seas appeared to run mountain high"
The first of the motor craft was
sent away from the startling line at
the west end yesterday at 10 a. m.
Milton Fetterly's Boomerang and Cliff
ford McClure's Sea Wolf rated as the
two slowest. The others of that por-
tion of the fleet which are rated as not
so fast as the express cruisers were
sent away at various other hours
throughout the day and up to mid
night. The express cruiser division
was started off with w. b. Gillican's
Au Revoir at 1890 a. m. Saturday
in company with T. j. McMahon's s
LurIine. The last to start the scratch
boat will be Ex-Rear Commodore
Grunewald's wonderfully speedy cruis-
er "Creole Sue" the starting signal for
which will be fired at 6 a. m, Satur-
day. This craft is expected to break
all records in this race, by doing the
200 miles in hours flat or less. She
did the distance last year in 9:13.
The cruisers Of the slower division
are expected to finish at Pensacola
at about noon Saturday, barring acci-
dents and bad weather interference.
It is expected that the express cruisers
will all have finished by 2 p. m, Sat
urday.
The racers will remain in Pensacola
harbor during Saturday afternoon and
night. Saturday afternoon there will
be a match fish sloop sail race on
Pensacola bay between Capt. Edward
H. Keep. crack skipper of the Southern
Yacht Club, and Capt. Willie Walthers,
the Pensacola Yacht Clubs crack sail
or, for a generous side wager between
the two with probably numerous 9TH
ers between Y. c. and p. Y. c.
yachtsmen.
Sunday morning at daybreak the
Southern Yacht Club cruisers, accom-
panied by the craft Of the Pensacola
Continued on Page Three1