Year: 1872




The very brilliant success achieved in the
yachting seasons of 1870 and 1877 had led us
to expect similar series Of regattas and con-
tests this year, that would lend additional
lustre to the annals of American yachting.
There appears however, to have been o kind
Of tameness pervading the spirit Of yachting
this season which would be hard to account
for, unless it arose from the melancholy calma
in which the June regattas were drifted.
Every sport may be said to be especially
adapted 10 certain phases Of weather, and.
although horse racing in q rain storm and bill
lards with the thermometer one hundred
degrees in the shade are certainly not inspir-
ing there is nothing so decidedly tame a.
yacht racing IN calm. y sao8m Ina


The yachting season was inaugurated on the
18th Of June by the Atlantic Yacht Club Re-
gatta, which resulted in q victory for the
schooner Peerless, easily defeating the Tidal
Wave and Resolute. There was light air
throughout the day, which gave q small craft
like the Peerless, spreading large area Of
canvas, an immense advantage over d large.
ss sc: going schooner like the Resolute. In fact,
before the Resolute had got fairly started the
Peerless was passing through the Narrows. 8
The New York Yacht Club Regatta was sailed
on the following Thursday, and resulted in
the victory of the Ianthe, the smallest
schooner in the feet beating her competitions
by half an hour. The weather embraced
rather melancholy combination of puffs and
calms as when part of the feet had pleasant
breeze from Sandy Hook buoy to the lightship
the others were becalmed in the Horse Shoe,
and again, after the feet on the return home
had run past the Southwest Spit into calm.
the Ianthe came along an hour later, and luff-
fng sharp round the Southwest Spit buoy,
carried breeze home while the others lay
rocking about, with their sails hanging idly.


On the succeeding Saturday the Brooklyn
Yacht Club sailed their, annual regatta. The
unfavorable state of the weather kept many of
the large schooners from putting in an appear
ance, and the schooner prizes were conse-
quently left to competition between the
Madeleine, Eva and Ianthe. The former won
the prize for first yacht home, and the Eva
carried off the time allowance prize. This
regatta, however, brought out q good feet Of
first class sloops, embracing the Meta, Oracle.
Addie, Undine, Mary and Captain, and re-
suited in an easy victory for the Meta.


The race for the Wallack Cup, sailed during
the following week, was won by the Made
leine, with the little Peerless second. The
course was from the Sandy Hook buoy to .
stakeboat anchored about three miles to tho
southwark Of Long Branch and return.
There was light balloon-sail breeze, which,
however, was rather shifty, and the Madeleine
won the race by standing well out to the east
ward while the rest Of the feet made short
tacks along the shore.


At Newport the season has been tolerably
good, and large feet of yachts have been
laying there during the summer There have
been several regattas there, and the Columbia
retained her prestige by winning fve-hun-
dred-dollar cup in handsome style, beating
large feet The Magic also won sub
scription cup, arriving nearly two hours ahead
of everything else; but the winds were
variable and rather favored the winner of
the Queens Cup race in III. The
race for the Newport Cup was finished in q
fog, and as the denseness of the atmosphere
left doubt as to whether the Resolute or
Dauntless was victorious, o second race for tho
same prize was sailed last week and won by
the Palmer, which made her first appearance
this season on that occasion


The yacht club cruises this season were
tolerably we'll attended and at Newport there
we're twenty-five yachts sailing under the New
York Yacht Club signal qe fa v
| Vice Commodore Douglas has been gather
ing fresh laurels abroad with the Sappho,
and although he has offered the most tempting
terms in order to obtain race with the
Guinevere, Aline or some other fast English
Yacht, the owners of those vessels have pre-
served most ominous silence.


There il probability Of some good racing
vet before the close OF the season. Yesterday
the Madeleine and Rambler started on a
second race for the Challenge Cup, from
Rrsntqn's Reef to Sandy Hook Lightship and
return. The sloops Oracle and Vision sail a
match to-day over the Club course for the
Challenge Cup won by the former last season.
A Challenge Cup has also been offered for a
schooner race from Sandy Hook Lightship to
Cape May Lightship and return, provided six
yachts start, and the Brooklyn Yacht Club
propose having Fall regatta. A


The new boats of the season have given a
very fair account of themselves. The schooner
Viking has appeared in public once or twice.
but on both occasions encountered light winds,
and her builder claims she moves best in a
stiff breeze The schooners Madeleine and
Tidal Wave have both been improved by their
alterations, and the change of the Peerless
from sloop to o schooner has resulted in the
addition to the yachting fleet of q fast light
weather bout tih isap.


The new sloops Meta and Vision, although