266 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Sept. 21, 1895. 



was under Valkyrie's lee, it is true, but with 1m. 2s. of time saved; 

 while had she started as they stood to had no foul occurred, she would 

 have been timed with the other boat and yet directly under her lee. 



Though she came out of the brush much better than was to be ex- 

 pected, she-was still crippled, her topmast being sprung to an un- 

 known extent, as it proved, very badly, and her starboard spreader 

 broken at the end. When on the port tack she was all right, and she 

 held this tack while several men went aloft and replaced the shroud 

 ? r ve r the end of tDe spreader and lashed it as securely as possible. 

 Valkyrie had broken out her baby jibtopsail on crossing the line, but 

 Defender had not attempted to set hers, though it was ready aloft in 

 stops. 



They stood in together under the Jersey beach, Valkyrie slowly 

 gaining, the wind held light and Defender had no trouble in carrying 

 her clubtopsail, but her jib was sitting badly. She was sailing well, 

 pointing as high as the other boat and heeling no more. She went on 

 starboard tack at 31:25, Valkyrie at once coming about, and after a 

 short hitch of five minutes both came about again. The baby jibtop- 



size not only backing the wind up on the racers, to say nothing of the 

 disturbance of the water, but from her position she shut out the view 

 of smaller craft which respected the rights of the racers. As Valkyrie 

 came for the finish she was preceded by five tugs, led by the New York 

 Herald tug, all throwing their wash back at her. Defender fared no 

 better, and while there was no more direct interference, such as at the 

 start, both yachts were hurt by the breaking of the wind and the dis- 

 turbance of the water. The full times of the race were: 



Start. 1st Turn. 2d Turn. Finish. 



Valkyrie 11 00 18 12 57 43 1 58 10 2 55 22 



Defender 11 01 15 1 01 35 y 2 01 45 2 57 40 



Elapsed. Corrected, 



Valkyrie 3 55- 09 3 55 09- 



Defender 3 56 25 3 55 56 



Valkyrie wias by 47s. 



After the race every one hastened to the city, the New York Y. C. 

 house being the center of excitement. The regatta committee re- 

 paired to the Knickerbocker Club for dinner and a meeting, a written 



preferred that the committee should paBS judgment on the protest 

 "Regatta Committee, New York-Y. C." 



The following letter was written on Tuesday evening and was sent 

 to the Cup committee, not to be opened until after a decision was made 

 on the protest. Lord Dunraven has stated that he believed' that the 

 Cup and not the regatta committee was debating the protest question. 



"Gentlemen: It is with great reluctance that I write to inform you 

 that I decline to sail the Valkyrie any more under the circumstances 

 that have prevailed in the last two races, and for the following 

 reasons: 



"First— To attempt to start two such large vessels in such confined 

 space and among moving steamboats and tugboats is, in my opinion, 

 exceedingly dangerous, and I will no further risk the lives of my men 

 or the ship. 



"Second— At the start of the race the crowding was so great that we 

 could not see the mark boat, and could not tell when we were-near the 

 line; and we were much hampered by steamboats, especially on the 

 race home. 



Patrol Yacht. 



N. Y. Y. C. Steamer. 



THE STEAMBOAT FLEET— 



City of Lowell. 



Mount Hope. 



Bail was sent up, but immediately taken in. Valkyrie carried a baby 

 of good size, but had it lifting all the time on the windward work. At 

 11:54 Defender went on starboard tack, Valkyrie following, being now 

 a long distance to windward. This was a short tack, Defender lead- 

 ing in the tacking inshore at 12:09. The last tack was made at 12-19, 

 Valkyrie coming about for the mark and Defender following. The 

 last leg was a long one, the mark being turned: 



Valkyrie 12 57 43 Defender 1 01 35 



In the beat to windward, in smooth water and a light breeze, Valkyrie 

 had beaten Defender 2m. 50s. 



On rounding the mark Valkyrie eased sheets to port and lowered 

 baby and forestaysail, setting her balloon jibtopsail and balloon fore- 

 staysail for the reach of 10 miles. Defender sent up only her baby jib- 

 topsail, this being her weak tack. She set a larger forestaysail, but it 

 did not compare with the balloon forestaysail on Valkyrie— a sail that 

 on this point of sailing is used by English yachtsmen to the greatest 

 advantage, but which has never come into favor in this country. The 

 work over this leg was very pretty, Defender holding her own in a 

 wonderful way; in fact, the times showed that she gained 17s. Valky- 

 rie took in her ba'l lon-r some distance short of the second mark, and 

 apparently trav t led to slower; in fact, it is doubtful whether this 



-SECOND RACE. 



protest having been filed by Mr. C. Oliver Iselin. At 10 o'clock the 

 following notice was posted on the bulletin board at the club house: 



"The Defender protests the Valkyrie on the ground that she bore 

 down on her just before reaching the starting line, thereby causing a 

 foul which resulted in the carrying away of her spreader and the 

 springing of her topmast. Regatta Committee." 



That evening and all next day the regatta committee, aided by the 

 Cup committee, was busy in the matter; in addition to hearing evi- 

 dence from those on each yacht, including Mr. David Henderson, who 

 sailed on Defender as Valkyrie's representative, and Mr. J. H. Busk, 

 who sailed on Valkyrie as the representative of Defender, and of 

 Capt. Sycamore, who had the tiller of Valkyrie, the two committees 

 used every effort to induce Mr. Iselin to withdraw bis protest and 

 Lord Dunraven to consent to a resail of the race. With the best pos- 

 sible intentions the regatta committee went beyond its official func- 

 tions in endeavoring to induce both parties to compromi-e in this 

 way, but Mr. Iselin insisted on a judgment on his protest and Lord 

 Dunraven also declined to call the rrc» off, b»ing confident that the 

 protest would not be f-ustained. Afier spending nearly the whole 

 dav, the regatta committee posted the following letter at the club 

 house on Wednesday aEcernoon: 



"To-day on the reach home eight or nine steamboats were to the 

 windward of me, and, what was worse, a block of steamboats were 

 steaming level with me and close under my lee. I sailed nearly the 

 whole distance in tumbling, broken water, in the heavy wash of these 

 steamboats. 



"To race under these conditions is, in my opinion, absurd, and I 

 decline to submit myself to them again. 



"I would remind your committee that, foreseeing the trouble that 

 might occur, I urged upon them the desirability of sailing off Marble- 

 head or some locality other than New York Bay, and they refused to 

 do so. At the same time I would testify to my full belief that your 

 committee have done everything in their power to prevent overcrowd- 

 ing. 



"The fact is that when a contest between the representatives of two 

 yacht clubs excites so much popular interest and attracts such crowds 

 of people, if the races are sailed in the immediate neighborhood of a 

 great city and the dates of the races and times of starting are known 

 and advertised, it is impossible to keep a course free from causes of 

 exceptional danger and clear enough to assure the probability that 

 the result of a match w II be d( cideri according to the relative merits 

 of the competing vessels. 



great sail— used as it is on her— did as much good as it was credited 

 with; she would probably have gone faster with her No. 1 jibtopsai 1 

 jib and balloon forestaysail. 



This is contrary to accepted ideas, but the work on Saturday's run 

 home showed that Valkyrie did not profit as she should from her bal- 

 loon jibtopsail, and in previous Cup races it has been the rule that the 

 American yacht has always made far better use of her "balloon jib- 

 topsail" than the British yacht has of her "bowsprit spinaker " 

 While Defender had far too little headsail, and while a part of her gain 

 was due to her clean way through the water compared with the wave 

 which Valkyrie carries on a reach and to her steering a straighter 

 course, it is quite possible that Valkyrie would have gone faster with- 

 out the big balloon sail which made such a striking contrast with 

 Defender's baby. The times at the second mark were: Valkyrie 

 1:58: 10, Defender 2:01:45. The wind had freshened on this leg and was 

 blowing at least a dozen miles an hour; as they jibed, each sent up a 

 second jibtopsail, while Valkyrie kept her balloon foresail still on. 

 Lord Dunraven has complained that the second mark was from one 

 to two points out, but in view of the special care taken by Lieut. Wins- 

 low, TJ. S A., in charge of the tug, in adjusting her compasses before 

 the first race and working as accurately as possible, this is probably 

 a mistake on Lord Duuraven's part. 



The surrounding vessels had kept clear on the first leg, but crowded 

 in about the second mark, and now began to bother both yachts The 

 big Round steamer City of Lowell set a striking example by disre- 

 garding the patrol yachts and running far inside of them, her great 



Ramona. 



AT THE LINE, SANDY HOOK LIGHTSHIP SECOND RACE. 



"C. Oliver Iselin, Esq. 



"Dear Sib: We beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 

 yesterday protesting the Valkyrie. We have given the matter our 

 careful consideration, and we believe that the foul occurred through 

 a miscalculation of the distance between the two yachts at a critical 

 moment. 



"From our own observation, confirmed by that of others who were 

 in a good position to see all that occurred, we find that the Valkyrie 

 IIL, in contravention of section eleven of racing rule sixteen bore down 

 upon the Defender and fouled her by the swing of her main boom 

 when luffing to straighten her course. We also consider that the De- 

 fender left the Valkyrie sufficient room to windward to cass clear of 

 the committee boat. * 

 "Your protest is therefore sustained. "S. Nicholson Kane, 

 "Irving Gri.vnell. 

 "Chester Qriswold, 



"Committee." 



The section of Rule 10 referred to re'.ds: "Bearing Away —A yacht 

 shall not bear away out of her coursa so as to hinder another in goine- 

 to leeward." 6 6 



A little later the followingwas also posted: 



"To the members of the New York Y C: 



"Your committee beg to state that before arriving at a decision on 

 Defender protest, they endeavored to bring about a mutual agree 

 ment between the respective yachts to resail Tuesday's race, but each 



Sandy Hook Lightship 



I™?* 76 the nonor to remain your obedient servant. Dunraven. 

 "The America's Cup Committee." 



This letter was not read by the Cup committee until late on Wednes- 

 day afternoon. No written reply was made to it, but Messrs. Canfield 

 and Busk of the Cup committee went in search of the Earl and finally 

 had a short conference with him at the Waldorf. The following state- 

 ment, made later to the reporters by Mr. Smith, the chairman of the 

 committee, may properly be quoted here as covering this point. 



When questioned by the reporters, Mr. Smith said" 



" Well, to tell the truth, I don't care to talk very much, because I 

 feel very strongly about the whole business. It was very unfortunate. 

 Lord Dunraven s demands were absurd, unbusinesslike and utterly 

 impossible to comply with. 



"Now supposing Valkyrie had been a mile and a balf ahead and we 

 declared the race off because some boat interfered with the Defender, 

 what would people say? Why, the country would be too hot to hold 

 us. Lord Dunraven makes a point of it that the committee did not 

 answer his letter. How could we? We did not receive it until 8 

 o clock Thursday morning. 



"In the first place, no one knew where to find Lord Dunraven. On 

 Wednesday afternoon the Cup committee held a special meeting here 

 to act on his request about keeping the course clear, and a sub-com- 

 mittee of two started out to find him. They first tried the Horseshoe, 

 then the City ot Bridgeport, Bay Ridge, Mr. Kersey's office, Mr. Ker- 

 sey s apartments on Fifth avenue, and then the Waldorf. When the 

 committee finally found Lord -Dunraven they explained to Mm verbally 



