July 16, 1904.) 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
131 
mourn 
Brooklyn Y. C. Ocean Race. 
' BY CHARLES D. MOWER. 
The ocean race under the auspices of the Brooklyn Y. 
C. for a five hundred dollar trophy offered by Sir Thomas 
Lipton, proved an unqualified success in every respect, as 
the management of the affair was excellent, a good fleet 
of boats started, and the weather conditions were so 
favorable that the boats made a record run which prob- 
ably will not be equalled for a long time, if ever, by a 
yacht of less than 40ft. over all length. With the excep- 
tion of about five hours of calm on Sunday evening, the 
yachts had a strong breeze throughout the run, and were 
able to carry spinnakers nearly all the time with abso- 
lutely no head winds or fog. While the entries were 
passed by the committee as eligible cruisers, the boats 
widely varied in type, as there were some of the old style 
deep narrow cutters, others of less draft and more beam, 
and boats of more modern type like the yawl Fanshawe, 
a fine cruiser with moderate overhangs and large accom- 
modations. The modern fast cruiser of the knockabout 
type was represented by Little Rhody, a boat fast enough 
to race successfully, and yet a craft which could not con- 
sistently be barred out by the committee. Still another 
type was seen in Newasi, a Gardiner-designed sloop, with 
narrow beam and long fine ends carrying a double head 
rig. The smallest boat of all was the little yawl Sea Bird, 
owned by Mr. Thomas Fleming Day, the originator of the 
race. The system of time allowance used was an arbi- 
trary allowance of 40m. per foot of over all measurement, 
and this made Newasi the scratch boat, though she was 
one of the smallest of the fleet in actual size and tonnage. 
Of the eighteen entries, the actual starters were as 
follows : 
Sloops. — Newasi, Larchmont Y. C, A. H. W. Johnson, 
owner ; Mignon, Indian Harbor Y. C, Dr. J. Fournier, 
owner; Eumareia, Rhode Island Y. C, E. K. Hill owner; 
Mopsa, Harlem Y. C, F. C. Sullivan, owner; Little 
Rhody, Rhode Island Y. C, C. F. Tillinghast, owner ; 
Ray II., Brooklyn Y. C, G. R. Hawes, owner. 
Yawls.— Fanshawe, New Rochelle Y. C, F. Maier, 
owner ; Sea Bird, Springfield Y. C., T. F. Day, owner. 
The boats were manned by amateurs, with one profes- 
sional allowed. 
The contestants all reached the Gravesend Bay anchor- 
age before the day set for the start, and were most hos- 
pitably cared for by the Brooklyn Y. C. Saturday morn- 
ing all hands were busy making final preparations for the, 
start, for there were, as usual, many things to be done 
at the - last moment. The committee went through the 
fleet in the club launch to inspect the different entries, 
and passed their final approval that the boats met all re- 
quirements, were eligible and fit to start, then went on 
board Commodore Fontaine's flagship Sunshine, which 
was anchored off the club grounds to give the starting 
signals. 
At 10:45 the preparatory signal was given, then the 
warning gun, and at 11 o'clock the signal for the start. 
A fine northwesterly breeze was blowing of sufficient 
weight to call for a single reef on some of the boats, and 
to make things lively for all hands. The work for posi- 
tion before the start was interesting, and resulted in the 
yawl Fanshawe getting away first, with Sea Bird second ; 
good work for the two yawls. Then came Little Rhody, 
Mopsa, Siren, Ray II., and Eumareia, in the order nanied. 
Newasi was late, about three minutes behind the gun, and 
Mignon was _ last over. All crossed on the starboard 
tack, then, with a long leg and a short one, beat out to 
Norton's Point. Little Rhody went at once into first 
place, while Newasi lost but little time working through 
the fleet and passing all except Little Rhody. After clear- 
ing Norton's Point, booms were squared off and spin- 
nakers quickly set for the run to the eastward. The fleet 
made a very pretty picture running off before the freshen- 
ing breeze, with spinnakers and balloon jibs drawing, Lit- 
tle Rhody leading, and Sea bird, carrying her picturesque 
square sail, bringing up the rear of the procession. A 
course' of E. by S. took the fleet to the Rockaway Inlet 
buoy, which was passed at noon by the leaders, and patent 
logs were set by many of the skippers to test their ac- 
curacy for the known distance between the Rockaway 
buoy and the Fire Island lightship. 
Off the wind in a good breeze there was but little 
change in the positions of the boats, as all were making 
good speed. Little Rhody held her lead, and passed the 
Fire Island lightship at 4:50, with Newasi second, only 
7m astern, and Fanshawe and Ray II. not far behind her. 
The fresh breeze had raised a fair sea, and on several of 
the boats its effect was felt by some members of the crew. 
The wind increased somewhat toward sunset, and light 
sails were taken in on many of the boats. Little Rhody 
simply changed the big spinnaker she carried through the 
afternoon for a smaller one, while Newasi took in all 
light sails and tucked a single reef down in her mainsail. 
Darkness soon shut the boats out from one another's 
sight, and the crews gave the strictest attention to their 
own craft. The night was a beautiful one, as the stars 
came out wonderfully clear and breeze held true. At 
about ten o'clock the moon rose up out of the sea, and 
as it rose slowly and grandly in the cloudless sky, its light 
made the stars gradually lose their brightness. After the 
moon had risen, many of the boats set their light sails 
again, and carried them for the rest of the night. As 
dawn came and the light became stronger, those in 
Newasi first saw a sloop on their starboard quarter carry- 
ing spinnaker and topsail, which proved to ; be Ray II, off 
on the weather quarter another sail was made out to be 
the yawl Fanshawe, while back on the horizon were sails 
which could not be made out, but ahead nothing could be 
seen of Little Rhody, as she had been driven hard all 
night, and had increased her lead decidedly. As soon as 
light sails were set on Newasi she drew away from the 
two boats which had nearly caught her in the night. 
Through the forenoon the wind increased, and the sea be- 
came very heavy and reefs were tied in on many of the 
boats. Little Rhody at one time had three reefs tied down, 
but as she seemed to carry three reefs but little better 
than she had a single, her nervy crew decided to put the 
whole mainsail on her, and make her lug it. Newasi was 
driving wildly along with spinnaker, balloon jib and top- 
sail set over a single reefed mainsail, and was fairly tear- 
ing through the water. The balloon jib was straining till 
it seemed as if the pressure of wind must burst it, and 
mainsail and topsail both drawing finely. The spinnaker 
was sheeted well forward, and when the extra heavy puffs 
came, the pole would lift and the sail belly out and go up 
like a huge kite. The man who was stationed out on the 
spinnaker pole to hold it down, had a most exciting posi- 
tion, as the seas were now so large that the boat would 
climb up to the crest and then rush down into the hollow 
of the next with the speed of an auto boat, and if she 
yawed a bit, the end of the main boom would dip and drag 
through the seas, while the spinnaker went up till the man 
on the boom seemed miles above the water. Looking for- 
ward he would see the bow go down till the bowsprit 
carved its way through solid water, and the forward deck 
was awash. Then looking aft he saw the huge following 
seas, with their crests breaking and a white path of foam 
in the yacht's wake. As the wind was increasing, it be- 
came a question of how long the yacht could be driven, 
and of how long the sails would stand the strain, and at 
last the order came to "take in the spinnaker." It was 
no easy work to get the big kite in, as the 25ft. pole was 
rigged without lifts and outhaul, but the crew made good 
work of it, and the sail was soon safely down on deck. 
Next the topsail came down, and with the boat rolling 
about it was no easy job even for the "human 
fly," as the masthead man was nicknamed, to go aloft 
and get the lashings off the heel of the pole. With the 
kites off, she went along easier, but the skipper, wishing 
to take no chances on losing his spars, ordered a second 
reef in the mainsail. It was necessary to lower the sail 
to do this, so a gaff trysail was set and carried for a 
while, and this allowed both Ray II. and Fanshawe to 
come up and pass Newasi. 
As the wind seemed now to be moderating a little, the 
mainsail was again hoisted, with only a single reef, and 
the light sails set again. Fanshawe was soon passed, but 
Ray II. led a longer chase, and it was some time before 
Newasi regained her lost second place. At about 4:30 
on Sunday afternoon Little Rhody was sighted coming 
out from in toward shore, where she had spoken a fisher- 
man, and gotten the course and distance to the lightship. 
At about six o'clock, Newasi sighted the lightship, almost 
dead ahead on the course she had steered since leaving 
Fire Island lightship, and at 6 -.30 was within a short dis- 
tance of the light vessel, when the wind died out com- 
pletely, and left all hands becalmed. Little Rhody got 
near enough to speak the lightship at 7 o'clock, then 
drifted out with the tide, and at eleven caught a little 
breeze and worked back to it again. Newasi, catching the 
same breeze, came up and hailed the lightship at 11:30. 
Fanshawe and Ray II. were not far astern, as they, too, 
got the light air which had sprung up after lying be- 
calmed for about five hours. Before starting from 
Gravesend Bay the question of crossing the shoals was 
discussed, and it was decided that all should go com- 
pletely outside of all the shoals, but later this decision 
was reversed, and Newasi was not notified, so after pass- 
ing the lightship, she stood off to the eastward for nearly 
twenty miles, while the others all stood north, straight 
across the shoals. When daylight came Newasi was well 
offshore with a very light air, while the other boats were 
in under Sankaty. Head on Nantucket with a good breeze 
off the shore and a favoring tide. When the breeze came 
Newasi was far behind the others, though at the time her 
crew, supposing the other boats had come outside of the 
shoals as agreed, thought they were still in second place, 
and were dumbfounded when in the afternoon, off Nauset, 
Ray II. was made out ahead. Off the Highlands Newasi 
passed Ray II. for the third time during the race, and' 
LITTLE RHODY. . ;•; ,. ; , •, , 
Winner of the one hundred g uinea cup in the Brooklyn Y. C. ocean race. 
PJiotos by James Burton, New Yor^. 
NEWASI. 
Winner of second prize in the Brooklyn Y. C, oceart race. 
J I.. 1 Ijiifei 
