Calm Prevents Finish

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 17 September 1934, Page 5

Calm Prevents Finish

Race for America Cup Declared no Contest ADVANTAGE WITH DEFENDER lUteteU i'r-iee Assuoi*.lion —By Eleci,rlo Teicgrapu Copyright, j NEWPORT, Sept. 15. After five and a-half hours’ splendid sailing by Mr Vanderbilt’s yacht Rainbow, which put it half a mile from the. finishing line and a mile ahead of the Endeavour, a. calm prevented the finishing of the first America Cup race in the prescribed time. The race was declared no contest. The defender and challenger will (meet again on Monday. A series of seven races will be sailed alternatively over two courses of ;30 nautical miles. The maximum time ! allowed for the completion of the course in each race is 5-£ hours. Mr f. O. M. Sopwith’s challenge with the Endeavour is Great Britain’s fifteenth attempt in 64 years to regain the cup. At the start of to-day’s race there was a seven-mile south-east breeze, but the sea was remarkably • smooth. Handling the American yacht as if it ivere a toy in his hand, iMr Vanderbilt. beat the Endeavour by one minute at the .start. Mr Sopwith was soon in hot pursuit, hut it was cither’s race for a time.

Then came a tacking duel with Genoa. jibs on. Large single head sails were carried to the windward. The Endeavour’s crew could not sheet the Genoa as fast the Rainbow’s- TV itli its great “coffee grinder” winch to raise the Genoa sheet in a hurry the Rainbow gained an additional minute and 46 seconds’ lead. In the last four miles in the calm the craft drifted a little. The wind at no time exceeded nine knots.

Mrs Sopwith sailed as a timekeeper. She is the first woman ever listed as a member of a crew in an America Cup race. Later she acted as observer of the Rainbow and did her job well. A great flotilla, including the Nourmahaj. carrying President Roosevelt, watched the contest. The 30-mile windward and leeward course was patJr oiled by coast guard cutters and naval destroyers.

Destroyer Interferes With Challenger Received 2.45 p.m. to-day. VANCOUVER, Sept. 16. As the Rainbow and the Endeavour started on tlie homeward stretch ia the first race on Saturday several vessels, notably the United States destroyer Manley, with movie cameramen aboard, interfered with the challenger’s wind. The Endeavour was almost becalmed until President Roosevelt, from a nearby ship, wirelessed to the Manley to get out of the way. The impeding craft immedately headed away and the Endeavour showed a quick improvement.