WORLD'S GREATEST YACHT RACE

Chronicle (Levin), 15 January 1947, Page 2

WORLD'S GREATEST YACHT RACE

AMERICA'S CUP CONTESTS RECALLED

Eeep-sea yucht racing in New Zealand and ..ustralia brings to mind tlie greatest yaent races oi all — tliose ior uie America s Lup, Jmigiisli or American cliallengers lor wliicn liave to aail aeross the atormy Atiantic to participate j.n the struggle. Oue »ho liad navigatetl Shauiroek III — the most successful of four ot that name — from Great JBritain to U.S.A., was the late L'aptain \Y. A. Cameron, of Wellington, who once opened the storehouse oi his meniory to a reporter. Sir Thomas Lipton, said Captain Cameron, \vas beaten in his iirst fcsnam rock in 1899, 'and-1-' in his' second) vu 1901, by the Coiumbia. Then came Shamrock III, whieh won two races out jof iive with lieliance. There were no lcontests for ten years; then Shamroc't IV was built, and was at Bermuda, eu route to the Umted States, when the First World War broke out. Many ot the professional sailors who formed the yacht's erew were liaval rcservists, uud had to go baek and join the Navy. Eventually, Shamrock i\ was towed to New Yorlc and laid up. Six years later, after having been almosl i\iined by a iire, she was reconditionud, and prepared for the deferred cuutest. Sir Thomas Upton ,who ' 1 did things very well," decidcd to send the old • Llianiioek 111, novv a pleasure yaclu, Jacross the Atlantie as a " triai horse" j for tlie newer boat, and l'or the purpose of taking the racing erew to the UniteJ ; Etates.. There were 43 persons on board, j gU being the jileasure yaeht's person- ! nel. The yaelit carried a captain, a j first mate, a secoud mate, and a navi I gator (Captain Cameron), fcSir . Thoms i ipton was no sailor,' and went by steamcr. It was necessary for the racing captain of the yacht to be an amateoi, am' the absence of a deep-sea ticket might have been oue reason wh\ the racing captain on that occasion also crossed to New York by steamer. Boats had to be built very strongly to cross the Atiantic — much strongei than was necessary -for purely racing purposes. Furthermore, the challenger couid alford to build but one contender for the cup, while America eould. meet him by building several and selecting the best for the raee. While conceding that the Americai.s were good sportsmen, Captain Camerou gave details showing that the contests for the cup had not been entirely free from discord. The Americans felt when they first won the race against 18 yachts in 1851 the course, around the Isle of Wigh^ was not a fair one. Friction Arises. The first effort at winning the cup back from Great Britain-was i^iade by Mr. James Ashbury in 1870. He faile.l that year against 23 opponents, and went across the next year to race seven matclies against oiie boat. The Americans put in ono boat 'right enough, but suited the boat to the weather. Mr Ashbury was so critical that many years passed before Englisli yaclitsmen again tried to win the cup. The next opposition to U.S.A. and with it more diseord, came from Canada, whose boats, however, were not good enough. In 1881', after Canada had its secoud try, the New York Yacht Club said it had been compelled to incur heavv expenses to protect the cup against yachts hardly fmished, poorly manned and which had "sailed" to the United States from Canada through a canal six feet deep. As a result the Americans drew up rules for the contest, making the challenger !s seaworthiness a requirement as well as speed. The new condi'tions ereated a hubbub, but, in spite of it, good relations were established between vaehtsmen on either side of the Atiantic, and several amieable contests took place. Lord Dunraven came close to winning the cup in 1894," and decided to make another bid a couple of years later. The first of the series was won by the defender. The Americans whose

top-mast snapped at the start of the second raee, claimed a fotd against the challenger, which won but was disqualified. Lord Dunraven was" incensed at wkat he considered unfair treatment and refused to finish the series. It remained for Sir Thomas Lipton to renew the contests with liis four ehallenges. The original 100-guiyiea cup won by the America, tliough often called the Queen 's Cupj was not donated by Queen Victoria but by the Royal Yacht Squadron. Six years after being won it was turned over under deed of gift to the New York Yacht Club, to be held as a permanent challenge cup open to competition by any organfsed yacht club of any foreign eountry. Captain Cameron said that the original America, after a varied eareer, was comparatively receutly lying, masts out, longside the doek in an eastern port of the U.S.A., unnotioed And apparently forgotten.