The arrangement was that 'Freda' should sail 'Camellia' and 'Vril'
separately, and the yacht that pulled off two out of each three races
was to be declared the winner. The weather for some days prior to and
during the race week was anything but inviting, and the manner in
which the yachts worked their way to their port showed at once what
kind of stuff they were. The 'Vril' was unfortunate, for owing to some
gross carelessness the men who brought the yacht round from the Clyde
allowed her mainsail to get damaged to such an extent that during the
trials it could scarcely be made to stand. The stakes were for 100_l_.
a side. The first match between 'Freda' and 'Vril' took place on May
14, 1877. The courses on each occasion were arranged by Messrs. G. L.
Watson and Dixon Kemp. On the first day the course lay from the New
Harbour across a line between the 20-ton yacht 'Challenge' and a buoy,
round the end of the breakwater westward, rounding a flag-boat outside
the inner end of the breakwater, thence eastward three miles round the
Bolivar buoy; thence to a mark-boat off the old pier, twice round,
finishing between the 'Challenge' and the starting buoy, 14 miles.
There could not have been a finer trial than these three matches
afforded. The wind on the 14th was light from E.S.E., shifting to the
eastward, accompanied by rain, whilst on the second day it veered
round between S.W. and N.W., and brought up with it the usual sea that
most yachtsmen frequenting St. George's Channel know so well and hate
so cordially. Space will not permit a full account of the races to be
given here, but should details be required, they will be found most
faithfully recorded in an article in 'Hunt's Magazine' for the year
1877, which has greatly assisted the writer in refreshing his memory,
or in the 'Field' newspaper that was published on the Saturday
following the races.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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