The fourth day ushered in a new competitor, and the 'Freda' had to
cross the line with the 'Camellia,' which she did five minutes after
the second gun. The wind and weather had changed during the night, an
unfortunate circumstance for the 'Camellia,' a hard-weather boat. The
wind was unsettled, hung about between N. and N.E., and was at times
very shy. The 'Freda' at first, not being able to hold the wind that
the 'Camellia' did, lost ground considerably in the beat up to the
Bolivar buoy, and the latter had reached on her so cleverly that the
'Freda' was fully a minute astern on rounding for the run into the
harbour. The 'Freda' here had the pull over the Fairlie clipper, for
she was provided with two spinnakers, while the 'Camellia' had but
one, and as a shift had to be made (since they had left the Bolivar
with spinnakers set on the bowsprit end) before setting off for the
second round, the 'Camellia' was left in the lurch, her one spinnaker
having to be taken in and boomed out. Standing out again, the
'Camellia' tried her best to pass the 'Freda' to windward, but to no
purpose, as the 'Freda' was always ready for her each time the attempt
was made, and at the Bolivar the 'Freda' was first round by 30
seconds. Coming into the harbour, the 'Freda,' again at her best, kept
increasing her lead, and finally won by 1 min. 40 secs. Hunt's
correspondent writes: 'This was a closely sailed race, in which the
English boat owed much of, if not all, her success to smart handling.'
The fifth day's race was sailed under something like the 'Vril' and
'Freda' weather. The wind had hardened up and freshened during the
early morning, and kept increasing as the day went on. Both yachts
started with housed topmasts, single-reefed mainsails, and No. 2 jibs,
the 'Freda' running up and booming out her balloon foresail as she
crossed the line. During the first round the 'Freda' showed herself
the better boat when on a reach as well as in beating to windward in
the teeth of the heavy, solid sea which was running. She, however, was
only 1 min. 30 secs. ahead at the mark-boat. On the second round the
boats were literally more under water than above; they were simply
smothered in their efforts to windward, and had the 'Camellia' not
been so persistently squeezed in order to make her look up closer to
the wind than her rival, she might have gained more than she did. As
it was, what she gained on one point she lost on the other, and
allowed the 'Freda' to come in a winner by 1 min. 45 secs.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account