were not so fortunate; the wind fell lighter and headed them, so that
they had to make several tacks before they could round, and all but
the 'Guinevere' met the flood tide against them after rounding the
Nab. The times taken by a French steamer were as follows: 'Guinevere,'
10 hrs. 17 mins.; 'Egeria,' 11 hrs. 12 mins.; 'Dauntless,' 11 hrs. 22
mins.; 'Diane,' 11 hrs. 57 mins.; 'Mystère,' 12 hrs. 40 mins.
After rounding, sheets were eased well off to the port side, but about
2 A.M. the wind came out from the north-east, and a gybe had to be
made, and square-sails and square-topsails were set. When morning
broke 'Guinevere' was out of sight of the other yachts; 'Dauntless'
and 'Egeria' nearly abeam, the former about a mile and a half further
to the eastward, 'Diane' and 'Mystère' a long way astern. 'Dauntless'
and 'Egeria' had apparently run very evenly all through the night, and
continued to do so to the end. The times of arrival at Cherbourg were:
'Guinevere,' 7 hrs. 1 min.; 'Egeria,' 9 hrs. 43 mins.; 'Dauntless,' 9
hrs. 53 mins.; 'Diane,' 10 hrs. 42 mins.; 'Mystère,' 10 hrs. 52 mins.
'Guinevere' won the Emperor's Cup, a beautiful work of art; the
'Egeria' the second prize and gold medal; and the 'Diane' the prize
for French yachts.
Those who had seen the 'Dauntless' in dock at Cowes were impressed
with the idea that, from her small body, she would run and reach fast,
but that she would not go to windward with our schooners. It was a
surprise, therefore, that in the run back from the Nab she did not
outpace the 'Egeria,' a vessel of so much smaller tonnage. The loss of
the fore-topmast of the 'Dauntless' was to be regretted, but probably
it did not affect the issue of the race, and as these two were never
much more than a mile apart, and there was an average 7-knot breeze,
the race was a fair test of their respective merits in smooth water.
The successes of the 'Egeria' led to her being classed as a sort of
standard or test vessel, and, taken all round, she was probably the
fastest schooner we had, although in strong winds she was often
overpowered by her larger rivals. Year after year vessels were built
to beat her, but, kept up as she was in the best racing condition and
well sailed by her skipper, John Woods, she proved, even to the end of
her racing days, no easy nut to crack.
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