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Show One can the better understand Sir Thomas Lip-ton's Lip-ton's disappointment over the results of the latest yacht race by reading his own description of how he was this year prepared for the contest. His yacht was vastly superior to "any other ever brought over to sail for the cup, while his crew was picked from the entire United Kingdom. He said before the race that he was "confident that Captain Robert Wringe, the skipper of Shamrock III, and Captain Charles Bevis, master of Shamrock Sham-rock I, are the two best skippers in Great Britain. In the crew of the challenger there are numerous men who were racing skippers in England, men of rare intelligence and attainment, who have been willing to ship as mere members of the crew. It was the best crew ever gathered together in the United Kingdom." Still, there was no question of the result of the race from the first. In a moderate breeze the much-hoped-for craft and its picffed crew were overcome, then a stiff breeze was prayed for and when it came the same result was seen except that the defeat of the Challenger was the more pronounced. And the Reliance was modeled by a blind man. No wonder Sir Thomas cals him "a wizzard." |