Sport: Seawanhaka Cup

High, square and weather-beaten on a bluff above the entrance to Oyster Bay, L. I., the Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club lacks the austerity of the New York Yacht Club, custodian of the America’s Cup, but it has a trophy of its own which, for small-boat sailors the world over, matches the glamor of that famed receptacle. The Seawanhaka Cup, put up for international races in 1895, has been won by Canada, Scotland and Norway. Last week, a fine summer’s sailing on Long Island Sound reached its climax at Seawanhaka with a three-out-of-five series in which the challenger was Norna IV, Crown Prince Olav of Norway’s sleek new six-metre boat, sailed by his friend Magnus Konow. The defender, which bore the confusing name of Challenge, was sailed by Cornelius Shields.

Six-metre boats are to sailing what smorgasbord is to the dinner table: a Scandinavian specialty. Marconi-rigged, almost twice the size of a Star boat and a quarter that of an America’s Cup yacht, they cost about $10,000 each. Almost every Norwegian fiord contains a fleet of them. In the U. S., they made their first appearance in 1923 but, though the class has grown since then, no new boats have appeared in the past year while the Norwegians have been building 25. Improvements in design, yachtsmen felt, might easily make last week’s series a runaway for Norna. Expertly sailed, marvelously fast against the wind, she nosed out Challenge in the first two races. The Committee had a case of champagne put on ice the next afternoon, so that when Skipper Konow got his Cup he would not be disappointed in it.

The contents of the Cup did not disappoint Skipper Konow the next day but the outcome of the race did. Just before the starting gun, when it was too late for Konow to follow suit, Skipper Shields broke out a long-tailed Genoa jib and under it his boat outfooted Norna all the way around a windward and leeward course. Next day, in a light breeze that favored the defender, she won again, this time with four minutes to spare. The last race of the series was sailed on one of those muggy, misty afternoons when a cat’s-paw, brushing the surface of the Sound, was visible for half a mile. Skipper Shields, better acquainted with the waters, handling a boat whose underwater design gave her as much advantage running before a light breeze as Norna had tacking into a stiff one, stalked the Norwegian boat like a cat, blanketing the wind out of her sails on a reach, keeping her to leeward against the weather, outfooting her on the last leg home.

Wearing the black jersey that is his invariable yachting costume, Skipper Shields. 39, partner in the brokerage firm of Shields & Co. which is run by Brother Paul who owns Challenge, waved to the sudden whistle of 100 spectator boats, largest fleet that has ever followed a U. S. six-metre boat race. Beaten by nearly three minutes but grinning in honest approval of his opponent’s skill, jovial little Magnus Konow, who looks like a browner, balder copy of the onetime Crown Prince of Germany, jumped out on the float, scrambled up the long steps to the clubhouse piazza. There he found the cold comfort that Seawanhaka custom provides for a defeated challenger: first drink out of the Cup.