The Xora Wins the Day on Elliott Bay
Seattle’s newly organized Elliott Bay Yacht Club staged a full regatta, with the Xora taking first class, the Truant winning second, and a capsized Linda giving the crowd a scare.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The Elliott Bay Yacht Club held its first regatta yesterday, and the sloop Xora, Henry Hensei captain and commodore of the club, won the first class despite a minute-and-a-half handicap. She took the lead from Four-Mile Rock and finished an easy winner. In the second class the Truant, sailed by Fred E. Billings, finished first by 2:47 elapsed time. The Petrel, owned by Clark & Bartlett, won the third class by almost three minutes, and the Bremerton, sailed by David Boyd, beat the Shoo-Fly by eighteen minutes and thirty-eight seconds in the fourth class.
The first- and second-class course ran from a stake boat off the coal bunkers to a buoy off Four-Mile Rock, around the bell buoy off Duwamish Head, around a buoy off the Oregon Improvement Company’s coal bunkers, and back across the finish. The third and fourth classes sailed a shorter course. The wind was light at the start. The Linda capsized before the start when a crew member went aloft to adjust a stay; all aboard were rescued. The Rainier broke the jaw of her gaff and was badly crippled.
The Xora crossed the finish at 2:46, followed by the Rainier at 3:01:13 and the Kelpie at 3:13:05. The Petrel was heartily cheered when she swept across the line at 2:12:05, winning the third class and beating several larger boats on elapsed time. The Nellie was second in that class.
That evening about seventy-five members met at the clubhouse at the foot of Battery Street. The Xora received the challenge cup and the Rainier the yacht ensign. In the second class the Truant took first prize and the Comet second. The Petrel took the marine flag in the third class and the Nellie the yacht pennant. The Bremerton received a patent folding anchor in the fourth class and the Shoo-Fly the club pennant. After refreshments and songs, a vote of thanks was given to the club officers.
“The Petrel was heartily cheered as she swept across the line at 2:12:05, winner of the third class, but actually beating several of the larger boats in 2:04 elapsed time.”
The 1891 regatta used the working waterfront itself—coal bunkers, Duwamish Head, Four-Mile Rock—as its race course, a reminder that Elliott Bay was then a busy industrial harbor as much as a pleasure ground. Today the same waters host sailing and waterfront parks, but the coal bunkers and many of the old landmarks are gone. Seattle still sells itself as a maritime city, though the contestants and the shoreline have changed.
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