Keelboat

“ Inasmuch as the whole balance of the boat depends upon the out-rigger, it would never do, of course, to have the large, heavy sail, bearing the weight of the wind, on the opposite side of the boat; consequently, when sailing up in the wind, where tacking is necessary, instead of putting about or jibing, the crew assemble and, lifting the mast with all the rigging, carry it bodily from the bow to the stern, where it is stepped anew; the stern then becomes the bow, and the man at the helm has to scramble quickly to the other end of the boat to find out which way he is going. ”

“ Throat and peak halyards should be separate, and a topping lift should always be fitted.
I think it my duty to warn the inexperienced boat sailer against gybing his little craft. It is a maneuver that requires skill and care, especially in a brisk breeze. If you must gybe, lower the peak so as to "scandalize" the sail, and haul the boom well aboard as the helm is put up. As the wind shifts from dead astern and comes on the other quarter, carrying the boom over, ease off the sheet handsomely and take care to meet her promptly with the helm as she flies to, which is invariably the case. ”

“ So again while a pull is being taken on each halyard in its turn, the steersman luffs up, thereby relieving the sail of the pressure of the wind, but without stopping the vessel’s way.
And now we approach our moorings; the tide and wind are both with us. We lower our head sails, steer the yacht so that she takes a sweep round into the wind, and we haul in the mainsheet as she comes up. We bring her up head to wind, and she loses her way just as we are alongside the mooring buoy. A hand forward picks up the buoy rope with a boat hook and secures it. ”

“ The canoe navies, like other navies, did very well so long as no enemy came with something better. But when boats began to gain ground, canoes began to lose it. We do not know who made the first boat any more than we know who made the first raft or canoe. But the man who laid the first keel was a genius, and no mistake about it; for the keel is still the principal part of every rowboat, sailing ship, and steamer in the world. There is the same sort of difference between any craft that has a keel and one that has not as there is between animals which have backbones and those which have not. ”

“ Quick turning has always been a necessity with the yachts of the Broads, and this has been attained by the help of three peculiarities—a keel short for the length of the boat, a rudder so large as to be in reality a movable keel or leeboard, and an enormous jib, which is the only head-sail. ”

“ But, reader, follow their movements, and judge for yourself of the fatigues, troubles and risks of the men employed in that navigation. A keel-boat was generally manned by ten hands, principally Canadian French, and a patroon or master. These boats seldom carried more than from twenty to thirty tons. The barges frequently had forty or fifty men, with a patroon, and carried fifty or sixty tons. Both these kinds of vessels were provided with a mast, a square-sail, and coils of cordage, known by the name of cordelles. Each boat or barge carried its own provisions. ”

“ Anchors cost money, and a bend that will not come adrift is quite simple to make.
Cast the tyers off the mainsail and hoist it, pulling up best on the throat halyards and then "swigging" on the peak till the after-leech is taut and the sail begins to wrinkle slightly at the throat. While you are setting the sail, let the sheet fly. Next coil down the throat and peak halyards clear for running, and see that the mainsheet is free from kinks and coiled so that it can be eased off at a moment's notice without any danger of jamming in the block. A kink in the mainsheet has capsized many a cat-boat. ”

“ Push the helm very slowly over to leeward, and, as the yacht commences to come towards the wind, keep the eye fastened upon the luff, or inner leach, of the mainsail. As soon as the yacht is too near the wind to have the sail stand full, a little wave will be seen to agitate the luff of the sail, from its head to the foot, usually commencing near the head, and just under the gaff, as that part of the sail is at a further angle from the wind than the part that is fastened to the main-boom; the gaff blowing out much further to leeward, not being confined by a sheet as the main-boom is. ”

“ Take a bit of pine board, sharpen it at one end, set up a mast about a quarter of the length of the whole piece from the bow, fit on a square piece of stiff paper or card for a sail, and you are ready for action. Put this in the water, with the sail set squarely across (A, Fig. 141) , and she will run off before the wind—which is supposed to be blowing as indicated by the arrow—at a good rate of speed. If she does not steer herself, put a small weight near the stern, or square end; or, if you like, arrange a thin bit of wood for a rudder. ”

“ In cruising, if the weather is threatening it is well to carry a single reef in the mainsail until it clears up, for a yawl works well under such a sail with jib and mizzen furled. In such trim the yacht is as a cat-boat with a small sail, and as her main boom is shorter than a cat-boat's or a sloop's she can be worked in a very heavy sea with her boom's end well above the rollers. ”

“ But although he did not intend to sell this boat, he designed her [258] for a permanent model of others to be sold. He perceived that the other boats, though infinitely better than the dug-outs to get about in, were not what was required for fishing; that, though great sailers, they were not capacious enough to hold fish and ballast both, and required too much ballast to keep them on their legs. It is by no means an easy attainment to unite in one boat all the elements of a good fishing-boat, that will sail well, row easy, and save life in bad weather. ”

“ Sometimes a light mast carries a spread seal-skin for sail, but as a rule the boat is propelled by short, bone-tipped paddles which, in the hands of several strong women, carry the umiak thirty miles a day through smooth, ice-free water. When going near the ice a heavy seal-skin is hung before the bow to prevent the delicate boat skin from being cut. When a little hole is worn through, the women deftly thrust a bit of blubber through it until the boat is hauled up on the shore, which must be done daily to dry the sea-saturated covering. ”

“ Sometimes, owing to the wind not being directly ahead, we are able to remain longer on one tack than on the other. This is what is called making a long and short leg.
To properly sail a boat on the wind requires constant and minute attention to the helm and the canvas. The best way for the new hand is to sit low down in the cockpit to leeward of the tiller; this places him nearly under the boom. Let him look up and watch his sail just at the throat; here is where it will shake first. To sail the boat close he must just keep that portion of the sail shaking—or lifting as it is termed. ”

“ A long keel is made up of several pieces of square timber, with their ends shaped into scarfs, an overlapping and interlocking arrangement of great strength. The foremost keel piece is scarfed into the stem, which is the fore-end of the vessel's bow. The aftermost keel piece joins the stern-post, on which the rudder hangs. Elm makes a good keel, especially with oak for stem and stern-post.
The frame, to pursue our simile, is to the ship what ribs are to our bodies. In the same way the planking is the skin. The frame, or ribs, determines the vessel's form. ”

“ A sailing-boat is so constructed as to resist this tendency to capsize. Either she is made narrow and deep and is weighted with ballast as far as possible below the water-line, or she is shallow but of considerable beam. The deep and weighted boat will heel over more readily than the beamy shallow boat, but the further she heels the greater pressure of wind is necessary to make her heel still more, for the leverage of her ballast increases as she heels, and many boats with lead upon their keels are practically uncapsizable. ”

“ This crab-like motion is due to a variety of causes, to the shape of the craft, to her trim, and to the amount of sail carried, and its quality and sit. Boats deficient in the element of lateral resistance, such as a shallow craft with the centerboard hoisted, will drift off to leeward at a surprising rate. A deep boat of good design and fair sail-carrying capacity will, on the other hand, if her canvas is well cut and skillfully trimmed, make little or no leeway. In fact, she may, under favorable circumstances, eat up into the wind and fetch as high as she points.
138 ”

“ Some boats are built in a sort of combination keel and centerboard method, in which a moderate keel is provided and a centerboard is used as well, while within comparatively recent years the fin-keel type of boat has been evolved. In these the hull is proportioned like that of a centerboard boat but the keel is merely a large fin or sheet of metal carrying a mass of lead or iron at its lower edge. All things being equal, the best boat for ordinary use is the centerboard type and for small boats, or the amateur’s use, they are far superior to keel boats of any sort. ”

“ Leeway and lateral resistance—Heeling—Balancing sails—Tacking—Action of rudder—Longitudinal resistance—Deep keel or centre-board.
Any object floating on the water will have a tendency to drift before the wind; but a boat, with its scientifically constructed hull, sails, and rudder, can be so guided as to sail with the wind on her quarter or abeam, or even close-hauled, as it is called, that is, with the wind meeting her at an angle of about forty-five degrees. ”

“ How the yacht escaped being racked to pieces in the crazy tug-of-war between the keel, on the one side, trying to hold her to the normal, and on the other the waves, savagely bent on throwing her on her beam's ends or standing her on bowsprit or rudder, has always remained a mystery to us. ”

“ Do not set too much sail and get speed on your vessel before your anchor is on deck, or you will get it caught under your stem, and have to luff up so that a hand can clear it.
If a yacht is not anchored, but made fast to a buoy or other moorings, from which one can slip in a moment, the problem of getting under way is much simplified; for one can carry the mooring line to either bow, or to the quarter, or even astern, so as to direct the vessel’s head in the desired direction. ”

“ Keel boats are roomier than those with centerboards for there is no space occupied by the centerboard and its case; they are less liable to capsize, and if made with the same proportions as centerboard boats they are as dry, seaworthy and handy. As a rule, however, the keel craft are much narrower and deeper than those equipped with centerboards and many of them are almost like a plank set on edge. ”

“ Everything in naval architecture springs from and is related to the keel. 'Laying the keel' means beginning the ship in the only possible way, and 'two keels to one' is an expression which every one understands as meaning a naval preponderance in that proportion. The keel is to the ribs of a ship exactly what the backbone is to the ribs of a man, and any craft built up from a keel, no matter how small and simple it may be, belongs to the third and apparently final type of craft, which is as far ahead of the canoe type as that is ahead of the dug-out, raft, and log. ”

“ In the interest of lightness there is no ’tween-deck planking, no interior fittings; and the spars and rigging are made as light as possible.
The keel, false keel and keelsons are of oak, and form a rigid backbone to the ship six feet in height. The stem and rudder and propeller posts also are of massive oak timbers, the former having a depth on the ship’s axis of seven to ten feet, to take the blows when ramming ice. ”

“ Now, put up or "step" another mast and sail like the first, about as far from the stern as the first is from the bow. Turn [101] the two sails at an angle of forty-five degrees across the boat (B or C, Fig. 141) and set her adrift. She will make considerable progress across the course of the wind, although she will at the same time drift with it. If she wholly refuses to go in the right direction, place a light weight on her bow, so that she will be a little "down by the head," or move the aftermost mast and sail a little nearer to the stern. ”

“ Sit to windward while steering.
If struck by a squall, luff up to it, or ease the sheet, or do both.
Always luff up in the wind before hoisting or lowering sail.
Never climb the mast of a small boat. If anything is wrong aloft, lower the mast to set it right.
Belay a halyard by taking a few turns round its cleat. Do not put a half-hitch on the top of the turns.
Do not jibe in the middle of a squall, if you can avoid doing so. If a jibe is unavoidable, lower your peak first; haul in your mainsheet, and pay it out on the other side, so as to lessen the jerk as the boat jibes. ”

“ A yacht that is well balanced in sails and ballast will, on a wind, habitually carry the tiller a point or two to windward of the line of the keel, and it will need but little movement in any direction to keep her on her course. Sometimes, in sudden squalls, a yacht that carries a weather-helm will luff up into the wind in spite of the helm, so as not to be stopped except by slacking off the main-sheet. The same may occur in yawing with a yacht that carries a lee-helm. The helm may be put hard down, and sometimes the jib-sheet will have to be eased off, before the yacht will come to the wind. ”