Racing boat

“ Then, again, in racing, boats are always in company, and if an accident happens someone is close aboard to give assistance; but in cruising this is not so, and many a life has been lost for want of a reef in time.
When I was young and fresh I had an idea that if anyone could carry sail on a boat I could do the same. One day I had a lesson that made me think, and partially cured me of the habit. I went with a clever old boatman across the Sound to bring home a new cat. We each took a crew, and, to return, he sailed the new boat, and I the one we had come over in. ”

“ With the four lads aboard the staunch motor boat started out on the search, going with the wind. So fierce was the gale, and so swiftly did it send the boat along, that there was hardly need for the propeller, but Jerry kept it going at top speed, for he wanted to make the best time he could, and save the Scud, which was the name of the racing boat, before she pounded herself to pieces on the rocks. ”

“ The long spoon-shaped bow and broad full stern overhang give great stability and displacement when heeled over. A fore-and-aft sail of some character is used, and the boats are handled much like a cat-boat. Under favorable conditions they develop good speed. They are unsurpassed as a boat for the beginner in sailing or racing.
Sea-skiff racing is indulged in by the fishermen, and these speedy boats afford some good sport. ”

“ Our whaler would go out between lights under pretence of practising, but really for the purpose of insulting other whalers whom she had beaten in inter-ship contests. Boat-racing is to the mariner what horse-racing is to the landsman. The way of it is simple. When your racing crew is in proper condition, you row under the bows of the ship you wish to challenge and throw up an oar. If you are very confident, or have a long string of victories to your credit, you borrow a cock from the hen-coops and make him crow. ”

“ A tug at the end of a stroke turns a boat much more than a catch at the beginning; yet the latter propels the racing boat far more. Of course, if two men row alike in style and reach from end to end, and one puts on all through the stroke a trifle more pressure, the ship will turn from the greater pressure. But, unless it can be guaranteed that the style of each partner is identical all through the stroke, ‘rowing round’ does not prove a superiority of work. ”

“ Thus a long narrow shallow boat will run the fastest before the wind, but she will not turn to windward at all, and will capsize with great ease.
As it is recognized that beam is opposed to speed, it has been long the fashion in England to construct racing yachts extremely narrow and of great draught. Such craft do attain speed, but at the expense of all comfort, and when a heavy sea is running go through it instead of over it. ”

“ No thought should be given to the crew's comfort; they should be regarded as machines, for the time being.
In short, the tuck-up, skiff, bateau, or small boat of any character should be sailed like a large toy boat. If a gust throws her down, get the crew out over the side if necessary, so that there is only enough inboard to keep them from falling off. Don't be afraid of taking water aboard; when there is enough in to be troublesome, bail it out.
A racing-man must be observant. He should notice where the tides are the strongest, and also which way the flow is at the time of the race. ”

“ Though it was started by boys, several older Wags joined, and as the boat was never designed for speed, the racing was not originally intended to be hard-down serious sport, but more a sort of friendly sail round a course in boats all alike, and that consequently should be all together; but of course skill in working would bring one to the front and make her harder to catch. ”

“ Every crew which succeeds in rowing over the course without being touched (or “bumped”) by the boat behind is said to have “kept its place,” and starts in the same position for the next day's racing. But if it contrives to touch the boat in front, it is said to have made a “bump,” and both bumper and bumped get under the bank with all speed and allow the rest of the procession to race past. Next day, bumper and bumped change places, and the victors of the day before endeavour to catch the next boat in front of them. ”

“ During the fifteen or sixteen seasons that the author has devoted his spare time to the sport he has often planned a heavy cruising shell, but owing to the expense of having such a boat built he has used the ordinary racing boat, and found it remarkably well adapted for such purposes. Often he has been caught miles away from home in a blow, and only once does he remember of being compelled to seek assistance. ”

“ If the bottom should need only a slight cleaning and polishing slacken one of the guy-ropes so that the boat will rest on its side, and scrub clean with water and a stiff brush, polishing with cloths. After this side is finished pull the boat up to an even keel and slack away the other rope so it will rest on the other side, thus permitting you to get at the rest of the under-water body. If you are so fortunate as to possess a racing-sail and spars, unship the old ones and ship the racing-spars and sail. If you have not, your boat is about ready. ”

“ Before the days of outside lead, when pleasure craft shifted their racing for a cruising rig preparatory to a deep-water voyage, it was customary to raise the inside lead ballast by placing layers of cork beneath it, thus ensuring easy movements in a seaway. Racing yachts nowadays have all their weight outside, and this device for their relief cannot therefore be resorted to. When crossing the Atlantic, say for a race for the America's Cup, they are always in danger of getting caught in a gale of wind and an accompanying mountainous sea. ”

“ Boat-racing is another very favourite national amusement. In the racing boats are many rowers, with short paddles, and the races are scenes of wild excitement, both on the part of the competitors and spectators. ”

“ The hour of the race is at hand. Your crew is aboard, and after a careful examination of the running rigging, blocks, mast-hoops, sail and its lacings, you set out for the starting-point. Arriving there, procure your racing number, and after fastening it upon the sail, take your boat out and cruise around in the vicinity of the starting-line, using this opportunity to practise your crew in tacking, gybing, and other evolutions likely to be encountered during a race. Upon hearing the preparatory gun, it is best to get near the line. ”

“ Such broad, flat hulls are very stiff, up to a certain point, and boats built in this manner are usually very fast when heeling far over, but when they are tipped a single inch beyond a certain point the weight of the raised side acts with the lever and flops the boat over in an instant. When a hull thus shaped is provided with a centerboard or a weighted keel it becomes far more stable. Many of the fastest racing boats are of this type, a form designed to sail the very best when heeled far over with half the bottom out of water. ”

“ No matter how well the naval architect may have executed his work in the design of a vessel's hull, if the sailmaker has failed in his task, success in racing is an impossibility. You might just as well expect a fast homing pigeon to attain his normal speed with a crippled wing as a yacht to win a cup hampered by sails of poor material and faulty construction. ”

“ Hence we can understand the long series of victories gained by the light-blue oarsmen in the 'old fashioned racing eights'. But when we come to consider the case of a boat like the present wager-boat—a boat which answers immediately to the slightest propelling force—we see that that mode of rowing must be the most effective which permits the oar to have the least possible motion through the water, which lifts the boat along from the water as from an almost stable fulcrum. ”

“ Again, during the recent racing season, the pilot-boat (about sixty tons) started from Kingstown Harbour for her cruising ground. The old pilot at the helm sucked his pipe with confident air as she slipped; you could almost imagine his saying, 'This old boat and I are old chums; I know her. See how, with one finger on the tiller, I make her gracefully fall off to avoid that group of yachts ahead!' Suddenly the smile disappears; (p. 129) the pipe is chucked from his mouth. She won't fall off! she is charging bang into the yachts! ”

“ The following sailing regulations are carefully enforced during racing:—
Only the boats of members shall compete in the races, and as it is one of the fundamental principles of the Water Wags that the boats shall be similar in every respect save sail-plan, it shall be in the power of the officer of the day to disqualify any boat that, in his opinion, is trying to gain an unfair advantage by infringing the above principle.
Each boat shall not carry more than three or less than two persons during a race, all of whom shall be amateurs, and shall be steered by either a member or a lady. ”

“ It is impossible to speak in terms too high of this class after a surfeit of the racing machines and freaks like the 20-footers whose alarming antics so often amused and amazed us whenever they happened to meet in a reefing breeze. Another good property they possess is that they look like boats when hauled up on the beach, and can never be mistaken when their masts are unstepped for pig-troughs or fish floats. ”

“ In such powerful and well-trained crews as both universities usually send to the contest, very little harm is done by varying the order of the work a little—rowing hard at first and steadily afterwards, or vice versâ. It is easy for lookers-on, most of whom have never taken part in a boat-race, to theorise on these matters. But those who know what boat racing is (as distinguished, be it noticed, from most contests of speed) know that the better boat is almost sure to win in whatever way the stroke may set them their work. A good crew, unlike a good horse, requires no jockeying. ”

“ They are essentially a "racing-machine," their speed being developed by a large sail, big centreboard, and all the men and bags available to keep the whole right side up. The rig is the regular cat, and everything is very strong. On account of the small displacement of hull and the large sail and ballast, the motions of the boat are much intensified. A squall striking the large sail area will throw her down in an instant, and as soon as it is over she rights as quickly. ”

“ The first feature, which consisted of club boats, sloop-rigged, with rolling jibs and mainsails so as to reef easily, has been very popular; races in this class, both single-handed and otherwise, taking place almost daily. The subscription to these boats being only 1l., a member is enabled to have a summer's racing and cruising for this small sum, and can, if he be a fair hand in a boat, win good prizes. ”

“ Races are also held in which each helmsman has to set sail, pick up moorings, &c. &c.
The classes under Y.R.A., 1-raters and 1⁄2-raters, also afford great sport, but resulted in the development of a very expensive type of boat, the natural consequence of the ascendency of the 'almighty dollar'; but these boats are exceedingly capable and safe. In 1891 the racing was only stopped one day on account of weather, and that summer was peculiarly stormy. ”

“ Especially is there poetry, and plenty of it, in a boat—that dancing, playful, wilful thing that only obeys the skilful hand. Ask any old crab-catcher. Yet racing seems to blunt the feeling. Many owners part with their boats and crews at the end of every season, and allow themselves no time really to care for any one of them. ”

“ She has a racing outfit, and was the crack boat of the past season. There is a smart young fellow engaged to look after her, and the only thing that remains to be settled now is the question—Shall I give myself up to racing or shall I cruise this year? If it is to be racing, here are two or three words of advice well worth noting. The first is, never pinch the yacht when sailing on a wind. Always keep a clean full and bye—i.e. the yacht must be headed, as near as she will go, to the point whence the wind is blowing, but the sails must be kept well full. ”

“ After the lessons of the forenoon the next day, the work of rigging the boat was continued.
But, before the students went to the wharf, they were assembled in the schoolroom, where a diagram of a schooner was presented to them. The rig was very simple; for she was not to be fitted out as a racing craft, though some of the "kites" used were described.
"The rope, which is sometimes of wire, which passes from the end of the bowsprit to the mast-head is the jibstay, which, in our craft, does duty as the forestay. ”

“ These small yachts afford an admirable school ... which will do more for the real sport of yacht-racing than anything else. A man who can sail a 1- or a 1⁄2-rater will never be out of place in a larger ship, or become a mere passenger, for he won't race a small boat unless he loves the sport. ”

“ Just after lunch, about the time Frank and his group had started for the boat ride, others had strung a tennis net beyond the trees in an opening which was reasonably smooth, though far from perfect. Fortunately, some thoughtful person had put the rackets beneath the seat of an automobile, protected from the rain, and now these were unlimbered from their hiding places and a game proposed. ”

“ By boating, I do not mean going out in a large tub, and sitting under an awning, being pulled by a couple of paid men or drawn by an unfortunate horse, but boat-racing, for prizes or for honour. The Oxford and Cambridge race has done more than anything to make this sport popular, and the thousands who applaud the conquerors, reward sufficiently the exertions which have been necessary to make the victory possible. ”