Sailboat

“ Sloops and schooners constantly come and go, careening in the wind, and their white sails taking, if remote enough, a vague blue mantle from the delicate air. Sailboats glide in the distance,—each a mere white wing of canvas,—or coming nearer, and glancing suddenly into the cove, are put as suddenly on the other tack, and almost in an instant seem far away. ”

“ Only one thing of importance occurred between our Christmas holidays and Eastertide: this was Bill’s invention of the tricycle sailboat or land yacht. We had returned to school with sailing on the brain. Our skate sail served us well enough while there was any ice, but as spring came on we wished we had our canoe with us, or even the old scow to sail on the lakes near the school. ”

“ Only the quickest and most expert handling can save a boat under these conditions and frequently she will refuse to come about or to answer her helm as she is raced along on the crest of a wave. If it is absolutely necessary to run before a sea, reduce sail, top the boom up well by the topping-lift or the peak halyards and stand ready to 156haul in the sheet and to swing her into the wind or to ease her off instantly. ”

“ Always remember that a sailing vessel on the starboard tack has the right of way over a vessel on the port tack, and that a vessel sailing close hauled or against the wind has the right of way over a vessel running free or on the wind regardless of their size, the direction in which they are moving or anything else. ”

“ They are thirty feet in length and six feet wide, barely two feet in depth amidships and yet are capable of breasting the heaviest waves of midocean, withstanding the most terrific gales and weathering the most severe storms of any seas. Pulled by five oars they attain the speed of a motor boat; they are light enough to be pulled upon a beach or easily hoisted to a ship’s davits. They sail rapidly, are easily handled and hold together when towed at express-train speed by a harpooned whale. ”

“ A heavy sea may cause the boat to roll over, the sail may swing and spill the wind and allow her to be caught aback with her weather roll and to avoid a breaking sea which may swamp her, it will be necessary to swing her about for eight points, or at right angles, which cannot be done in a seaway in time to avoid swamping.
Never try to luff a boat up to a sea when in this position, but ease the sheet, swing her off and let the sea run diagonally under her keel. ”

“ In puffs or squalls, and as you rise towards the crests of the waves, when running in seas, the boat should be luffed up and sheets eased before she is heeled rail-under, for if you wait too long she will answer her helm sluggishly and may capsize before she will luff to meet the sudden gust. Don’t let her lose headway but as soon as the squall has passed or the craft has righted bear off again until the next puff comes along. ”

“ Still another matter to be considered when selecting a boat is whether you should use a keel or a centerboard craft. Every boat, in order to sail well, must have a portion which projects below the bottom and which will prevent the craft from sliding sideways or making “leeway” on the water when the wind is from the side or when sailing against the wind. ”

“ Just as the little catboat has its stays, halyards and sheet, so the huge, towering ship has its stays and shrouds, sheets and halyards and the use of each is exactly the same as on the catboat with its single sail. The stays or shrouds always hold the masts in position and strengthen them. There are backstays, forestays and bobstays on every vessel, and each is designated by the proper prefix of fore, main or mizzen, top, topgallant, royal, etc. ”

“ In case of a sudden squall or a heavy wind the boat may be sailed safely under jib and mizzen and, best of all, when one is obliged to reef, it is not necessary to anchor or toss about helplessly and drift down the wind, for the mainsail may be lowered and reefed in comfort while holding on the course under jib and mizzen.
Nevertheless the beginner should never attempt to learn to sail or handle a boat with a yawl, schooner, sloop or even a jib-and-mainsail rig. ”

“ If, when sailing with a beam or quarter wind, you wish to turn about you should always haul in your sheet, push the tiller to leeward—away from the wind—and bring the boat up into the wind until the sail swings to the other side, when you may gradually ease-off the sheet until sailing as before. ”

“ Often by sitting far out on the upper or weather edge of a boat, she may be sailed in safety through winds that would capsize her if you sat inside the cockpit. If a plank or board was extended out from the weather side and you perched upon that the boat would be still harder to upset and it is by such methods that the natives of the South Seas sail their catamarans and proas at terrific speed and with huge sails out of all proportion to the hulls. ”

“ A properly rigged boat, if left to herself with rudder loose and sails set, will swing up into the wind of her own accord; in a few moments she will fall off, sail a short distance and again come into the wind and lose headway and will repeat this operation over and over again without danger of upsetting. ”

“ If you are obliged to run ashore or to pull your boat upon a rocky or sandy beach select a flat-bottomed craft which can be hauled out readily without injury; while, if you want a boat for general utility, to use in bays and harbors and in sheltered waters and yet capable of standing any reasonable seas and ordinary storms, select a fairly deep, beamy, round-bottomed hull such as the Cape Cod or Block Island catboat, or a similar model. ”

“ Never walk along the lee side of the boat when the sheet is loose and the sail is swinging, but move on the windward side and avoid any danger of being knocked overboard by the swinging boom and flapping sail. ”

“ A small amount of clumsiness in tacking a vessel will cause her to miss stays and get in irons, that is, she will lie up in the wind, all her sails shaking, and refuse to fill on either tack. She has now lost all headway, and commences to go astern. In order to get way on again, haul the head sheets to windward, which we will suppose is the port side. Put the tiller to starboard. As the vessel is going astern, the rudder will now produce the reverse effect of what it would were the vessel going ahead; so putting the tiller to starboard turns the vessel’s head to starboard. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In rough-water sailing a boat going to windward wants her sheet eased. Do not trim the sails dead flat, nor try to sail the boat very close to the wind; give her what is called a good full, and keep her moving all the time. Remember, that every wave is a hill that the boat has to climb over, and she needs all the drive possible in order to do it. You must learn how to help her with the helm to take these seas easily, first by luffing and then by bearing away.
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A man can only become a good windward helmsman by constant practice and by paying attention to every detail. ”

“ To understand the principle of sailing we must realize that a sail-boat, without the use of a rudder, acts in the water and wind very much the way a weather vane acts in the air. The bow of the boat naturally turns toward the wind, thus relieving the sail of all pressure and keeping it shaking. But if by keeping the main sheet in your hand you hold the sail in a fixed position, and, at the same time, draw the tiller away from the sail, it will gradually fill with air beginning at the hoist or mast end of the sail and impel the boat in the direction in which you are steering. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Knowing that inattention to your work will perhaps result in a spill, you will be constantly on the alert, and you will learn that by quick and proper movements of the helm you can control and maneuvre your boat so as to keep her on her bottom at all times.
If you have your boat ready take a day when the wind is light and steady and get somebody to go with you who understands sailing. Let the old hand tend the sheet while you handle the tiller. ”

“ It is not a difficult matter to right a boat when you go about it in the proper way. Run your boat alongside of the capsized one's mast and strip its sail off, unfastening the throat and peak blocks, unreeving the sheet-rope, and cutting the lashings of the sail to the mast-hoops. (Be careful that the sail does not sink.) Put your boat in a position alongside the bottom of the upturned boat, and unfasten your throat-halyard block from the gaff, fasten this to the mast of the capsized boat, as shown in sketch. ”

“ You know that when the sails fill, as an ordinary boat, she lies over, and it is her keel or centreboard that keeps her from drifting to leeward. In an ice-yacht the sharp runners keep her up, but there must be some sideways yielding to the force of the wind, and so an ice-boat rears—that is, one runner lifts free of the ice, and thereby takes off the strain. Otherwise you must either luff or be capsized. But with beach-sailing this rearing would probably throw too much weight on the leeward wheel, causing it to sink into the sand, and perhaps stop her way altogether. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Having shown what are the relations of the sails, hull, and rudder of a boat to the wind and water, and explained how a vessel requires either ballast or beam to prevent the wind from capsizing her, and needs draught to increase her lateral resistance and prevent her from being blown to leeward, it remains to add that the longitudinal resistance to the water must be diminished as much as possible, so that the boat can slip easily through the water and travel with speed. ”

“ Bring the yacht close to the wind, and haul the main-sheet flat aft, and belay it carefully; for, if it should get adrift whilst the sail was being furled, some one might be knocked overboard. Then stand by the throat and peak-halliards, and, at the word "Lower away," ease away handsomely on each, taking care not to let the peak drop too fast, which, if done, sometimes causes the hoops to jam, and the whole sail to stick, till the peak-halliards are hoisted upon again to clear things. ”

“ The first day that you get under way with your new canvas should be a fine one. If it comes on to blow hard, and you have to reef your mainsail, it will certainly be pulled out of shape. You must not expect your sails to stretch in a day. You will have to tighten up the lacing and haul out the earing many times before your mainsail [89] has stretched its full, and the oftener the better for your sail’s flatness.
Laying up a Boat for the Winter.—In laying up a small yacht, it is well to have her upon shore, and if possible, under cover. ”

“ The little motor pop-popped away, doing its best, but they made little progress until toward night, when a brisk breeze came up from the east. Then, setting all sail, and shutting off the motor, they bent to the wind and went gliding along before it.
There is nothing quite like a seaworthy sail boat, a fair wind and a gently rippling sea. At night, with the sea all black about you and the stars glimmering above, you appear to drift through a faultless sky toward worlds unknown. ”

“ It will be seen, then, that the science of sailing lies in being able to manage a boat with her head pointing at any possible angle to or from the wind. Nothing but experience can teach one all the niceties of the art, but a little aptitude and address will do to start with, keeping near shore and carrying little sail.
Simplest Rig Possible
I will suppose that the reader has the use of a broad, flat-bottomed boat without any rudder. (See Fig. 143.) She cannot be made to work like a racing yacht under canvas, but lots of fun can be had out of her. ”

“ 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. ”