Sailing yacht

“ It is possible for those who have a fresh-air fund of their own to steam away in a yacht, out of the midsummer ennui and the weary gayety of the land. It is a costly pleasure, and probably all the more enjoyed on that account, for if everybody had a yacht there would be no more feeling of distinction in sailing one than in going to any of the second-rate resorts on the coast. ”

“ If the yacht takes the ground on any shoal, and is left by the tide, it is always proper to get out an anchor in the direction of the wind, before the tide returns; then, when the water begins to make, the yacht will not be blown higher and higher upon the shoal as she commences to float, but will be held by her anchor, and soon ride head to wind or tide. ”

“ As a rule, sailing-boats and small yachts are "trimmed by the stern;" that is, the bow is slightly elevated from the water, the boat being pressed, by the position of its ballast, deeper into the water at the stern than at the bow. But every yacht is a law to itself; and no rule will do for all. The position of the ballast has also much to do with the steering qualities, as well as affecting speed: if it be placed too far forward, the yacht will "yaw," and at times, before the wind, be almost unmanageable. ”

“ With regard to this rule of rating by 'length and sail-area,' and the boats which are the result of it, there appear to be many and diverse opinions; and prior to noticing any particular yacht built under it, it will be as well to look at all its points before declaring for or against it. Experience declares them to be good sea-boats, in that they rarely ship solid water, and they are very fast when sailing on a wind. ”

“ If the jib sheet be hauled in too soon, the jib becomes a back sail, and will cause the vessel to miss stays. Next the foresheet is passed over, and the yacht is rushing away on the other tack. The mainsail and mizzen have been taking care of themselves during this operation; but, if it is blowing hard, it is well to haul in the mainsheet and ease it over gently. If the yacht be a smart one in stays, it is not necessary to keep the foresheet to windward while tacking; jib and foresheet can be let go together. ”

“ Sailing in a race affords excellent opportunity for noticing the other competing craft and admiring the goodly company assembled around. The big cutters are leading, and some of the forties astern. That 'Queen Mab' will hold her own with the best is a point upon which we feel happily confident, her racing flags being proof of her capacity—thirty-six is the number she showed at the end of the season. This yacht, as mentioned elsewhere, was built with a centreboard, but instead of a huge partition in the centre of the saloon, the board came under the main companion, and was quite unnoticeable. ”

“ This revolution in yacht rating has taken place so recently that its results, as regards the type of vessels that will be constructed with a view to meeting the new conditions, have not yet had time to declare themselves; but it is claimed by many sanguine people that under these rules the old-fashioned wholesome beamy vessel will have its day again, that the “plank set up on edge” style of craft is doomed, and that the fastest yacht will also be the best boat. ”

“ To keep one of the vessels costs more than the expenses of the majority of the households in the country. A crew of five men is needed, and it is a question whether, all things considered, more real substantial interest and enjoyment is not taken by a lover of the sea and of sailing in an ordinary sail-boat, which he and a friend or two are amply competent to man and manage, than is taken by the owners of the most luxuriantly furnished yachts in the world. As pleasure ships, however, the yacht is all that can be desired. ”

“ In the first place we heave our vessel to. To do this we slack away our lee foresheet and haul in the weather one, while we flatten in the main and mizzen sheets.
The wind striking the after sails drives the vessel up in the wind; but the foresail being hauled to windward and becoming a back sail makes her pay off. By trimming the sheets properly the head and after sails can thus be made to balance each other, and the yacht will float on the water practically motionless, with her head to the wind, and remain so for as long as we please without any hand being required at the tiller. ”

“ The leverage of the outside ballast is so enormous that the yacht becomes practically uncapsizable. But an excessive weight of lead on the keel will strain a vessel in rough water, she will recover herself with a quick jerk after heeling over to a puff, and her every motion will be violent. ”

“ Heaving the lead is done usually by a person who is placed in the main-chains for that purpose, on the weather-side, or, in smaller craft, on deck, forward, just clear of the shrouds. It is thrown whilst the yacht is under way, and being kept on her course, and the results announced in a singing voice by the one casting; and, when the water becomes too shoal, the yacht is put about, and stands off from the danger which she was approaching. The one casting the lead takes hold of the line at about a fathom from it, and swings it to and fro till enough velocity is gained to swing it over his head ”

“ Rule 20.—A yacht overtaking any other shall keep out of the way of the overtaken yacht; and a yacht may luff as she pleases to prevent another yacht passing to windward, but must never bear away out of her course to hinder the other passing to leeward—the lee side to be considered that on which the leading yacht of the two carries her main boom. The overtaking vessel, if to leeward, must not luff until she has drawn clear ahead of the yacht she has overtaken. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Then the yacht will travel. Do not, because some other yachts seem to be lying closer to the wind, try to make the little vessel head in the same direction, if she will not do so without her sails shaking. Many races are lost through this form of bad sailing. ”

“ There are times when the sea is too high, and the sail so much reduced that a yacht will not go about by turning towards the wind, but must be gotten on the other tack by wearing, as it is technically called in ships, where the yards are square, and jibing, as it is called in crafts that carry fore-and-aft sails, i.e., sails that hoist up on a mast, and are stretched upon booms, in contradistinction to those that are fastened to yards that cross the mast at right angles, as in a ship often called by sailors, for this reason, a "square-rigger." ”

“ Although the racing of steam yachts as a recognized sport has not made the progress that was at one time expected, yet the owner and crew of a crack vessel will take as much interest in her performance as those belonging to a sailing yacht, and hate to be passed quite as badly. ”

“ When the weather is light, the yacht small, or particularly easy in coming about, all the above may not need to be executed. Some vessels will come about without starting the head-sheets; others always need it; some always get stern-way, and need the helm shifted to bring them round; whilst the centre-board boats, as a class, fly round without touching any thing. But it is well to know how to get a yacht about in a heavy sea ”

“ Rule 18.—When rounding any buoy or vessel used to mark out the course, if two yachts are not clear of each other at the time the leading yacht is close to, and actually rounding the mark, the outside yacht must give the other room to pass clear of it, whether it be the lee or weather yacht which is in danger of fouling the mark. No yacht shall be considered clear of another yacht, unless so much ahead as to give a free choice to the other on which side she will pass. ”

“ If there is but little wind, a strong tide under one, and a crowd of vessels brought up close astern, it sometimes happens that the following method is the only one by which one can get away clear. Let one hand get the anchor up till the chain is nearly straight up and down and the yacht commences to drag slowly. Let him, by giving her chain or taking it in, keep her going thus, never letting her drag fast. As the tide is running by the vessel faster than she is dragging astern, she still has steerage way ”

“ Remember always, that you are the owner—high-spirited gentlemen do. Surely a man may sail his own yacht, if anybody may! It is as much his property as his horse is. To be sure, when the weather is very bad, I would let the fellow take charge then. There is a very odd difference between the Bay of Biscay and the water inside the Isle of Wight, when it blows. And a skipper too much snubbed gets rusty at awkward times.
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"Your conduct in harbour will be regulated by circumstances—which means, dinners. Generally speaking, the fact of having a yacht will carry you everywhere. ”

“ If a yacht should happen to get a puncture in her rudder during the race she would be compelled to drop out, owing to the difficulty of cementing or plugging it while sailing.
And in a race a yacht is liable to be on a tack at any moment.
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A week ago I took a spin on my wheel, along country roads where the festive bull loiters in the shade of the tree, waiting for a victim. ”

“ Windage of the topside structures necessary on sharpie yachts also affected speed, particularly in sailing to windward. Hence, there was an immediate trend toward the addition of deadrise in the bottom of the yachts, a feature that sufficiently increased displacement and draft so that the superstructure and rig could be better carried. Because of its large cabin, the sharpie yacht when under sail was generally less workable than the fishing sharpie. ”

“ While the weighted rudder is almost universal in the British Isles, the chief model-yachtsmen in America use the “main-sheet balance gear,” in which the boom is connected with the tiller in such a manner that, when it swings out with a pressure of wind, the rudder is automatically pulled round sufficiently to keep the yacht in its course. This apparatus is particularly efficient in sailing before the wind.
Model-yacht regattas are very different from the toy-boat matches indulged in by children from one side of a pond to the other. ”

“ There is a yacht club in San Francisco with a large membership and a goodly number of yachts, but most of their sailing is done inside. The scarcity of coal, and consequent large cost, seems to hinder the introduction of steam yachts, but a large number of naphtha launches are used with evident satisfaction.
South of Point Conception the conditions are far more favourable for yachting than in the north; but the want of good harbours, well distributed, will always serve as a block to the sport. ”

“ The decadence of schooner racing was primarily due to the more extensive use of steam; wealthy men preferred steam yachts, in which they had better accommodation and could move with certainty from port to port, to sailing yachts, in which the accommodation was less spacious and the powers of locomotion were dependent on the winds and tides. ”

“ For the most part the devotees of steam yachting are drawn from the general public without special regard of the situation of their home, as a yacht can be kept on the seaboard or on the lakes, whilst the owner may live far from the sight and sound of the sea; the restless spirit of our countrymen prompts them to embark into every scheme of pleasure-making, as well as business enterprise. ”

“ Given these two things and you have an almost safe craft. There is no question of capsizing a well-designed yacht of to-day by power of the wind. Our outside ballasted boats cannot be kept wrong side up, so long as the water is kept out of them. They may be hove down on their sides and fill and sink, but they cannot be turned completely over so long as they retain their buoyancy. I have been in one of them, a boat carrying only about half the usual weight of lead for a vessel of her size, that was laid on her side in a squall with both mainsail and jib in the water ”

“ We take it that the general yachting public require in a yacht: That she shall be safe in all conditions of wind and weather; that she shall combine the maximum of room on deck and below with the minimum of prime cost; and that she shall be driven as fast as may be with the least expenditure of labour—i.e. that she shall have a moderate and workable sail-area. Therefore, as but few men can afford to build for racing, and for racing only, and as the racer of to-day is the cruiser of a few years hence, any rating rule should by its limitations encourage such a wholesome type of vessel. ”

“ The fact that you leave port with a certainty of getting to your destination on time, barring accidents, makes somewhat monotonous an event that otherwise containing a large element of chance induces a corresponding degree of excitement. There is probably no pastime so tiresome to an active man as steam yachting, especially if it be in familiar waters. A steam yacht is a lazy man's palace and an active man's prison. Except when there is a race or a difficult bit of navigation, I would as soon run a trolley car as a power boat. ”