Springboard

“ Elasticity.
What makes a ball bounce?
How does a springboard help you dive?
Why are automobile and bicycle tires filled with air?
Suppose there were a man who was perfectly elastic, and who made everything he touched perfectly elastic. Fortunately there is no such person, but suppose an elastic man did exist:
He walks with a spring and a bound; his feet bounce up like rubber balls each time they strike the earth; his legs snap back into place after each step as if pulled by a spring. If he stumbles and falls to the ground, he bounces back up into the air without a scar. ”

“ I want to learn, if you will teach me—"
"Why, you can tumble already, Phil."
"Yes; but I want to do something better—the springboard."
"They've got a leaping act this year."
"How?"
"Performers and clowns leap over a herd of elephants.
You've seen the act, haven't you?"
"Oh, yes; I know what it is. I wish I were able to do it."
"You will be. It is not difficult, only one has to have a natural bent for it. Now, your friend Teddy ought to make a fine leaper."
"I am," interposed Teddy pompously. "I always was."
"Yes; you're the whole show from your way of thinking," laughed Mr. Miaco. ”

“ When you see a fellow on a tight-rope in the circus, with a long pole in his hands, you may observe that he keeps lifting one end or the other. He throws the weight of the pole, the ends of which are loaded with lead, to one side or the other to preserve his balance. You shift the helm for the same reason. You can tell what the boat is doing with your eyes shut after you get used to her. When a flaw of wind comes, it throws a boat with a weather-helm up into the wind; and if you were blindfolded, the tiller or the wheel would tell you all about it. ”

“ Placing the boards on the water, they threw themselves on them, and then swam out, diving under the breakers of the inner bar, and appearing on the in-shore side of the outer one. The great art appeared to be, to remain on the steep slope of the outer sea-roller as it swept majestically on towards the land, and then, just before it broke, to dive under it, and to reappear mounting up the side of the following watery hill. Sometimes a lad would keep above water too long, and the surf would roll him over, and carry away his board ”

“ The more advanced could wade out shoulder-deep, and puff and flounder with one foot on the ground and the other up above their heads, and delude the world into the notion they were swimming. For others there was the spring-board, from which to take a header into deep water ”

“ A center-board is a plate of wood or metal, suspended, usually by a corner pivot, within a sheath or box in the waist, which can be let down through the keel into the water, so as to form an adjustable keel. It is the most convenient form of a very old device for preventing a boat’s drift to leeward, or tendency to capsize under the pressure of the wind. ”

“ A smooth plank, ten feet long, resting upon trestles placed at either end, assists the acrobat to vault high in the air. Each time he falls the rebound sends him up again. This is the principle of the buck-board. Remove the trestles, put a pair of wheels in the place of each, and you have the vehicle itself, minus shafts or pole, according as one or two horses are to draw it. Increased weight bends the board or the spring more and more until it is in danger of touching the ground. The passengers sit in the hollow of this spring, the natural tendency of which is to shoot them into the air. ”

“ The quick succession in which the rollers followed each other, their irregularity, and the sharp coral rocks just below the surface made the surf here particularly dangerous. Skill and courage were necessary to pass safely through the boiling waters.
For ten or fifteen minutes after the boy was ready he stood silently watching the breakers, waiting for a lull, and then sprang forward, keeping his surf-board extended before him. The skill and ease with which he ascended the perpendicular rollers as they came towering on, and the courage which he displayed throughout, were the admiration of all. ”

“ The head or top of the board is round, and there is a hole through the top of it for a string to be passed through, so that when the women tire of holding them, or have a mind to work, they hang the board to the limb of a tree, or to a pin in a post for that purpose, and there the children swing about and divert themselves, out of the reach of any thing that may hurt them. ”

“ On the sliding seat, you row against your stretcher (that’s the foot-board) and the legs furnish most of the power. The skill comes in in blending everything together in one easy, natural motion, and getting back to take your next stroke without checking the boat by the return of your slide. I could feel all along that I was gaining, though I was slow on the recover, and bungled my oar still. The fellows all seemed to think I was going to make good in the second, and I was delighted, for our second is about the best second on the river, and Mac sets a perfectly wonderful stroke. ”

“ The promenade-deck presented the picture of comfort and peace usually to be seen, any fine morning [Pg 67] on a liner in mid-ocean—the passengers of both sexes laid out in rows, mummylike, on steamer-chairs, each covered with a rug different from his neighbor's and of bizarre design and color, some reading, some sleeping, some conversing in subdued tones, some sipping cups of bouillon brought on trays by nimble stewards; the decks scrubbed an immaculate white, the brasses highly polished; a neatly uniformed quartermaster standing at a gangway, patiently splicing a rope ”

“ In the exciting sport of surf-riding, which always astonishes strangers, they balance themselves lying, kneeling or standing on a small board which is carried landwards on the curling crest of a great roller. ”

“ The rower sits on a thin board and rows continuously, but faces forwards, for he must be able to see the waterway downstream. The blades of the oars are divided like a fork, and a piece of leather is sewed between the prongs like the web of a duck’s foot. Our boatman is a self-confident fellow, and receives my advice with a smile of superiority when I venture to air my experience in river navigation. The current does most of the work, but the oars are in constant use to keep the boat under control. ”

“ If the boom has a tendency to jibe, to swing 75badly or to kick up, it often helps a great deal to bring down the side over which the boom swings, by placing passengers, cargo or ballast on that side. If you are using a centerboard boat the board should be hauled up when before the wind and many boats will sail better with a beam or quarter wind when the board is half up, but the only way to determine when the board should be partly up, fully up, or down is to experiment. ”

“ Like an athlete, running along a spring-board to gather momentum for his tremendous leap, he took a couple of steps down the incline of the roof to the edge, from which he made a tremendous bound far out in the muddy torrent. ”

“ I prefer myself to fit in the backboard by means of stops on the floor and back of the well, making it keep one position, and that at a considerable slope, and have not found a swinging backboard so comfortable as some appear to have done.
For the paddle, for which I think about 7 feet 6 inches long over all is a good length, take a light, clean piece of yellow pine, or fir, 11⁄2x11⁄4 inches, not more, and 6 feet long. In the ends of this cut slots 6 inches long, each to receive two pear-shaped pieces of very light half-inch plank, 1 foot 3 inches by 8 inches. ”

“ It is one in which both men and women join. Armed with a surf-board—a flat piece of wood, about four feet long by two feet wide, pointed at each end—which they put edge-wise in front of them, they swim out into the broad and beautiful bay, and dive under the surf-crested billows of the Pacific. When at a certain distance from the land, a distance regulated by the swimmer's measure of strength and address, he chooses a large wave, and either astride, or kneeling, or standing upon his board, allows himself to be swept in shore upon its curling crest with headlong speed. ”

“ In close windward work there seems little or no difference between the keel and centreboard as to speed; the latter has some advantage when sailing free by raising the board, thus lessening the wetted surface of the yacht. ”

“ At first the other hands are out of their depth, but, as the roller recoils, they feel bottom; then, two of us holding on to one side of the boat and two on the other, while the remaining man scrambles on shore to assist the man with the painter, we haul the boat up till she grounds; then we all stand by till the next roller comes on to help us up a bit further. ”

“ The rowers are stalwart fellows whose basalt backs shine in the sun as they bend to the oar; in rowing they walk towards the cabin and pull the heavy oars as they step backwards, and every sweep is accompanied by the burst of a refrain in chorus, a wild response to a line that has been chanted by the leader as they stepped forwards. The passengers sit immoveable in the sun and regard us with a calmness and gravity which are only attainable near the equatorial regions, where things approach an equilibrium. ”

“ The advantages of the centerboard are that when sailing before the wind or when rowing the board may be lifted and much less resistance to the water will then result and consequently more speed may be gained. When in shallow water the centerboard may be raised or lowered according to the depth of the water, and if a sandbar or reef is struck little injury will result, as 27the board is free to move up when it strikes an obstruction, whereas a keel boat under the same conditions might be badly injured. ”

“ Each takes a smooth board, of some eight feet in length, leads it over the coral shallows far out into the sea, and when a tremendous roller is coming in, jumps upon it, and the roller carries him upon its combing top, with the speed of an arrow, to the shore. A young American, who was among them, not liking to be outdone in a sport which seemed so simple, thought he would 353try the board and billow. He ventured out a short distance, watched his opportunity, and, as the roller came, jumped upon his plank, was capsized, and hove, half strangled, on the beach. ”

“ He believes that a strong boat, rowed to the verge of the broken water, might watch her opportunity and dart in close to the ladder on the back-wash of a big wave, allowing its successor to lift her high enough for an active man to jump onto the rungs. The rowers must pull for their lives the instant the wave breaks and leave him clinging to the ladder as best he can. ”

“ Somersaults and back dives from a stationary take-off or from a spring-board are very easily learned. We shall probably have a few hard splashes until we learn to turn fully over, but there is not much danger of injury if we are sure of landing in the water. ”

“ Bend one board so that it will be in an arc of a circle, then nail on the two side boards, after which the edges of the sides are cut away to the shape of the bent board. The runners are removed from the ice boat, and the boats fastened to the pole ends. A rudder is attached in the place of the rear, or guiding, runner. The tops of the boats, or floats, can be covered and made water-tight. ”

“ The extreme forward edge of the bow is known as the cutwater; the extreme end of the stern is known as the counter or transom; the curve from bow to stern, horizontally, is called the sheer; the sides above the water are known as freeboard; the inner edge of the decks when provided with a perpendicular edge is the combing; the open space within the edge of the decks is known as the cockpit; the extreme forward portion of the boat is called the peak; the central part of the craft is the waist; the forward part of the hull near the stem and below the water line is the entrance ”

“ The boatmen stand upon the edge of a shelf of rock, where the fall is perhaps nine or ten feet perpendicular, in from one to two feet of rapid water, one on each side of the boat, and let it slide gently over, till the bow is run out ten or twelve feet in the air; then, letting it drop squarely, while one holds the painter, the other leaps in, and his companion following, they are whirled down the rapids to a new fall, or to smooth water. ”

“ Every sail was spread. Sails were even improvised to supplement the vast press the ship carried, a balloon jib for the bows, and a triangular piece of canvas that the boatswain labored over, and which he spread above the square topsails on the main. He was mightily proud of his handicraft, and walked about, rubbing his huge hands and gazing up at the little sail.
"An inwention o' my own," he proudly confided to Martin. "Swiggle me stiff, if the Flyin' Cloud 'as anything on us, for we've rigged a bloody moons'il, says I."
Day by day the air grew warmer, as they neared the tropics. ”

“ The Centre-Board.—In England the centre-board of a small boat is generally of galvanized iron; thus acting also, to some extent, as ballast. In America wooden centre-boards are more often used. If a boat has often to be beached or carried, lightness is an important object, and therefore the wooden centre-board is to be preferred. ”

“ The chief peculiarity of the construction is that the rowers are seated upon a two-storied open staging, erected upon a very shallow hull and extending from an elevated forecastle to an equally raised structure at the stern. The stage, or platform, on which the lower tier of oarsmen is seated, is supported by vertical struts rising out of the body of the boat. The platform for the upper stage is also supported by vertical struts, which rise, not from the boat itself, but from an intermediate stage, situated between the two tiers of rowers. ”