breeze with the boom right out. Top it up a little, and it will not be in any danger of dipping in the water when she rolls after a jibe. The mainsheet is also peculiarly fitted. One end is fast to a ring on the stern close to the gunwale, passes through a block on the boom, through a block on the other side of the stern, and then leads forward (Fig. 24). We do not much like this plan, for-owing, perhaps, to our awkwardness we have got rather entangled in the sheet when with a companion we have been changing sides as we tacked. These boats come about with such marvellous quickness that in a breeze you must pop over with great rapidity, or you will find that you are lee ballast. Then, if your friend is not a sailor, he gets the sheet round his body or his head, and there is a jam. We like to have the fall of the sheet leading down from the boom, then it is clear of everything, and we can get a hard pull upon it when necessary. FIG. 24. MAINSHEET The Una boat is essentially a smooth-water boat. In disturbed water her shallow build exposes her to a merciless thrashing, and her crew to a wetting, Then she sticks her sharp nose, impelled by the momentum of her too forward mast, into the green side of a wave, and you think she doesn't mean to come up again—so that she is not exactly suited for salt-water work. On rivers where, according to our experience, whichever way you particularly want to go the wind will be dead against you, the Una rig is perfection. Put the helm down gently, or you will stop their way, and in a moment they are round and off on the other tack. We have known a small open Una boat beat a four-ton Norfolk yacht easily, either running or beating; and with the faintest breath of wind they seem to glide off at an astonishing pace. They have one very bad fault-worse, indeed, than other centre-board boats, which all have it more or less,-that of broaching to, or slewing round when they are sailing before a wind. This is not of much consequence in smooth water, but among waves it is a terrible fault. We were once caught in a heavy north-easter on the north-east coast, and ran for shelter through a tumble of short curling waves of great height. We were in a centre-board main and mizen boat which would do anything but speak, but the way she yawed about on the top of the waves made us exceedingly glad when we got within the shelter of the haven. A Una boat would in all probability have broached to, taken the next wave broadside on, and been swamped. Hence we cannot recommend Una boats for sea work, that is, real open sea. There is another peculiarity about Una boats, and that is, that up to a certain point they are very stiff indeed, but when the water sweeps along the waterways they are having enough of it, and very little more may overturn them. At all events, this is the generally received idea, and it is theoretically right, for the reasons given in the chapter on stability. We have never seen a Una boat upset, however, while twice in one season we knew of deep keeled yachts, with large open cockpits, upset and sunk. The Una is an American idea, and the rig is there called the cat-rig. From Mr. Dixon Kemp's book we extract some of the measurements of the original Una brought to England: Length, 16ft. Beam, 6ft. 6in. Mast deck to hounds, 16ft. Boom, 18ft. Gaff, 9ft. 3in. Luff of sail, 12ft. Foot of sail, 17ft. 6in. Leech, 19ft. Mast from stem, 2ft. The draught of water, exclusive of the centre-board, is about 1ft. or 14in. Comparatively little ballast is used, as the boats are intended to skim over the water rather than through it. Against the above measurements we append those of a design which the writer made. The boat rigged according to it is now afloat and answers remarkably well. She has an iron keel, with a slot for the centre-plate, which is of galvanized iron, to work through. The keel weighs about 5cwt., and she has about 9cwt. of ballast inside : Length of keel, 18ft. Length over all, 20ft. Beam, 7ft. 9in. Mast deck to hounds, 19ft. Boom, 19ft. Luff of sail, 17ft. Centre of mast from stem, 2ft. 6in. She The mast is more inboard than the real Unas, and the sail is loftier and concentrated more in the middle of the boat. has a cabin 6ft. long, and raised 1ft. 2in above the deck. easily managed under sail by one hand, and with her plate up not at all difficult to row. She is is She has a forestay, and in order to give it more effect, particularly when lowering the mast, it is set out on a very short bowsprit. She has also shrouds, as her mast is very tall; and as her nose is fine, the channels, to which the shrouds are fastened, are out-rigged, thus giving them more spread. The mainsheet works upon a short horse on the counter, and if the wind is at all strong leads through two or three eyes along the boom to a block just over the aft-end of the cabin, so that it is in front of the helmsman, and can be belayed to a row of cleats on either side of the cabin doorway. Inside the cabin there are no side benches, but there are movable stools to sit upon, which gives one a greater freedom of stretching one's legs. Hammocks can be suspended on either side, and form luxurious sleeping places for two, while the centreplate case forms a support for a movable table. The great beam of Una boats gives so much room in the well or cockpit that we wonder why a small cabin is not more often added, as no boat could be better than these for river cruising, and sleeping on board is better than camping on the bank. The following rules, from an American paper, called Forest and Stream, are chiefly applicable to Una boats, and may be usefully quoted here: 1. Know, before you leave your anchorage or wharf, that everything is in order, especially your tack and pennant for reefing. 2. Always carry a compass. A whaleboat's compass answers nicely in a small sailboat. 3. Boats of any considerable draught, 14ft. and more, should carry a lead-line, the first fathom marked off legibly in feet. This will prove to be very valuable in finding channels in the night and fogs. 4. Never make your halyards nor sheets fast by hitching or knotting. They should be made fast either by sufficient turns around the cleat, or by a simple drawknot, which any boatman can show you. 5. When the wind is very strong and puffy, pass the sheet once round the cleat and hold the end in your hand. 6. Always keep the halyards and sheets in order by carefully coiling them, so that they will render from the top of the coil. 7. Never sit to the leeward of your helm, nor allow anyone else to sit where their position will interfere with the free play of your tiller. 8. Never gybe a sail when the wind is blowing freshly unless it be a necessity. If you must gybe, do so with your peak settled. 9. Never gybe a sail with a sheet wide off. Trim in your sheet rapidly as you press up your helm, take a turn around the cleat and ease the strain when the sail passes over by letting go your sheet as your direction from the wind may require. As a rule, it is better to go about. 10. When, from a heavy sea, a boat refuses to mind her helm and misses stays, to get her on the other tack you must perform what is called wearing. This is done by settling the peak of your sail and following the directions above for gybing. Once gybed, haul up your peak, trim in your sheet, and bring her on her course. 11. In heavy winds and high waves a boat will sail better and be safer with the sheet started a little. Very few boats sail well at any time when the sheet is trimmed down flat. 12. Never luff a small boat in rough water and high wind so as to stop her way. When a puff of wind is too strong for your safety hold the boat on her course and ease off the sheet. The danger of stopping a boat under the above circumstances is that they are liable to upset when you put up your helm, and keep away to fill the sail again. If your boat has lost way, slack off your sheet, put down your helm, and let her fall off. When she has fallen off sufficiently to get a good full on the sail, up helm and trim in rapidly. 13. Always keep an eye to windward, watching the surface of the water for the approach of puffs of wind. 14. Being overtaken by a squall, settle your sail and tie up snugly, waiting to make sail, until you have felt the weight of the squall, and know how much sail to make. If the squall promises to be very severe you had better come to an anchor. 15. In reefing take in all sail; trim in your sheet perfectly flat, and make secure. Then haul out your clew with your pennant, and make fast. Next tie down your tack, then tie in your nettles or reef points with square knots, commencing at either end. In shaking out a reef, the sail being down, reverse this process, commencing to untie your reef joints at the middle and working to the end. Keep to the windward of your sail. 16. In running off dead before the wind, be careful not to jibe. If the wind is heavy it is safer to run with peak settled. In rough water, running off, look out that your boom, striking in the crest of a sea, does not trail aft and jibe your sail. This is called tripping. To prevent this bring her more on the wind by putting your helm down. If seas are liable to comb over on your quarter or stern, they can be broken by trailing a buoy or basket, or two oars lashed together, about five fathoms astern. This drag will also steady the motion of your boat. 17. Never carry sail for the sake of carrying it. 18. Never sail strange waters without a chart, or, what is better, without a pilot. 19. As a stranger to them avoid tide-rips and whirls. 20. Be cool in emergencies. If sailing with company, do not let them distract your attention from the management of your boat. 21. Remember that on the wind the starboard tack has the right of way over the port, and that a vessel sailing on the wind has the right of way over one that has her sheet off. The Una boats should be kept well down by the stern, as, if |