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dead against her? A little contrivance overcomes the
difficulty. The boat must first sail towards G, with the
wind on her port bow; when she has gone far enough
she "puts about," and sails to H with the wind on the
starboard bow. If K were the point aimed at, she
would "make a short leg and a long one"-an expres-
sion easily understood by looking at the dotted lines.
If the boat had to sail a long distance against the
wind, she would make a number of these “tacks" or D
"boards" (B C, C D, &c., in Fig. 6), going first to the
right and then to the left of her proper line of journey
until she reached her destination. This zigzag method
is called "tacking" or "beating up to windward,” and
is the most important part of the sailor's lesson. Any
lubber can go to leeward (and often does, whether he
wants to or not), but only a sailor can get to windward.

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In Fig. 6 the boat A, sailing to H, makes successive "tacks" to B, C, anu D, thus getting about half-way, she being but a clumsy sailer; but if of better build, the same tacks may bring her to B', C', and D', in which 'case she has only to make one short tack to H to reach her destination. The clumsy boat has still the tacks D E and E F before her ere she can "lay her head" for H. This great difference arises from the one being able to sail within four points of the wind, while the other cannot get nearer than five.

On the line B C the boat is on the port tack, because the wind is then on the port bow; from C to D she is on the starboard tack, and so on. The change from one tack to another is called putting or going about. The longer each

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tack can be made without going too far out of the way the better, but in this the sailor is guided by circumstances. Some obstacle, for instance, at K may prevent the completion of the tack C' D', and call for some ingenuity to arrange tacks which shall keep the boat clear of it.

These explanations are dry, but very necessary. A man who understands the reason of what he does, in a boat or anywhere else, is worth twice as much as one who works by "rule of thumb."

II. THE BOAT AND HER SAILS.

Ships and boats are rigged very differently. The former depend chiefly on square sails hung to horizontal yards, placed across the ship (as in Fig. 3), half of the yard and sail being on each side of the mast it hangs from. Square sails are best for running before the wind; but they cannot be braced round far enough to enable the ship to sail as close to the wind as is shown in Fig. 4 (although for convenience the boat is there represented with a square sail). Small vessels and boats carry fore-and-aft sails-i.e., sails which naturally hang in a line with the keel: these are more manageable. The "lug" is the only approach to a square sail carried by a

boat.

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Perhaps the best and safest rig for an open boat is the sprit-sail and foresail rig, with the addition of a mizzen, a sail often but not always added to boats of all kinds. We accordingly take this rig first. (See Fig. 7.)

The mast, D, passes down through a hole in one of the thwarts, as the cross seats in a boat are called, and its heel, or lower end, is "stepped" in the floor of the boat. A rope called a stay, G, on each side keeps it steady. The main

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sail, B, is laced to the mast by a small rope, passed through little metal rings sewn into the edge of the sail, called thimbles. The sides and corners of this and all other four-sided fore-and-aft sails are thus named:

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These names, except the "head" and "throat," apply also to the fore-sail in Fig. 7, and all other triangular sails. The small hanging ropes marked 5 are reef-points or knittles: they are arranged in pairs on opposite sides of the sail. The canvas below a line of these being gathered up close, they are tied in couples beneath the gathered up portion, thus reducing the size of the sail by as much canvas as lies between them and the foot. This is reefing. 6,6 are reef-cringles or thimbles, to which the sheet is made fast when reefing, instead of to the original clew. When there is a boom (see 25), the cringles

88

FIG. 8.

are lashed to it by the reef-earrings-ropes attached to the boom for that purpose. The main-sail is hoisted by the main halyard, R, a rope passing over a sheave or pulley let into the mast near the top, and thence brought down below, where its end or "fall" is made fast or "belayed" round a thwart or elsewhere. The sail is extended by a spar called the spreet, II, pointed at each end. The smaller end is pushed into a rope "eye" at the peak of the sail; the other end is held close to the mast by fitting into an "eye" in the snotter or

snorter (Fig. 8), the largest loop of which encircles the mast. When fixed, the snotter is pushed up the mast until the sail is strained tight. It will not slip down unless the spreet is a heavy one, in which case its weight is taken by the heel-rope, S, which also has an eye at the end, into which the spreet fits. The heel-rope passes through a block at the mast-head, and is hauled tight from below.

A

The position of the main-sail is regulated by the main-sheet, N, the most important rope in the boat. As there is much strain upon it, a system oi blocks-pulleys contained in wooden cases or "shells "-is used to gain power. Such a combination of blocks is called a tackle (pronounced "taykle"); a more powerful combination is a purchase. Fig. 9 shows the smallest and least powerful kind of tackle, sufficient, however, for the sheet of a small boat. It consists of two blocks, C and D: the lower one (shown in section) usually slides across the boat, as the sail changes sides, along an iron bar, B, called a horse or hawse. When there is no bar and the sail has no boom, the lower block is hooked to a ring on the lee side of the boat, and shifted across by hand as required. The rope in every tackle, &c., is divided into the standing part (E in Fig. 9), between the fixed end and the first pulley it passes through; the running part (F), included between the first and last pulleys in the series; and the fall, G, the part outside the pulleys altogether. The parts of an ordinary halyard are named in the same way. A is the clew of the sail.

E

B
TIG 9.

THE SHEET MUST NEVER BE MADE FAST: keep it always in your hand. If a squall strikes the boat when the sheet is made fast, she must upset, for you have no time then to lower the sail or brail it up; but let go the sheet, and the sail yields directly. Keep the end in a neat coil, free of all obstacles, and ready to run through the blocks in a moment, lest in running out at the critical moment it may "kink" or curl round a thwart, another rope, or some one's foot, and lead to the same misfortune. The sheets of smaller sails may be made fast, but the main-sheet never. Hauling in or "casing off" the main-sheet is the only means of regulating the angle at which the main-sail is set.

Too large a sprit-sail is difficult to hoist. The spreet cannot be got into its place without practice, and the beginner's only chance of doing it is with the boat's head to the wind. A sprit-sail boat should be under 20 ft. long for an

amateur.

The fore-sail, A, usually, though not always, acts the part of a fore-stay, for which purpose a stout rope is sewn along its fore-leach to strengthen it. The "tack" of the fore-sail hooks or fastens to a ring on the stem, or else to the bowsprit, and the peak to a single block (one of a pair arranged on the same principle as those in Fig. 9), through which the fore-halyard, Q, passes. The upper block of the pair is attached to the mast. Sometimes the upper block is replaced by a sheave in the mast, when the standing part of the rope is fastened to the mast, instead of to the upper block. The fall of the rope is secured somewhere below, and its loose end neatly coiled up.

The fore-sail has two sheets, O O, both, for convenience, carried right aft (through rings fastened to the side of the boat), one sheet coming aft on each

side. By easing off the port fore-sheet, and hauling in the starboard one, the foresail can be set over to starboard, and vice versa. Two blocks (one for each sheet) are generally fastened to the clew of the sail.

It is usual, with short boats, to add a small iron bowsprit, F, called a bumkin, held down by the bob-stay, U. Pieces of wood or metal, called cleats, are fastened to different parts of the boat, to attach the ends of halyards and other "running rigging" to, when they are hauled taut (tight).

The main-sail must be fitted with a brail, T, a rope for suddenly gathering up the sail in a squall. One end is fastened to the mast near the throat of the sail; the other end passes through a block close by, but on the other side of the sail (which is thus enclosed in a kind of loop). When the fall or free end is pulled, and the sheet loosened, the sail is gathered up. The brail should not enclose the spreet as well as the sail.

The mizzen, C, and its mast, E, require no stays or halyards, and give no trouble at all. When the boat goes about, the sail swings over just as far as the mizzen sheet will let it, and thus takes care of itself. A miniature spritsail is shown in Fig. 7. A "lug" is perhaps more general, but the kind is no great matter. With a mizzen you do not want so large and heavy a main-sail; besides which, it is like the flat part of a weathercock, always tending to bring the boat's head to the wind-an important matter, as we shall see further on. The chief difficulty is in arranging the sheet. In short boats, the sail must overhang the stern; it is therefore usual to put out a fixed boom or bumkin, K; the sheet, P, is led in through a block at the end of this. Sometimes the boom swings with the sail: the sheet is then fastened half-way out on the swinging boom, and led in, as before, by means of a short fixed one (as in Fig. 20). The mast is stepped "right aft" (quite at the stern). If the stern rises straight, as in Fig. 7, the mast must be fixed rather to one side, to allow the tiller to work, or it may be in the centre if a curved iron tiller be used. A good plan is to fix it outside the stern, a little to one side of the rudderhead. If the stern overhangs beyond the rudder, the mast is stepped on the overhanging part, out of the way: this is the best arrangement.

The rudder, L, is a flat piece of wood, hinged to the stern-posts by long hooks called pintles, which admit of its being removed (mind that it never

FIG. 10.

M

FIG. 11.

تها

FIG. 13.

comes unshipped, though, when out cruising). To the top, or head, is fastened a long wood or iron handle called the tiller or helm, M, by which it can be turned to either side. Remember that the "helm" is the tiller, not the rudder itself: since the boat's head turns to the same side as the rudder, and since pushing the helm to the right sends the rudder to the left, remember that to turn the boat to the right, you put the helm a-port, or to the left; to turn it to the left, put the helm astarboard. In Fig. 10 the helm and rudder are in their natural positions amidships-i.e., in the middle; in Fig. 11 the helm is "a-port," and the boat's head, therefore, going to the right; in Fig. 12 it is "hard a-starboard," and the boat's head flying fast to the left.

When running exactly before the wind the boat is "on an even keel;" but at other times the wind must be on one side or the other. With wind from the starboard side the boat "has a list," or "heels," or leans over to port. To put the helm-a-port is therefore to put it down or a-lee, since the port

side is then the lowest; and to put it a-starboard is to put it up, or a-weather. The side the wind comes from is always the highest; to put the helm down is therefore to put it away from the wind; this we know will bring the boat's head towards the wind. These terms, "up" and "down," are very important to be remembered.

HULL, or body of the boat.- A sturdy little sailing-skiff, like that in Fig. 7, should be 15 or 16 ft. long by 5 or 6 wide. The depth may be moderate-21 to 3 ft.-as the press of sail is not great. The draught of water will be about I ft. Cutters and racing-boats, intended to sail very close to the wind and to carry much canvas, are built deep in the water, with plenty of keel to give them a grip or hold upon it; this prevents their driving to leeward when on a wind, as flatter-bottomed boats will do. The ends of a boat, being made sharp for speed, are the parts with most hold on the water; w is the fore-foot, x the dead-wood. The tapering part which ends in the dead-wood is called the run. A fine or sharp run is as important for speed as a fine entrance or bow. YY is the keel, connected with which, but along the inside of the bottom, is a timber called the keelson, to which the ribs are fastened. The upright supporting the stern is the stern-post. The one at the bow is the stem, and its front edge is the cutwater, V. The rounded sides of the boat, on which it would rest if aground, are called the bilges, z z.

To sail well a boat must be in proper trim, so as to "sit" the water rightly. The bows must be well out, to keep her dry; they should also “flare outwards a little. The hull must be weighted artificially with ballast to prevent it overturning; but the best of all ballast is CAUTION. Too much ballast is better than too little (and so is too much care if there can be too much). Place it amidships, but rather aft than forward: weight in the bows is always objectionable. Above all, sce that it cannot shift or break loose. If it goes tumbling into the lee bilge when the boat is already heeling over to the limit of safety, then it's all up-or rather all down-with the good ship and her crew. Iron pigs," or bars of 56 lbs. cach, laid crosswise on the bottom, are convenient. The boat in Fig. 7 should have four or five of these. But it is nearly useless to give directions as to quantity: the opinion cf one practical boatman who has sailed the boat is worth that of a dozen advisers who have never seen her. Lead is the best ballast, but expensive; like the precious metals, however, it always fetches its price when sold. Bags or boxes of shingle, and even kegs of water, are used; but they are not so good as metal.

66

Never use "shifting ballast," i.e., ballast which has to be heaped up to port when on the port tack, and to starboard when on the starboard tack, to increase its effect. Be content to carry enough to keep your boat steady, without moving it from its proper place in the centre. Shifting ballast will bring you to grief some day, by shifting of its own accord once too often. Its use is now forbidden by all good yacht clubs, as unsailorlike. Another kind of "trim" has to be seen to. If you had no sail set but the mizzen, of course the stern would fly round away from the wind directly; so would the bow if only the fore-sail were set. Now, in proper trim, these two sails should be so balanced in point of size that if the boat, with only these two set, be placed broadside to the wind, the stern shall gradually and slowly fall away and bring up the head to the wind. The same thing should happen when all three are set. This is called carrying a weather-helm, which every boat should do. It means that when on a wind the helm must be kept slightly up or a-weather (to windward), to prevent the head from coming up in the

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