THE BOOK OF
THE SAILBOAT

By A. Hyatt Verrill

The Real Story of the Whaler

The Book of the Sailboat

The Book of the Motor Boat

Isles of Spice and Palm

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

Publishers New York

Fore-and-aft Sails and Rigs

1—Leg-o’-mutton sail. 2—Gunter sail. 3—Lateen sail. 4—Sprit sail. 5—Lug sail. 6—Boom-and-gaff sail. 7—Cat rig. 8—Jib-and-mainsail rig. 9—Sloop rig. 10—Yawl rig (Polemast). 11—Schooner rig (Polemast).

THE BOOK OF

THE SAILBOAT

HOW TO RIG, SAIL AND

HANDLE SMALL BOATS

BY

A. HYATT VERRILL

AUTHOR OF “THE BOOK OF THE MOTOR BOAT”

“ISLES OF SPICE AND PALM,” “THE REAL

STORY OF THE WHALER”

ILLUSTRATED

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

NEW YORK LONDON

1916

Copyright, 1916, by

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY

Printed in the United States of America

CONTENTS

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

THE BOOK OF

THE SAILBOAT

CHAPTER I
A SHORT HISTORY OF BOATS

No one knows who first invented boats. Probably they were used by primitive man long before he discovered how to use bows and arrows or had even learned to chip stones into simple tools and weapons. But those early boats were not boats as we know them today, for it has taken untold centuries for mankind to improve and develop boats to their present state of perfection. It was a natural and easy matter for a savage to straddle a floating log and, thus supported, cross some pond or stream, and when some member of the tribe discovered that two logs lashed together were more comfortable and less likely to roll over and dump their passengers into the water than a single log, he no doubt felt as if he had made a marvelous invention and was probably looked upon as a prehistoric Fulton by his fellowmen.

Later on some man found that a hollowed log was more buoyant and stable than an ordinary tree trunk and from this crude beginning rude dugout canoes were developed. Even today many races have never progressed beyond the hollowed-log state of boat-building and dugouts, forty or fifty feet in length and capable of carrying great weights, are in daily use in many lands. Some of these are very crude, heavy craft, while others are beautifully made, are light in weight and are very speedy and seaworthy.

Primitive Boats

1—Dugout made from a log. 2—Birch bark canoe. 3—Eskimo kyak made of skins. 4—Catamaran. 5—Turkish goofah. 6—East Indian balsa. 7—Malay proa.

Quite a different type of savage craft were the canoes of bark or skins. These may have been evolved from dugouts but it is more likely that accident or chance led to their discovery. A piece of floating bark bearing some wild animal or bird may have pointed the way toward the graceful birchbark canoes of the American Indians, while a stiff piece of dried hide may have given the first hint of a kyak to the Eskimos.

However, it is useless to speculate upon the incidents that led our primitive and savage ancestors along the path to the shipyard for such matters are shrouded in the impenetrable mists of the dim and distant past. We know, however, that nearly every race possessed boats of one kind or another as long ago as there was any history and we know that the boats used thousands of years ago varied as greatly in construction, form, materials and other details as boats of today.

Strangely enough, many of the most primitive forms of boats are still in daily use. I have already mentioned dugouts, but birchbark canoes and kyaks are also used at the present time as widely as ever. It is evident that some of these prehistoric craft had been developed to the utmost point of perfection before the advent of civilization for many of them have never been improved upon. With all our knowledge we have never found any boat so well adapted to its purpose as the red man’s canoe, and while we now make them of canvas instead of bark, we follow the same models as those used by the Indians centuries ago.

In certain parts of Great Britain the people still use the queer craft called coracles which Cæsar found the Britons using when his Roman legions invaded Albion, and although these curious boats, that look like the shell of a turtle or half of a walnut shell and are made of plaited willow, are among the most ancient forms of boats, yet the Welsh find them superior to modern boats in many ways. Somewhat similar are the goofahs of the Orient, circular, basket-like craft made of willow wands and covered with pitch which are used upon the Tigris and Euphrates and have not changed in the least since Bible days.

In the South Seas and other places the natives still use catamarans and proas which are really nothing but two logs fastened together, and yet the most efficient and safest of life rafts used by our greatest steamships are merely modifications of these same catamarans.

The purpose of any boat is to float and support its occupants while traveling across the water, and while it seems a far cry from the coracle or the dugout to a palatial steamship or a stately, four-masted, sailing ship, yet the principle of each is identical and each serves the purpose for which it was designed equally well; it is merely a matter of improvement, and many of the terms and names of parts which were used by the earliest sailors are still retained on our greatest liners and largest sailing vessels.

Starboard and larboard, for example, are merely corruptions or steerboard and leeboard, terms applied to the two sides of the ships of the Vikings and referring to the great steering oar on the right-hand side of the vessel and the board dropped over the opposite side to prevent the craft from making leeway or sliding sideways through the water. The bowsprit was originally a small spritsail spread to the vessel’s bow; the stern was once the steering; the name forecastle was given to the sailors’ quarters when the deckhouses were literally castles in form, and we still speak of cockpits though we seldom stop to remember that the term was originally bestowed because this open portion of a boat resembled the circular areas wherein cockfights were held.

The enormous steel frames which support the great plates of a steamship’s sides are still as much ribs to the sailor as the flimsy bits of wood bent into place by the naked savage building his frail canoe, and scores of the ropes, sails, rigging and other portions of a ship’s fabric retain their ancient names in a similar manner. The seaman is the most conservative of beings and adheres to every time-honored custom, belief and habit and when the last sailor and the last wooden ship have disappeared many of the terms and ways that were dear to the heart of Jack Tar will still live on and be perpetuated for all time.

It is partly owing to this unwillingness on the part of the sailor to adopt anything new or unusual which has led to the survival of distinct forms of boats, for the seaman and boatman of every country believed the craft of his own waters to be superior to those of any other place. In rig, sail and other details each race of maritime people has preserved the traditions of their ancestors and even in neighboring localities we find boats which in form of hull, sails and rigging are absolutely distinct. Many of these are used only in one locality, one harbor or on one small island, but many others have been carried hither and thither and one can almost trace the history of a country or the wanderings of its people by the types of boats used.

Of course, the first boats were propelled by hand, either by pushing them along with poles or by rough paddles, but even naked savages soon learned that they could let the wind work for them and raised mats, skins or even bushes to catch the breeze and waft them across the water. But it was many, many centuries before man learned that he could do away with oars entirely and could sail in any direction, regardless of the way the wind blew.

Even in the time of Columbus the ships could scarcely make headway against the wind and were more or less at the mercy of every passing breeze, but once sailors discovered the secret of sailing to windward the advance and improvement of ships and rigging was very rapid. The great, cumbersome, square sails of the earlier ships were divided into many pieces so as to be more readily handled and trimmed; triangular sails took the place of the picturesque spritsails on the vessels’ bows; hulls were built lower and deeper and while the number of masts varied they were reduced until two- and three-masted, square-rigged vessels, known as brigs and ships, were the standard types of ocean-going craft.

Among smaller vessels there were sloops, luggers, ketches and other types of fore-and-aft-rigged craft, and as these sails had many advantages over the square sails and their awkward yards they replaced the latter in some cases and thus barks, brigs and brigantines came into use.

Then some brilliant sailor genius did away with the square sails altogether and a new type of vessel came into existence which was called a “schooner.” But conservative, croaking Jack still pinned his faith to yards and square sails and for many years schooners carried lofty topsails of the same form as the upper sails of square-rigged ships.

Today the fore-and-aft-rigged vessels are more numerous than all other rigs combined and the square-riggers, stately and beautiful as they were—the handsomest vessels ever built by man—have been almost driven from the seas. With the outbreak of the European War and the demand for ocean-going cargo-carriers the old square-riggers have once more come to the fore, and in ports and harbors where a crossyard mast had not been seen for many years, barks, ships and square-rigged vessels now line the docks and are an everyday sight. But they are only temporary and every boy and man who loves the sea and its ships should take advantage of this opportunity to view a passing type of vessels and should learn all about them, their rigging and their sails, for to them we owe much of our commerce and prosperity, our independence and our progress.

Although the cheaper, more easily handled and more simple schooners forced the square-rigged ships into the background, and while these in turn have been largely superseded by steam for deep-water voyages, yet the small boat has held its own throughout the centuries. In form, rig and other details the small boats of today vary as widely as ever, for small boats are designed and used for specific purposes and no one can say which is the best boat or the handiest rig.

Steam and motor boats have taken the place of sailboats for business purposes in many places, but as long as men love the sea, as long as they enjoy the sting of the salt spray and the thrill of a plunging bow, as long as our eyes brighten and our pulses quicken as we grasp tiller and sheet and lee rails are awash, so long will the small boat hold its own. We may conquer distance by steam, we may annihilate time by paper-like hulls loaded with roaring motors of gigantic power, we may travel in floating palaces called yachts, but nothing will ever be made by man to take the place of the small boat for the out-and-out pleasure and perfect enjoyment it gives the true boat-lover.

Although there is an endless variety of hulls and rigs among small boats they may all be divided into a few general classes. In form of hull most boats may be grouped under two broad types: round-bottomed and flat-bottomed boats, but there are intermediate forms and there are also some kinds of boats which are a sort of hybrid or combination of both.

In rig we have the schooner, ketch, yawl, sloop and cat and while these cover the matter in a general way there is a wonderful variety in the sails, rigging and other details, and many boats which possess great advantages cannot be properly classed in any of these groups.

The best boat to use and the best rig to adopt depend largely upon the purpose of the boat and its rig, the place where it is to be used, the owner’s ability as a sailor, the weather likely to be encountered, the character of the neighboring shores and waters and various other conditions.

In order to select intelligently the best boat for your use it is necessary to consider the various types of hull and rig, their advantages and disadvantages and the purposes for which they are intended, and then, knowing these things, select the one which you think best adapted to your own requirements.

CHAPTER II
WHAT BOAT TO USE

Through countless centuries since man first made and used boats, an almost infinite variety of craft has been developed. In every land where boats of any sort are used the inhabitants have gradually evolved boats adapted to their special needs, the conditions of their seas or water courses and the work in which the boats are to be used.

In a great many countries the types of boats in use today have not changed or altered for hundreds of years, but in many other places forms, construction and other details of the boats have been changed, ideas from other lands or races have been adopted and we now find a great many different kinds of boats used for the same purpose. Moreover, with the migration of man from one place to another, boats of one nation have been introduced to the people of other lands and sometimes, in one locality, we may find boats from widely separated parts of the world being used daily side by side.

Of course these remarks apply mainly to boats used for commercial or business purposes for wherever boats are used for pleasure one may find an infinite variety of craft whose models have been culled from every corner of the maritime world.

In every case, however, there are certain definite reasons for one type of boat being more generally used than another, and every boat-builder and user, since boats were first invented, has aimed to combine certain qualities in the construction of boats.

The three most important matters to be considered in any boat are seaworthiness, stability and speed. Which of these is of the greatest importance depends very largely upon the local conditions, the purposes for which the boat is to be used and the ideas of its builder or owner.

In some places speed is the prime consideration, in other places seaworthiness is the most important factor, while in still other localities the ability to carry heavy loads and not sink or upset is of more value than either speed or the power to resist winds and waves safely.

Thus the men who depend upon piloting vessels to an anchorage and whose earnings are large or small according to whether or not they reach the incoming vessels first, must have fast boats and seaworthiness may be a secondary consideration. Again the toilers of the sea who spend days upon the stormiest oceans fishing, lobstering or in similar pursuits must have boats which are safe in any weather and speed is of little importance, while those who use boats for transporting heavy cargoes or many passengers from place to place in fairly smooth waters, find stability of greater value than either speed or seaworthiness.

Many times, however, in fact, as a general rule, the most seaworthy boats are the most stable, while usually both stability and seaworthiness must be sacrificed to a certain degree in order to obtain great speed. But there are exceptions to all rules and many boats have become world-famous because they combine all these three qualifications to a remarkable degree.

Types of Small Boats Adapted to Special Uses

1—Whaleboat. 2—Lifeboat. 3—Dory. 4—Sharpie. 5—Skipjack. 6—Block Island boat.

The whaleboats used by the Yankee whalemen for chasing and capturing whales, are splendid examples of this. These boats are light, strong, stable, seaworthy and very fast and in these respects are probably the most perfect type of small craft ever designed. 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.

Moreover, their construction is so simple that even when smashed or “stove” by a whale they can be repaired easily by a carpenter and best of all they are very cheap, a new whaleboat costing complete only one hundred and twenty-five dollars. In these boats shipwrecked whalers have made some marvelous voyages and several instances are on record of men navigating the stormiest parts of the ocean for six thousand miles in these boats in perfect safety.

Somewhat similar to the whaleboats in shape are the surfboats used on the coasts of many sea-girt localities, notably on the Atlantic seaboard of our Middle States, and while not as speedy, light or staunch as the whaleboats, they ride the roaring surf and towering waves as buoyantly as seabirds and are ideal boats for use where there are heavy seas.

Lifeboats, such as those used on steamships and by the coast guard, are really modified whaleboats and surfboats, combining the good points of both and with slight alterations in proportions and construction to enable them to carry large loads with safety.

They are not as easily handled or as speedy as the whaleboats, but they are far more roomy; they are almost non-capsizable, are unsinkable and are built both of metal and of wood. The are rather heavy, however, and expensive.

For one who wishes a perfectly safe, roomy, strong boat capable of withstanding almost any weather and with good sailing qualities it is hard to find anything better than a standard lifeboat.

At Block Island, off the tip of Long Island, there is a peculiar sort of boat used by the native fishermen, which is known as the Block Island boat. In some ways this craft resembles a whaleboat and in some ways it reminds one of a surfboat, while in many of its characters it is much like a lifeboat and yet it is totally different from all. They are wonderfully staunch and seaworthy, they have great carrying capacity and sail very well. Formerly a great many were used as small cruising yachts, but of late years they have almost disappeared.

Somewhat similar to the whaleboats are the big seine boats used by the New England fishermen for pulling the great, heavy seines when catching mackerel, herring, menhaden, etc. They are very stable boats with immense carrying capacity, are easily handled and are seaworthy, but have no advantages over the whaleboats except in point of size. They do not sail as well nor are they are as seaworthy as the whaleboats.

All of the above are round-bottomed boats of the double-ended type in which both bow and stern are sharp. One would therefore assume that this style was the most seaworthy, especially as the spongers of the Mediterranean, the pilot boats of many islands and the typical fishing-boats of the European countries are also double-ended. Such, however, is not necessarily the case for the fishermen, pilots and other inhabitants of other countries use round-bottomed boats with broad sterns and some even use flat-bottomed boats and brave as heavy weather, as hard storms and as tumultuous seas as their fellows in the round-bottomed, double-ended craft.

Probably no men in the world ply their trade in rougher seas and in stormier weather than the Gloucester fishermen who fish for halibut and cod on the banks of Newfoundland and on George’s Banks. The boats used by these hardy fishermen are known as dories and are flat-bottomed, high-sided, odd-looking craft which one would never imagine were seaworthy, yet in them the Gloucester fishermen ride out terrific storms and mountainous waves; they haul halibut weighing hundreds of pounds over the boats’ sides without capsizing, and they sail or row them safely through winter storms in midocean when laden with fish until the gunwales are almost level with the water. Dories used by the fishermen are not beautiful nor graceful boats, but they are wonderfully well adapted to their use, and many builders have adopted so-called dory models for pleasure craft, both for motor boats and sailboats. As a rule, however, there is little resemblance between these “improved” dories and those of the banks, and the stability and other qualities of the real dories are usually lost in altering the lines for the sake of appearances.

Still another type of flat-bottomed boat which is used all along the Atlantic coast is the sharpie. The sharpie is merely a modified skiff equipped with a centerboard, but when properly handled these boats will stand a great deal of rough weather and knocking about and, moreover, they sail remarkably well. One usually thinks of sharpies as small boats but they are often forty or fifty feet in length and are sometimes built as large as small schooners and of twenty to fifty tons capacity. The great objection to sharpies and other flat-bottomed boats is that they “pound” or slap the water when in a heavy sea or among choppy waves, and to overcome this a type of boat known as a skipjack was evolved. Skipjacks are a sort of connecting link between true flat-bottomed and round-bottomed boats, for the after part of the bottom is flat while the forward portion is V-shaped and thus they cut through the seas instead of pounding on them while at the same time they slip over the surface of the water rather than through it. Many of the fastest racing boats and the fastest motor speed boats are nothing more nor less than modified skipjacks, and for all-around use, especially in shallow waters, there are few better boats where roominess and sea-going qualities are not essential.

Just as the men whose living depends upon their boats have agreed upon the craft best suited to their needs, so the man or boy who is selecting a sailboat for pleasure should consider all the types and should choose that which best fulfills all of his requirements.

If you want a roomy boat or a boat on which to live or sleep you should choose a round-bottomed craft, for only in these can you obtain much depth or “head room” unless a very high cabin is built above the deck which always makes a boat top-heavy and unseaworthy. If the waters in which you are to use your boat are stormy, if heavy seas are common, or if you expect to make long trips out to sea or from place to place, select a boat which is noted for its seaworthy qualities, such as a whaleboat, seine boat, lifeboat or Block Island model.

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.

If your boat is merely an open boat for day sailing and short trips almost any type will serve, such as a dory, a sharpie, a skipjack or a round-bottomed or yawl boat. As a rule, however, you should avoid the true “open” boat for sailing, for in a boat without any deck it only takes a slight puff of wind, an instant’s carelessness or a small sea to bring the rail under water and swamp the boat.

Even a very narrow deck is far better than none at all and if the deck has a good high “combing” or raised inner edge, the safety will be increased a hundredfold.

Very few boats will capsize if decently handled and not equipped with too much sail unless “tripped” by getting water over the side; but once the rail of an open boat is under water the boat will upset very quickly, for each pound of water taken in stays on the lowest side of the boat and has a tendency to carry the craft over still further.

A great deal depends upon the construction of the boat itself and still more depends upon the rig or sails to be used, and before selecting or using any boat you should be thoroughly familiar with the various parts of a boat, its construction, its fittings and its rig and should know what each and every part is for, as well as how to use, repair and care for it.

CHAPTER III
PARTS OF BOATS

Nearly everyone knows that the body of the boat is called the hull, but a great many people, even those who live by the sea or who are accustomed to the use of boats, know very little about the various parts of the hull or the proper names for the different portions of it.

The principal parts of a small boat’s hull are: the bow, the stern, the deck (if not an open boat); the keel, the thwarts, the bilge, the bottom, the topsides and the gunwales. Each of these is made up of various pieces or parts, and to portions of each different names are given. The bow is the forward end of the boat; the stern is the rear end; the deck is the portion on top or the part which covers the open portion; the keel is the very bottom piece which extends from bow to stern; the thwarts are the seats; the bilge is the bottom close to the keel on either side; the bottom proper is the portion between the keel and the sides of the boat; the topsides are the sides above the curve of the bottom; the gunwales are the upper edges of the topsides.

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 after part, on the sides beneath the water is the run. In every boat, no matter how large or small she may be, these parts are always the same.

The various parts used in building a boat are very numerous in some craft and are few in others, depending upon the size and model of the boat, but in every case similar parts have the same names and are used for the same purposes.

The upright piece, to which the sides are attached at the bow is the stem and when this is made in two parts, as is often the case on large boats, the outer piece is known as the false stem. This stem is attached to the keel by a knee and when a second piece is attached to the keel to thicken and strengthen it, the piece is called the keelson. At the stern the upright timber is called the sternpost and to this the transom, the broad flat piece at the end of the stern, is fastened. From the stem to the transom extends the planking, the plank next to the keel on each side being called the garboard strake and the ones at the top of the sides being known as top strakes, sheer strakes or upper strakes. From keel to the tops of the sides curved or bent pieces are fastened which are known as ribs and these are attached to the keel-piece and the decks by knees. Sometimes an inner lining is placed on top of the ribs to make the inside of the boat smooth and this is known as the ceiling while the pieces that extend across from side to side and which support the decks are called deck timbers. These are the principal parts found in every boat of round-bottomed construction, but in flat-bottomed boats there are no real ribs, no bilge nor garboard strakes, no keel and no real sternpost, owing to the form and method of construction.

In a flat-bottomed boat the bottom runs across from side to side without any bilge; the entire sides are practically freeboard; straight braces or timbers replace ribs; the keel is replaced by a false keel or rubbing strake and, except in large sized boats, the transom is held in position by the sides and bottom and no stern post is required.

In form and design the various parts of boats vary as much, or even more, than the boats themselves and there is an almost endless variety of bows, sterns, counters, etc., not to mention the forms of rudders, the variations in sheer, and other proportions of form, lines, run, freeboard, etc.

Even in one type of boat there may be a great many forms of bows or sterns in use, many designed merely to add to the appearance of the craft, others to add speed, others to make the boat drier, others to adapt it better to sailing or rowing, as the case may be; and still others to afford better facilities for using certain types of rig, gear or fishing-tackle.

The forms of bows and sterns are so numerous that to name or describe them all would require a volume, but they may all be grouped under a comparatively limited number of types, the others being merely modifications or combinations of these.

Types of Bows and Sterns

1—Straight bow. 2—Round bow. 3—Clipper bow. 4—Dory bow. 5—Whaleboat bow. 6—Canoe bow. 7—Spoon bow. 8—Square stern. 9—Overhanging stern. 10—Whaleboat stern. 11—Dory stern. 12—Round stern. 13—Sharp or “pinkey” stern.

The commonest and most important forms of bows are as follows:

Straight bows, in which the stem is perpendicular to the keel; round bows, in which the stem is curved or rounded from keel to deck; clipper bows, in which the stem is concave or hollowed in outline; raking or dory bows in which the stem is set at an angle to the keel; whaleboat bows which are rounded or curved and are also at an angle; canoe bows which are like the round bows but more convex, and spoon bows which have no true stem but sweep in a gradual curve from the bottom of the boat to the deck.

Among the more typical sterns we find: Square or straight sterns, in which the sternpost is perpendicular and the counter is broad and flat; overhanging sterns, in which the counter is carried out beyond the sternpost and overhangs the water; dory sterns, in which the sternpost is at an angle and has a V-shaped counter; whaleboat sterns which are sharp and shaped like the bow; round sterns, in which the sides are carried around in a curve or half-circle with no transom; and sharp sterns or pinkey sterns which are sharp like the stern of a whaleboat, but instead of being curved are merely angular or perpendicular.

Each of these forms of bows and sterns possesses qualities which adapt it to one purpose more than another and in selecting a boat you should bear this in mind. Straight or round bows throw a larger bow wave than the whaleboat or clipper types and have a tendency to bury the bows in heavy seas; whaleboat or dory bows cut through the waves, but give great buoyancy or lifting power to the craft, thus preventing it from burying the forward part in the water; while spoon bows pound and slap in heavy seas and are principally of value for racing boats or for use in calm waters.

Even the sterns have an important effect upon a boat’s abilities and seaworthiness. A square stern will drag a great deal of water behind it when traveling rapidly and with a following sea is liable to take in water, or to be “pooped,” as the sailors would say. Round sterns with an overhang are also bad in a seaway and often make a boat slow in coming about or turning; transom sterns with an overhang are better, while the sharp-pointed pinkey or whaleboat sterns prevent a following sea from entering the boat and leave a clean wake, but owing to the fact that there is no overhang and that the entire height of the boat is brought broadside to the water when turning, they are not so quick in maneuvering as a stern with a good overhang. Perhaps the best all-around stern is one with a good overhang, a sharp run and a small counter: in other words, a sort of combination of the common overhand stern and the whaleboat type.

In the planking, boats vary a great deal, and there are many different methods of making the sides and bottom. Even boats of the same form, for the same uses and with the same style of bow and stern may be made in very different ways. One method is to place the planks so that the edges join and there is a uniform, smooth surface, with all the planks running from bow to stern. This is known as smooth-skin or carvel planking. Another style is to let the boards overlap slightly; this is known as clinker construction or lap-streak planking. Other boats are planked with very narrow strips fastened one above the other, edge to edge, while still others are covered with two or more layers of thin boards placed diagonally from keel to gunwales and known as diagonal planking. For light racing boats the latter type is admirable for it is strong, light, tight and stiff, but it is difficult to repair, it is expensive and for ordinary use has no advantages. Clinker-built boats are excellent when new, but a broken or injured plank is difficult to replace, leaks are hard to stop and it has no advantages over the carvel planking which is the commonest of all forms of boat-building.

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. This projection may be a keel, which is an immovable portion of the boat itself; it may be a centerboard which is a board which can be raised or lowered at will from the center of the boat, or it may be a leeboard which is merely hung over the side opposite the wind and is shifted as the boat tacks or goes about.

Leeboards are clumsy makeshifts and while they are used on large vessels in some countries, as in Holland and Scandinavia, they are a great nuisance and very unsatisfactory on anything but canoes and rowboats which are sailed occasionally and on which either keels or centerboards would be inconvenient.

No one has yet decided definitely whether or not keels or centerboards are the better, although the matter has been discussed, tried and thrashed out for years. As a matter of fact each has its advantages and disadvantages, each is adapted to certain types of boats and to certain conditions and each has its adherents who have no faith in the other type.

Personally, I think the keel boat the better for deep water use where there is a likelihood of heavy weather and yet many of the Gloucester fishing-smacks and many yachts which have won ocean races are of the centerboard type. For shallow waters or where there are reefs, sandbars, shoals or mud-flats keel boats are a nuisance and centerboards are practically a necessity. Where boats are to be hauled on beaches centerboard boats are really the only kind to use, for keel boats will not stand upright and cut deeply into the sand. Flat-bottomed boats are nearly always of the centerboard type; whaleboats have centerboards, and yet catboats and other round-bottomed boats are made in both types.

Keel boats are roomier than those with centerboards for there is no space occupied by the centerboard and its case; they are less liable to capsize, and if made with the same proportions as centerboard boats they are as dry, seaworthy and handy. As a rule, however, the keel craft are much narrower and deeper than those equipped with centerboards and many of them are almost like a plank set on edge. These are stable enough, but they are wet, uncomfortable and hard to handle.

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 the board is free to move up when it strikes an obstruction, whereas a keel boat under the same conditions might be badly injured.

The objections to a centerboard are the difficulties in keeping the case and trunk of the board from leaking, the space it occupies, the necessity of raising or lowering it according to varying conditions and the slight, very slight, chance of losing the board and thus becoming helpless.

Keels, Centerboards, Leeboards and Rudders

1—Section of a keel boat. 2—Section of a centerboard boat. 3—Section of a fin keel boat. 4—Portion of a keel boat’s hull. 5—Boat with centerboard. 6—Boat with leeboard. 7-9—Forms of rudders for keel boats. 8-10—Forms of rudders for centerboard boats.

Centerboards are not confined to small boats as many think, but large coasting vessels and even three-masted schooners are often built with them, which proves that they have many great advantages. Some boats are built in a sort of combination keel and centerboard method, in which a moderate keel is provided and a centerboard is used as well, while within comparatively recent years the fin-keel type of boat has been evolved. In these the hull is proportioned like that of a centerboard boat but the keel is merely a large fin or sheet of metal carrying a mass of lead or iron at its lower edge. All things being equal, the best boat for ordinary use is the centerboard type and for small boats, or the amateur’s use, they are far superior to keel boats of any sort.

Most small boats are steered by means of a rudder and tiller, the rudder being a wooden or metal affair submerged at the stern and the tiller consisting of a handle at the rudder’s upper end. Some rudders are hung or fastened to the counter and can be easily taken off or “unshipped,” while others are under the counter and are fastened to the sternpost with the upper end coming up through the boat or the deck. There are various forms of rudders: some long and extending out for a considerable distance in the rear of the boat, and others high and narrow, but the purpose of all is the same and the rudder is always designed to present an area sufficient to swing the boat around readily or to steer it without using too great force. Large boats are usually steered by gears connecting the rudder to a wheel; as the handling of a tiller connected directly to the rudder of a large vessel would be a very difficult task indeed.

As, in order to turn a boat to the right, the tiller must be moved to the left, the terms used by sailors in steering boats are often confusing to landsmen. For example, if a sailor wants a boat turned to the left, or to port, as it’s called, he will say, “Starboard the helm,” or, in other words, push the tiller to the starboard or right-hand side, and vice versa. It is not so bad when steering with a tiller, but when steering with a wheel the beginner is very apt to do the wrong thing and turn the wheel to the right when he wants to go to the right and to the left, or port, when he wants to go to that direction, and to simplify matters many boats are now arranged so that the wheel is turned in the direction one really wants to go.

This makes it very easy when steering for oneself, but if someone is directing the course and sings out the orders in true sailor fashion the steersman has to remember and port his helm when he is told to starboard it and thus the confusion is just as bad as ever. For this reason the beginner should use a tiller if possible; for that matter, there is no advantage in a wheel in boats less than thirty or forty feet in length.

Boat Fittings and Parts of Boats

1—Eyebolt. 2—Block. 3—Hook block. 4—Ring block. 5—Sister or fiddle block. 6—Snatch block. 7—Cheek block. 8, 9—Fairleaders. 10—Whip purchase. 11—Whip and runner. 12—Long tackle. 13—Gun tackle. 14—Luff tackle. 15—Watch tackle. 16—Cleats. 17—Chocks. 18—Bitts. 19—Turnbuckles. 20—Travelers. 21—Dead eyes. 22—Section of boat to show parts (round bottom). 23—Section of boat to show parts (flat bottom). 24—External parts of boat. 25—Parts of boat (top view). 26—Carvel planking. 27—Clinker planking. 28—Strip planking. 29—Flat bottom planking. 30—V-bottom planking. 31—Diagonal planking.

On every sailboat there are a certain number of appliances which are unfamiliar to landsmen but which you should become accustomed to before attempting to handle a boat. There are blocks, tackle, chocks, fairleaders, cleats, turnbuckles, eyebolts and travelers among the deck fittings. Each of these has its use and one should be perfectly familiar with them. Blocks are wooden or metal objects containing rollers or wheels known as sheaves through which ropes are run to enable them to be hauled tight without great friction. Cheek-blocks are half blocks which bolt or attach to a mast, spar, or other object. Sister-blocks have two sheaves, one above the other, in a single shell. Tail-blocks are blocks with a rope or hook at one end by which they may be hung to spars, etc. Snatch-blocks are blocks arranged so that one side may be opened to allow a rope to be passed over the sheave without running it through and there are patent-blocks which will hold a rope securely in any position by means of a grip.

Blocks and ropes together are known as tackles and the blocks used may be single, double, triple or fourfold, according to the number of sheaves they contain. A luff-tackle has a single and a double block with one end of the rope fast to the single block and the hauling end leading from the double block.

A gun-tackle consists of two single blocks with one end of the rope fast to the upper block and the hauling part passing down from the upper block.

A watch-tackle is a tackle used to haul the rope which is rove through another tackle and a whip-purchase has a single block only.

The purpose of the tackle is to increase one’s power and the more sheaves there are and the more times the rope is passed through the blocks the more the power obtained; but as in every case where power is increased, speed is lost and to hoist a sail with a tackle with several sheaves requires more time than to do the same work with a single-sheave block. For this reason the simplest tackle which will enable you to perform the work without undue exertion is the one you should use.

Fairleaders are sheaves or rollers which are screwed or bolted to the decks or other parts of the boat and through which ropes are run in order that the ropes may be carried around curves or at right angles. Chocks are metal or wooden appliances in the form of notches and are used where ropes pass over the edge of a boat to hold them in one position. Cleats are devices for holding a rope without tying it and are very useful and numerous on boats. They are either of metal or wood and by winding the rope over them it may be held securely and yet can be thrown off at a moment’s notice. Turnbuckles are metal arrangements for tightening ropes, wires or chains and have hooks or eyes at the ends with screw-threads which may be drawn together or separated by turning the central portion of the turnbuckle. On small boats they are seldom used, but on large and medium-sized craft they are very necessary. Eyebolts are eyes bolted or screwed in position and to them turnbuckles, ropes, blocks or other objects are fastened, while travelers are metal rods over which blocks, rings or things slide or “travel.” Travelers are usually placed at the stern of single-sailed boats for the tackle of the sheet, the rope which controls the sail, to slide on, and they are also used on masts for the sail to slide up and down upon when it is raised or lowered, as well as in many other places.

A great many people who have used boats or have traveled on them speak of a vessel’s rigging without knowing what the rigging really is. In the same way they speak of the “ropes” of a ship and while both terms may be correct in a way, yet to a sailor the terms would mean nothing definite. Rigging comprises all the ropes, sails, stays, halyards and in fact, everything above the decks which has anything to do with the sail plan or rig of a boat, but to sailors there are two definite types of rigging, even in the smallest craft. These are the standing rigging and the running rigging. The latter comprises only the various ropes, lines, etc., which move when the vessel is in use, while the standing rigging consists of all the permanent ropes, stays and other things which remain stationary. To enumerate the various individual parts of the standing and running rigging of a large vessel would require a great deal of space and would be of little value to the person who is interested only in small boats, but there are certain portions of the rigging which occur on every boat and which every boatman should know by heart.

As a matter of fact, there are very few “ropes” so-called, even on a full-rigged ship, for what appear as ropes to a landsman are known by specific names to sailors. Even on a small boat there are few ropes which are spoken of as such and nothing so loudly proclaims the landlubber as to speak of a stay, halyard or sheet as a “rope.”

The halyards are the ropes which hoist the sails and they vary in number and name according to the type of sails used. As a rule there are two to each sail and known as the throat halyards and peak halyards. (This refers only to fore-and-aft sails, see Chapter IV). The throat halyard being the one which hoists the edge of the sail nearest the mast, while the peak halyard raises the outer edge of the sail. Where sails have no gaff or piece of wood at the upper edge only one halyard is used.

Running Rigging of Fore-and-aft Rig

A—Jib halyard. B—Downhaul. C—Throat halyard. D—Peak halyard. E—Topping lift. F—Main sheet. G—Jib sheet.

The sheet is the line which is attached to the outer extremity of the sail and is controlled by the man sailing the boat and its purpose is to hold the sail in any desired position and to enable the sailor to pull the sail in or to let it out, according to the direction of the wind and the course sailed.

Downhauls are ropes used in pulling down sails and are just the opposite of halyards and on small boats they are seldom necessary. Topping lifts are ropes which lead from the masthead to the end of boom to support the latter when the sail is lowered and they are usually so arranged that they may be hauled up or let down to raise or lower or top the boom. Lazy jacks are light lines extending from the mast head, or near it, to the boom and are used to prevent the sail from falling or bagging loose when lowered. They are seldom used on very small boats. Brails are ropes extending to the after edge of the sail by means of which the sail may be gathered close to the mast ready for furling.

Standing Rigging, Masts, Etc.

1—Polemast. 2—Mast with topmast. 3—Mast with topmast and topgallant mast. 4—Bowsprit with jib boom. 5—Pole bowsprit. 6—Foremast. 7—Mainmast. 8—Mizzen mast. 9—Jigger or spanker mast.

A—Forestay. B—Backstays. C—Shrouds or side stays. D—Topmast stay. E—Fore topmast stay. F—Jib stay. F′—Foretopgallant stay. G—Flying jib stay. H—Fore royal stay. I—Mast or lower mast. J—Trestle or cross trees. K—Top mast. L—Topgallant mast. M—Topmast cap. N—Topmast trestle or cross trees. O—Lowermast cap. P—Royal mast. Q—Futtock shrouds. R—Ratlines. S—Spreader.

BT—Bowsprit. JB—Jib boom. FJB—Flying jib boom. BS—Bobstays. DS—Martingale or dolphin striker. MBR—Martingale back ropes. JBS—Jib boom martingale stays. FJBS—Flying jib boom martingale stays.

All these are parts of the running rigging while the standing rigging, in its simplest form, consists of stays which are ropes or wires stretched from the top of the mast to the hull to keep the mast in position, or which extend from the top of the mast to the bowsprit and from the bowsprit to the stem to keep the bowsprit in its proper place. The stays from the mast to the bowsprit are known as forestays and upon them small sails are run up or down which are known as jibs, forestaysails, etc. (Chapter IV). Many boats which do not have bowsprits or jibs nevertheless have forestays running from the top of the mast to the bow, to keep the mast in one position, while many boats with bowsprits have stays running from the end of the bowsprit to the sides of the boat, their purpose being to keep the bowsprit from bending sideways.

On large vessels the stays are very numerous and there are backstays to keep the masts from bending forward, stays between the masts and many other kinds of stays, but most of these are never necessary on small boats. If the boat has a topmast, however, there are always topmast-stays and usually backstays, the former being spread apart, where the topmast and lowermast join, by means of a wooden or metal crosspiece known as a spreader. So also on boats with a long bowsprit, or where a second piece known as a jib boom, extends beyond the bowsprit, there are stays known as bobstays which are spread down toward the water by means of a metal or iron piece known as the dolphin striker or martingale boom.

In mentioning these various parts of the rigging I have used the terms “masts,” “bowsprit,” etc., and while I suppose that nearly every reader will know what a mast and a bowsprit is, yet it may be well to add a few words about them and their names. The masts, of course, are the sticks which carry the sails and rigging, and if there are more than one used, the forward mast is always the foremast. The one back of this is the mainmast; the third from the bow is the mizzen, while in four-masted vessels there is the spanker mast or jigger mast. Where the front mast is very high and there is another very small mast at the stern the latter is also known as the jigger or mizzen and the forward mast becomes the mainmast. Masts may be made in one or more sections according to the rig of the vessel. If the mast is all in one piece it is known as a polemast and if another piece is placed above it this is known as the topmast, while in square-rigged vessels there are still other pieces known as topgallant masts, royal masts, etc.

The bowsprit is the stick which projects forward from the bow of a vessel and it may be either a pole bowsprit in one piece, or it may have a second piece attached to it and known as a jib boom, while on very large vessels there may be still a third part known as the flying jib boom. In addition to all these there are the various sticks or timbers which help spread the sails and which are known as spars, but as these vary in number and name according to the rig and sails used it is best to consider them in connection with the sails themselves.

CHAPTER IV
VARIOUS RIGS

Probably the first sail ever placed upon a boat was merely a piece of hide or skin, lashed to a sapling and kept spread open by a rough stick lashed across it. Through all the countless centuries this first form of sail has been retained and while the skin has been replaced by cloth and the rough saplings have given place to well-finished poles or spars, the spritsail, as it is called, still remains one of the simplest, handiest and most widely used of sails.

The true spritsail is a square, or nearly square, piece of canvas laced by one edge to the mast and kept stretched flat by means of a pole known as a sprit which extends from the lower part of the mast diagonally across the sail to the upper, outer corner.

Sometimes the sail is attached to hoops or rings which run up and down the mast and a halyard is used in hoisting the sail but, in order to spread the sail well, the sprit must be pulled out by hand and cannot be arranged to rise or fall with the sail. The ordinary method of securing the sprit is to place the tip in a small loop, or eye of rope made at the corner of the sail and then heave the sprit out until the sail is taut by means of a rope known as a lanyard which is attached to the mast and is passed through a hole or a notch in the lower end of the sprit.

Another very simple sail, which is really a modification of the spritsail, is the leg-o’-mutton. This differs mainly from the spritsail in form, for instead of being rectangular it is three-cornered and the sprit, instead of extending from the mast to the upper, outer corner of the sail, extends almost horizontally across it. Leg-o’-mutton sails, like the spritsails, are often arranged to be raised or lowered by a halyard and owing to the position of the sprit it is not necessary to remove it when lowering a leg-o’-mutton sail.

Some spritsails have two sprits, but this is a nuisance and for most purposes the leg-o’-mutton is the far better sail of the two. In the first place it stays flatter and thus enables one to sail closer to the wind; it does not have the tendency to “kick up” and wrap itself about the mast, like the spritsail, when sailing before the wind, and finally it is not so liable to capsize a boat in a heavy wind as the greatest area is low, whereas in the spritsail the upper portion presents the largest surface to the wind.

Various Rigs

1—Felucca. 2—Lugger. 3—Nonpareil. 4—Dandy. 5—Bermuda boat. 6—French gunter. 7—Batten sail. 8—Settee sail.

Somewhat similar to the leg-o’-mutton sail in form is the gunter sail or sliding gunter, which is a great favorite in many parts of Europe but which has never been widely introduced in America, although it has a great many advantages over other sails for small boats. The gunter sail is a very easy one to raise or lower, for there is no sprit to remove and it is very easy to reef. In the gunter sail the mast is made in two sections with the upper portion sliding by travellers over the lower portion, and to this movable part the single halyard is attached. In order to reef sail it is only necessary to lower the sliding mast a trifle, tie the reef points to the boom and again hoist the sail taut.

Another form of rig, which is seen everywhere in Oriental waters, and is the prime favorite with all Latin races, is the lateen. Like the leg-o’-mutton and the gunter rigs the lateen is triangular, but unlike the two former it is longer than high, or in other words, is placed horizontally, instead of perpendicularly. The lateen is a particularly good sail for small boats as the greatest area is low and why it has not been more generally adopted is something of a mystery. As used in the West Indies the lateen is rigged on a single, short mast which points or “rakes” slightly towards the bow of the boat. It has two yards and is raised and lowered by one halyard. It is kept taut and flat by a crotch, or ring, passed around the mast and fastened to the lower yard. Properly made the lateen will set very flat and smooth, it is easily and quickly raised or lowered, readily reefed and is the most graceful and picturesque of all rigs.

Somewhat like the lateen, but with the forward end cut off, is the lugsail which is the sail most often used by the fishermen of northern Europe and the British Isles. Personally I could never see any advantage which this sail possesses over the common and much more simple spritsail or the ordinary boom-and-gaff sail and on large boats it is heavy, clumsy and far less to be recommended than several other forms.

The common boom-and-gaff sail is the one so familiar to everyone who lives on or near the water or who has ever seen sailing boats or vessels, for it is more widely used than any other form and is the basis of all fore-and-aft rigs in most localities.

Parts of Sails, Spars, Etc., of Fore-and-aft Rig

The true fore-and-aft sail or boom-and-gaff sail is really an adaptation of the older lugsail and is a vast improvement over it. It is attached to the mast by means of rings or travelers and has two spars; the one at the top known as the gaff and the one at the bottom known as the boom. There are two halyards used, known as the peak halyard and throat halyard; the latter being used to hoist the sail and the former to spread it tight and flat. This rig is noted for its ability to sail close to the wind; it is easy to handle and in case of a sudden storm or squall the peak may be dropped and the area of the sail thus reduced without stopping to reef. For very small boats it has the disadvantage of requiring rather heavy spars and mast and a multiplicity of ropes, blocks, etc., and hence for this purpose the sprit, leg-o’-mutton, gunter or lateen rigs are preferable.

Aside from the shape or type of sails there are various rigs which are well recognized as standards and which are combinations of several sails. Thus the rig known as the cat rig is a single fore-and-aft sail near the bow of the boat. The jib-and-mainsail rig has a boom-and-gaff sail and a small triangular sail known as a jib, which is set on a stay running from the masthead to the bow, or to the end of the bowsprit. The sloop rig is like the jib-and-mainsail rig but in addition has a small sail known as a topsail between the gaff and the topmast; it may also have two or three other small triangular sails on the forestays. When there are two of these the lowest is known as the fore staysail, the next is the jib and the third is the flying jib. Schooners are two-, three-, four-, five-, six- or even seven-masted vessels with the masts fore-and-aft rigged and with jibs like a sloop and with staysails between the various topmasts. In schooners the various fore-and-aft sails are all of nearly the same size with the sail on the rear mast the largest.

1—Ketch Rig. 2—Cat Yawl Rig

Two other rigs which have two masts and carry fore-and-aft sails are the ketch and the yawl. The ketch has a foremast rigged like that of a sloop, or schooner, with a much smaller boom-and-gaff sail on a mast near the stern, while the yawl is practically the same with a still smaller rear sail. If the rear mast or mizzen is placed in front of the sternpost the rig is the ketch whereas if placed behind the sternpost it is a yawl rig. There are also cat yawls which have no jibs and some ketches and yawls carry lugsails on both masts, or have a boom and gaff mainsail and a lugsail mizzen or even a sprit, lateen, leg-o’-mutton, gunter or other type of mizzen sail. Yawls and ketches are at times rigged with leg-o’-mutton, lug, gunter or lateen sails on both masts, but when thus rigged the crafts are not, properly speaking, either yawls or ketches. If lugsails are used the rig is really a lugger; if both masts carry leg-o’-mutton or gunter sails the rig is known as the nonpareil; if the mizzen is a leg-o’-mutton sail the boat is dandy-rigged and if both main and mizzen sails are of the lateen type the boat becomes a felucca, which is one of the favorite Mediterranean rigs and is familiar to every reader of sea tales as the typical rig of the Eastern corsairs.

All of the sails mentioned on these various rigs are those known as working sails, but in addition there are numerous light sails used when there is little wind or when racing, such as spinnakers, jib topsails, balloon jibs, etc., but which are of little interest in connection with small boats or boats for the amateur sailor. Nevertheless some knowledge of such matters never comes amiss and it is well to know the names and uses of these racing sails.

Spinnakers are immense triangular sails used when running before the wind and which are spread out from the side of the boat by means of a spar known as a spinnaker boom. Balloon jibs are huge, jib-like sails of very light cotton or silk used in place of the smaller head sails when running on, or before, the wind, while jib topsails are triangular sails run up on the stay which extends from the topmast to the bowsprit.

Nowadays fore-and-aft-rigged vessels form the bulk of all sailing craft, many of which are of immense size and capable of carrying many hundreds of tons of cargo. The use of fore-and-aft sails on any but small boats is comparatively recent, however, and formerly all large craft were what are known as square-riggers. Although far more beautiful and stately than the schooners the square-rigged vessels gradually gave way to the more economical and handy fore-and-aft rigs and a few years ago one seldom saw a square-rigged vessel, save in out-of-the-way places. With the tremendous demand for ocean-going vessels, brought about by the European War, the square-riggers once more came into their own and today one may see ships, barks and brigs everywhere in the important ports of the world.

Although small boats are seldom square-rigged yet everyone who is fond of the sea and of boats should know something of square-rigged craft and should be familiar with the various rigs and their sails and should know the proper names and terms to use in speaking of them. To the landsman, and to many sailors as well, the rigging of a square-rigged vessel appears most complicated and confusing, but in reality it is very simple.

A great many people call every large vessel a “ship” and many more who can distinguish a sloop from a schooner, and a schooner from a yawl, fail to note the differences between the various square-rigs and call all square-rigged vessels “ships.” As a matter of fact “ships” are only one type of square-rigged craft and it is just as erroneous to call a bark a “ship” as to call a sloop a “schooner.”

Sails of Square-rigged Vessels

1—Topsail schooner. 2—Brigantine. 3—Brig (main course in dotted lines). 4—Barkentine (with double topsails). 5—Bark (with double topsails). 6—Ship (with double topsails, fore and main skysails (mizzen course in dotted lines)). Staysails are omitted in Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6.

Oddly enough one may trace the transition from the original square-riggers to the modern fore-and-aft schooners by the various rigs, for the old square sails died hard and even after the many advantages of fore-and-aft sails were proven sailors still held tenaciously to certain square sails and thus many types of square-rigged vessels are combinations of the two forms and are really connecting links between true square-riggers and fore-and-aft rigs.

This is the case with the so-called “topsail schooners” which are almost a thing of the past in most countries but are still used in Newfoundland, the Canadian provinces and in parts of Europe. The topsail schooner is essentially a two-masted, fore-and-aft schooner, but the foretopmast is equipped with yards bearing square sails, the lower sail being known as the foretopsail and the upper one as the foretopgallantsail. Another step backward and we find the foremast equipped entirely with square sails, the fore-and-aft sail on the foremast missing and a fourth square sail above the foretopgallantsail. This rig is known as the brigantine, while in the rig known as a brig both masts carry square sails and in addition the mainmast is furnished with a fore-and-aft sail known as the spanker. In every square-rigged vessel there are a definite number of square sails on each mast and these always have the same name, although some vessels do not carry all of them. Thus, the lowest sail is the course, the next is the topsail, the next the topgallantsail, the next the royal and the highest of all is the skysail.

Formerly each of these sails was in one large piece, but in order to make it easier to handle them double topsails and double topgallantsails were invented and are now in general use. Thus one may see square-rigged vessels with seven instead of five square sails on each mast, but the names remain the same, the second and third sails above the deck becoming lower and upper topsails, and the two above these being lower and upper topgallantsails. Many other vessels carry double topsails and single topgallantsails, but one can always recognize these double sails as they are much narrower than the full sails. Comparatively few vessels carry skysails, many do not even carry royals and still others carry more on one mast than on another.

Just as brigantines form a sort of connecting link between brigs and two-masted schooners so barkentines and barks are connecting links between three-masted schooners and real ships. The barkentine has the forward mast square-rigged with the main and mizzen masts fore-and-aft rigged, while the bark has the fore and mainmast square-rigged and only the mizzen fore-and-aft rigged. Finally there is the true ship or “full rigged ship,” as it is often called, in which all three masts are square-rigged with a small fore-and-aft spanker on the last, or mizzen, mast.

In former years barks and ships never had more than three masts, but with the advent of steel hulls, and donkey engines to hoist and trim sails, four-, five- and even six-masted barks and ships came into use. It is sometimes difficult to tell whether these vessels are barks or ships, but if there is more than one mast fore-and-aft rigged they are properly barkentines, if only one mast is without square sails the vessel is a bark and if square sails are on all masts it is a ship;—regardless of how many masts there are. Just as fore-and-aft rigged vessels carry light sails to supplement the ordinary working sails, so square-rigged vessels often spread additional canvas when the winds are light or when greater speed is desired. Between the various masts staysails, shaped like jibs, are extended, while at times small sails known as studding sails or stunsails are set at the outer ends of the square sails. These light sails take the names of the masts or yards from which they are set and thus there are main and mizzen topmast and topgallant staysails; fore, main and mizzen topgallant and royal studding sails, etc.

These great steel and iron square-riggers often have each of their masts in one piece or polemasts, but the older and typical square-rigged vessels had their masts made up of several pieces, each of which carried a sail, and the names of each section corresponded to the sail which it carried. Thus the lowest section was the mast proper, the piece above was the topmast, the next was the topgallant mast, the next the royal mast and the slenderest, uppermost part was the skysail pole.

Each of these masts had its own stays and shrouds and between the masts triangular, jib-like sails known as staysails were set. These were named after the masts to which the upper ends were attached and thus the staysail which extended downward from the top of the topgallant mast was a topgallant staysail, etc.

Hull, Spars and Rigging of a Ship

1—Jib boom. 2—Bowsprit. 3—Dolphin-striker or martingale. 4—Cathead. 5—Capstan. 6—Cable. 7—Stem or Cutwater. 8—Hawse-pipe or hawse-hole. 9—Starboard bow. 10—Starboard beam. 11—Water line. 12—Starboard quarter. 13—Rudder. 14—Rudder post. 15—Counter. 16—Deck house or cuddy. 17—Fore royalmast. 18—Main royalmast. 19—Mizzen royalmast. 20—Fore royalyard. 21—Main royalyard. 22—Mizzen royalyard. 23—Fore topgallantmast. 24—Main topgallantmast. 25—Mizzen topgallantmast. 26—Fore topgallantyard. 27—Main topgallantyard. 28—Mizzen topgallantyard. 29—Fore topmast. 30—Main topmast. 31—Mizzen topmast. 32—Fore topsailyard. 33—Main topsailyard. 34—Mizzen topsailyard. 35—Foretop. 36—Maintop. 37—Mizzentop. 38—Foreyard. 39—Mainyard. 40—Mizzen, or Cross-jack, yard. 41—Foremast. 42—Mainmast. 43—Mizzenmast. 44—Foregaff, or fore-spencer-gaff. 45—Trysail-gaff, or Main-spencer-gaff. 46—Spanker-gaff. 47—Spanker-boom. 48—Bulwark, or rail. 49—Starboard ports. 50—Starboard scupper-holes. 51—Starboard chain-plates.

A, A, A—Fore, main and mizzen royal-stays. B—Flying-jib-stay. C, C, C—Fore, main and mizzen topgallant-stays. D—Jib-stay. E, E, E—Fore, main and mizzen topmast-stays. F, F, F—Fore, main and mizzen-stays. G, G—Fore and main-tacks. H, H, H—Fore, main and mizzen royal-lifts. I, I, I—Fore, main and mizzen topgallant-lifts. J, J, J—Fore, main and mizzen topsail-lifts. K, K, K—Fore, main and mizzen, or cross-jack, lifts. L, L, L—Fore, main and mizzen royal-braces. M, M, M—Fore, main and mizzen topgallant-braces. N, N, N—Fore, main and mizzen topsail-braces. O, O, O—Fore, main and mizzen, or cross-jack, braces. P, P, P—Fore, main and mizzen starboard shrouds. Q, Q, Q—Fore, main and mizzen backstays. R, R, R—Peak halyards. S, S, S—Trysail and spanker vangs. T, T—Fore and main sheets. U—Spanker topping-lift. V—Spanker sheet. W—Flying martingale. W′—Martingale stay. X—Bobstays. Y—Chafing gear.

Note—Modern vessels carry double-topsails and often double topgallantsails also, in which case the words “upper” or “lower” are prefixed to the sails, spars and rigging of these sails. Skysails also are carried at times. These are small sails set on the skysail poles above the royal masts and their rigging takes the prefix “skysail.” Spencers and trysails are often omitted and are obsolete, as are studding sails.

It will thus be seen that in order to know the names of all the sails on a square-rigged vessel it is only necessary to learn the names of the five parts of each mast, for every sail has the same name with the addition of fore, main, or mizzen as the case may be. The same is true of the yards, the stays, the halyards and every other part of a ship’s rigging and so the seemingly complicated maze becomes very simple, for all you have to do is to learn the names of the various parts on one mast and prefix fore, main or mizzen to them for those on the other masts.

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.

The halyards are to hoist the sails and they take their names from the sails to which they are attached. The sheets are used to haul the sails flat and tight and they extend from the corners of the sails to the tips of the yards, but in addition there are many parts of the rigging which have no counterpart on fore-and-aft-rigged vessels. For example, the braces are used to swing or set the yards in various positions, the clewlines are used to gather up the sails ready for furling and there are buntlines, garnet-lines and many other lines which are only used on square-riggers and are of little interest, unless you expect to use a square rig or are interested in all things pertaining to sailing craft.

It may sound foolish to speak of using a square rig, but one can have a lot of fun and can learn a great deal about ships and sailing by fitting up a small boat as a brig, bark, or ship. I once had a twenty-foot sharpie rigged as a miniature full-rigged ship. Of course there is no practical advantage in this, for the square rigs require a great deal of care, they do not sail as well as fore-and-aft rigs when tacking to windward, and they should never be used, save as a means of recreation and for sailing on smooth waters, on a small boat.

As to which is the best fore-and-aft rig to use on small boats there is a great diversity of opinion, for every boat sailor has his own ideas and his own favorite rig and what may prove very satisfactory to one person may not be at all satisfactory to another.

The best method to follow in determining your rig is to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each, adopt the one you think best suited to your special requirements and your boat and if this doesn’t fulfill expectations try another. No two boats, even of the same model, sail just alike and often one rig will give far better results on one type of boat than on another while the character of the waters sailed, the prevalent winds, the size of the boat, its form, the purpose for which it is used and many other factors must be considered when deciding upon a rig.

If you are a beginner and your boat is small and open, a leg-o’-mutton or gunter sail will probably be as good as any, whereas if your boat is very stable or heavy, or if you sail where there are light winds, a lug, sprit or boom-and-gaff sail will be better.

It is a great mistake to place too much sail on a boat for nothing is gained by it and the dangers of sailing are vastly increased. Too much sail on a boat will invariably and inevitably result in one of three things. If the boat is not wonderfully stable she will capsize, or will lean over until she swamps; if so heavy or stable that she still stands up, the wind will rip the sail or tear out the masts and if neither of these casualties occur she will simply “drag” sail and will handle badly. Every boat will sail to the very best advantage with a definite amount of sail and the amount will vary according to the breeze. Hence it is no economy to carry on with all sail in a heavy wind, for if the sail used is adapted to the boat for light winds it stands to reason it will be far too much in heavy weather.

Flat-bottomed boats are usually very safe if properly handled and not provided with too much sail, but owing to their shape they capsize very quickly once they are tipped a trifle too far. For this reason leg-o’-mutton or gunter sails should be selected for this type of boat, partly because they offer a small area to the wind near their tops and because they have the quality of “spilling” the wind when at an angle and thus preventing the boat from being tipped dangerously. A flat-bottomed boat may be sailed in perfect safety with these sails when lug or boom-and-gaff sails of the same area would be extremely dangerous.

Another matter to remember is that a greater amount of sail may be safely carried as two or more sails than would be possible in a single sail, but for boats less than twenty feet over all a multiplicity of sails is a nuisance. The question of just how much sail should be carried is a very difficult one to answer, for boats vary in their stability and a great deal depends upon how they are handled and the skill of the sailor. For ordinary open boats used for pleasure where a single sail is carried, the sail area should not greatly exceed one and one-half times the number of square feet obtained by multiplying the boat’s length by its extreme breadth. Thus a boat twenty feet long by five feet wide could safely carry one hundred and fifty square feet of canvas, but for safety this should be as low as possible. A sail fifteen feet high and seven feet wide might upset the boat before it would drive it along and yet a sail ten feet high and twelve feet wide might serve to sail the boat very well and without any danger of capsizing. At any rate, until you are thoroughly familiar with handling your boat and with the rudiments of sailing under all conditions, you should confine yourself to a small amount of sail and should make haste slowly.

In addition to the fore-and-aft sails described there are many which are combinations, adaptations or improvements and which are known by different names. Among these are the French gunter in which the upper portion of the mast not only slides on the lower part but may be lowered like a gaff as well; the leg-o’-mutton with a boom at the lower edge in place of the sprit; the various battened sails which are really lugsails fitted with light wooden strips, or battens, across them to keep the sails flatter and to make reefing easier; the old-fashioned lugsails which have no spar or boom at the lower edge; the settee sails which have a boom and a much curved and very long upper yard like a lateen, and finally the Bermuda sails which are different from all.

The Bermudians consider a boat’s ability to carry sail in heavy weather and to sail close to the wind of the greatest importance and their boats and sails are designed primarily for these objects. The true Bermuda sail is like a leg-o’-mutton with a curved lower edge and with the top point cut off and attached to a short piece of wood or club to which the halyard is fastened. In place of a boom there is a sprit-like pole which is provided with a small tackle on the mast end and the sail is set very flat by hauling out on this tackle, very much as in the leg-o’-mutton sail. The greatest peculiarity of the Bermuda rig is that the mast is set very far forward and leans or rakes sharply backward and a good-sized jib is carried. It is a splendid rig for windward work, but is a bad rig before the wind and for amateur use is not to be recommended.

For boats over twenty-five feet long nothing is handier or better than the yawl rig. In the first place it is just as easy to sail as a sloop or jib-and-mainsail rig, for the tiny mizzen practically takes care of itself. When coming to a mooring or to anchor the mainsail may be lowered and the boat handled under jib and mizzen and by hauling the mizzen close in and lowering the other sails the boat will lie right in the wind’s eye when at moorings or riding out a gale. If in a narrow channel a yawl may actually be backed out by swinging the mizzen across the boat and lowering the other sails and when tacking or coming about in a seaway or where there is a strong current the mizzen helps wonderfully and the boat’s head may be quickly brought about by hauling the mizzen to windward. 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. Commence with a single, simple sail, such as a sprit, a leg-o’-mutton, a gunter, a lug, a lateen or a gaff-and-boom sail and when you have become thoroughly accustomed to this, when you know how to sail and handle your simple boat and sail under all conditions, then and not until then, you may try your hand at craft with more sails and rigging.

CHAPTER V
HOW TO SAIL A SMALL BOAT

The first thing you should learn to do if you expect to use a boat, is to learn to swim. A sailboat, properly rigged, well built and intelligently handled, is as safe as a rowboat or a launch and is far safer than any canoe ever built, but under the best of conditions and even with experienced sailors, accidents will at times happen and then the fellow who can swim stands a far better chance than the chap who cannot.

Excellent swimmers are drowned it is true, but that’s in spite of their knowledge, not because of it. Even if you are never upset, never have an accident and are never called upon to save yourself or others, yet the knowledge of how to swim will be mighty valuable. In the first place it will give you and your companions greater confidence, and confidence and self-reliance are big assets when sailing a boat, especially under trying conditions.

But because you can swim it doesn’t follow that you should take to the water whenever an accident occurs. A good sailor always sticks to his ship and you should never forsake your boat, no matter what condition she’s in, until compelled to desert her by her actually sinking under you. A water-logged or capsized boat will float for hours or days and will support several persons and when clinging to an upset or wrecked boat you stand a much better chance of being seen and rescued than when swimming.

Many a man has been drowned by leaving his upset boat and attempting to swim ashore when, by clinging to the craft, he would have been saved. This was the case with two friends of the author. There were three in the boat, all splendid swimmers, and they were capsized in a sudden squall several miles from shore. The occupants easily clambered upon the overturned hull and gave little heed to their predicament, as they knew that several boats and steamers were due to pass the spot where they were shipwrecked within a few hours.

About half-a-mile distant a schooner, which was used as a temporary lightship, was anchored and finally one of the men suggested swimming to it. Feeling confident that he would have no difficulty in reaching the schooner he plunged overboard and swam rapidly away. Presently he turned and called to the others to follow and one of his companions did so, while the other wisely remained on the bottom of the boat.

When about halfway to the schooner the foremost of the two swimmers threw up his hands and went down and a few moments later the other sank, but the sensible one of the trio, who stuck to the boat, was sighted and rescued by a passing craft an hour or two later and was none the worse for his experience.

No matter how well you can swim always remember that any solid object is far safer than the water and don’t resort to swimming unless actually compelled to do so. Always bear in mind that it takes but a very little to support a person in the water—an old pail or bucket held perpendicularly and bottomside up, an open umbrella, an oar, a thwart, a spar, a grating or even a high hat or a derby will serve to keep a human being afloat for a long time.

Almost as important as the ability to swim is the ability to keep one’s head and not get rattled under any and all conditions. The sailor should be able to move and act rapidly, surely and intelligently; he should possess decisiveness and judgment and should know just what to do and how to do it on the spur of the moment. When things go wrong is just the time for you to go right and many a trivial accident has become a tragedy through people losing their heads, tangling ropes or gear, jumping about heedlessly and forgetting just what to do under the circumstances.

In boat sailing of all things make haste slowly and NEVER TAKE CHANCES. You can’t be overcautious in a boat and it is far wiser to run for shelter or to shorten sail too soon or in a moderate wind than to wait too long or to carry too much sail in a hard blow. Wherever sailboats are used for pleasure one may see foolhardy men and boys sailing under full canvas in reefing weather and trying to show off but to the man who knows, such actions do not speak of skill or ability but merely of ignorance and bravado. Don’t mind if such reckless fools laugh at your caution and think you are timid; the chances are that you’ll be sailing about safely long after they are food for the fishes.

Before attempting to learn to sail it is well to know something of the principles of sailing and just why a boat under sail does certain things. Many landsmen cannot understand how a boat can sail against the wind or how it can sail with the wind abeam or blowing from the side without tipping over, but it’s really a very simple matter and if you understand why and how these things are accomplished you’ll be able to handle your boat far better than if you merely learn to do certain things without understanding the reasons for them.

Whenever the wind blows against a boat’s sails it has two distinct effects; one tending to push the boat sideways and ahead, the other to push it over or upset it. The former tendency is desirable and must be encouraged whereas the latter must be overcome or resisted.

The resistance which a boat offers to the upsetting or “heeling” force is termed stability and the amount of stability which a boat possesses depends upon its model, its proportions, its weight and many other factors. Many boats have enough stability to overcome the tendency to upset without any artificial aid, but as a rule sufficient stability can only be obtained by adding some weight or ballast at the bottom of the boat. This may take the form of lead or iron on the keel, a weighted centerboard, or lead, sandbags or other weights in the bottom of the hull.

When a boat is heeled over by the wind the sails act like a lever, with the fulcrum at the water line, while the hull below the water line represents the weight to be pried up. Of course you know that the longer the lever, beyond the fulcrum, as compared to the short end on the other side of the fulcrum, the greater is the power obtained.

Effect of Wind on Boats of Various Forms

Shaded portions indicate leverage of hull against sail. Outlined rectangles show relative stability areas.

Thus the farther a boat tips over the less force can the wind on the sails exert, for with every inch that the boat heels the length of the lever decreases, as will be seen by the accompanying diagram. For this reason a boat tips much more easily when upright than after it has heeled over a bit and for the same reason a shallow or flat-bottomed boat tips more readily than a deep hull.

It would be perfectly feasible to build a boat so deep that it would not tip at all, and likewise a boat could be built so heavy, or with so much ballast, that the leverage of the sails would be unable to heel it in the least. But neither of these schemes would be practical. If the boat was built too deep it would offer so much resistance to the water that the sails could not drive it forward and if built too heavy or if it carried too much ballast, it would be slow, clumsy and the sails and masts might be carried away before the boat moved.

Moreover it is not desirable to prevent a boat from tipping to a certain extent. Many boats sail at their best while heeled at a sharp angle and the tendency to tip also serves as a sort of safety valve by spilling the wind from the sails and warning the sailor that too much sail is being carried and thus serving a very useful purpose. Hence, in order to make boats safely stable without making them heavy, slow or clumsy, various forms of hulls and various methods of ballasting are adopted.

For example, if a boat is made very broad and shallow the result, when tipped, will be almost the same as if the hull was made very deep and narrow but the resistance to the water will be overcome. As the hull is tipped up by the leverage of the masts the upper side acts as a weight which must be lifted, and exerts just as great a counter-leverage as if the weight was under water. But instead of presenting a large surface with its attendant friction to the water the area of the boat’s surface is reduced the more it is tipped.

Such broad, flat hulls are very stiff, up to a certain point, and boats built in this manner are usually very fast when heeling far over, but when they are tipped a single inch beyond a certain point the weight of the raised side acts with the lever and flops the boat over in an instant. When a hull thus shaped is provided with a centerboard or a weighted keel it becomes far more stable. Many of the fastest racing boats are of this type, a form designed to sail the very best when heeled far over with half the bottom out of water. To add to the stability under such conditions the bows and sterns are cut away for a long distance so that when sailing on a level keel the surface in contact with the water is very small, while the further they tip to one side or the other the greater the length is increased.

But in every case, whether stability is obtained by great breadth or beam, by extreme depth from deck to keel, by ballast inside or outside, by fin-keel or otherwise, you should remember that the further under water the ballast is placed the less will be required. Always bear in mind that ballast or weight on the downward or lee side aids the boat in tipping, whereas the same weight, on the upper side, prevents it and that the weight placed on the high side will exert many times the force of the same weight in the center of the boat.

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. Sometimes one may see a “flying proa” tearing along in a perfect gale with half a dozen persons hanging on to the slender outrigger extending from the weather side, and by their weight alone preventing the queer craft from turning turtle.

All the above remarks refer to stability, but there is another factor which must be considered and which is known as lateral resistance, or in other words, the resistance offered to the water when moving sideways. A boat might be very stable and yet it might be worthless if it did not possess lateral resistance, for in that case it would merely slide sideways instead of going ahead and a properly designed boat must combine both stability and lateral resistance to the highest possible degree.

When sailing in any direction, save directly before the wind, there is a strong sideways pressure against the sails and unless the boat is provided with some means of overcoming this she will slip sideways or diagonally or will make “leeway,” as a sailor would say. Deep, narrow boats have great lateral resistance but their resistance to the water when moving forward is also great and hence the lateral resistance is usually obtained by means of deep, narrow keels, centerboard or leeboards. The knife-like keel offers little resistance to the water when moving forward but great resistance when moving sideways, while the centerboard may be pulled up entirely when moving forward with a wind from the rear, thus still further reducing the friction against the water.

If the boat possesses stability and lateral resistance and is properly rigged the wind blowing against the sails will have a tendency to force the stern of the craft away from the wind and the bow towards it. To overcome this the rudder must be turned until the pressure of the water against it has enough force to balance the action of the wind on the sails.

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, on the other hand, her sails are not adapted to her, if she is badly designed or improperly rigged, she will sail faster and faster, will fall more and more away from the wind and finally the sail will flop over to the other side and the boat will be upset or mast, sails and rigging will be carried away. Such a boat is a perfect deathtrap and should be avoided by all means.

Always try a new boat or a new rig to see how it will act if the helm is left when sails are set. If the boat comes up in the wind quickly of her own accord you may be sure she will come about readily when required and that she will take care of herself if at any time you are compelled to leave the tiller for a few moments. But don’t condemn the boat if she falls off and sails away as I have described. As a rule this fault lies in the rig rather than in the boat itself and often a slight alteration in the shape or size of the sails or even the position of the mast will make all the difference between a safe and a dangerous boat.

If the sails are too far forward a boat may have a tendency to fall off and take a hard lee helm, whereas if too far aft the boat may have such a hard weather helm that it is impossible to prevent her from swinging up into the wind. Then again, the mast and sail may be in the right position and the sail may have its greatest area too far forward or too far aft, or the rudder may be too small. Try various adjustments before deciding the craft is hopeless and strive to have your boat so arranged that when sailing close-hauled a slight pressure must be exerted on the tiller to prevent her from coming into the wind or luffing, while just the instant this pressure is released she will swing up in the wind’s eye with the sail fluttering and will hang there indefinitely, merely falling off, coming up again and remaining practically stationary in one place.

To a great many people it appears remarkable that a boat can sail against the wind, but it is a very simple matter indeed and depends upon the same principles which make a kite fly, an aeroplane rise or a windmill turn. In every case the result is brought about by the pressure of the wind upon a curved or angular surface and while the boat and windmill depend upon the wind to move them and the aeroplane produces the wind by moving rapidly through still air, yet the results in each case are identical and the object, unable to move away from the wind moves against it or at right angles to it.

Whenever a moving mass of matter, such as air or water, strikes a curved surface two effects result, the first being to force the object aside, the other to force it ahead by what is known as “reaction.” If a solid object, such as a bullet, strikes a slanting surface it glances off and frequently it loses very little of its force in doing so. The wind, when striking a curved surface, glances off and exerts its force at an angle.

The pressure of this glancing blow and the force exerted by the wind against the surrounding air as it slides off the sail, has a tendency to force the sail, or other surface, ahead. The direction in which the object is forced and the power required to move it depend upon the curve or angle which is presented to the wind.

The broader the angle at which the wind strikes, the less loss of force there is and the greater the power which the wind exerts upon the sail. Thus, when the wind is directly against the sail, very little power is wasted and the whole force drives the boat ahead as none of the wind can glance off. If the boat is brought around until the wind blows from one side and the sail is pulled in until it is at an angle, the wind exerts a combined sideways and forward pressure and the boat sails at right angles to the wind; whereas if the sail is drawn still closer towards the center of the boat and the craft is headed nearer to the wind, the wind skips off the sail producing but little forward or sideways pressure but forcing the boat almost against the direction from which the wind blows. But if the boat is headed too close to the wind and the sail hauled in too near the center of the boat no headway will be made for the wind will then slip off the sail without exerting enough force to move the boat forward. If you will always bear these facts in mind you will find it far easier to learn to sail and you will also understand why you should always let your sail out as far as possible without letting it flutter or “spill” the wind.

Sailing

1—Before the wind or running free. 2—With wind on the quarter. 3—Beam wind or reaching. 4—Head wind or close hauled. 5—Tacking or beating to windward. 6—Going about with boat carrying a jib. 7—Making a long and short leg. 8—How a wind acts on a boat close hauled. 9—Jibing. 10—Wearing ship. 11—Tacking off the wind to avoid beam seas.

Having thoroughly mastered these simple principles of why a boat sails you can safely start to learn how to handle your boat. If possible, have an experienced sailor go with you when learning; you will find his advice worth more than all the printed directions in the world, but even alone you’ll have no trouble in learning to sail if you take plenty of time, master one thing thoroughly before trying another and use common sense and judgment. Before leaving shore or the anchorage be sure that everything is in the boat and in the proper place. There should be oars and oarlocks, a bailer, an anchor and plenty of line and all ropes should be neatly coiled where they are free to run out without becoming kinked, caught or tangled.

Make it a point always to keep the sheet clear and never tie it or make it fast when sailing. More accidents to sailboats have resulted from a tangled or fast sheet than from any other one cause.

When hoisting sail the sheet should be left slack enough to allow the sail to swing freely from side to side, but it should not be entirely free or the sail may swing out at right angles and strike some neighboring boat or obstruction, or it may even wrap itself about the mast and cause no end of trouble.

It is best to commence sailing “on the wind” or with the wind from one side or partly over the stern, for this is the easiest and safest kind of sailing. In this position most boats sail their best and obtain their greatest speed. If the wind is directly from one side the sail should be eased off until the forward edge commences to flutter, but if the wind is over the quarter the sail must be trimmed in order to be at as nearly a right angle to the wind as possible, as shown in the diagrams.

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.

If you attempt to turn about without doing this the sail will swing violently across from one side to the other, or in sailors’ parlance, will jibe and while an experienced hand will jibe a boat with perfect safety an amateur is very likely to capsize or to carry away masts and rigging.

It may seem at first as if sailing right before the wind would be the easiest thing to accomplish, but this is a great mistake. To sail before the wind, save in very light airs and with a small sail, requires a great deal of care and not a little skill.

A great many boats have a tendency to yaw or to swing wildly from side to side when thus sailing and when this is the case the sail is very likely to jibe with serious results. Even if this does not happen the sail may bag out and make the boat steer hard or the boom may “kick up” and become almost unmanageable. If allowed to swing out too far the boat may refuse to obey its helm and will swing around to the wind, regardless of your efforts to keep it on its course, while if kept in too closely the wind may catch it on the wrong side and jibe it suddenly.

In a heavy sea there is the added danger of the boom catching in a wave and “tripping” and either upsetting the boat or jibing as a result. If your boat yaws, if the boom kicks up badly, or if there is much of a wind, don’t try to sail before the wind but sail partly side to it and go about every little while and thus zigzag towards your destination as shown in the sketch. If, while sailing before the wind or with a beam wind, you should desire to alter your course and bring the sail over the opposite side, don’t turn away from the wind and jibe the sail, but haul in the sheet, turn into the wind and swing about in a circle until the sail is on the opposite side and you are headed in the desired direction. This manner of turning about when sailing free or before the wind, is called wearing ship and to perform the evolution neatly and in a sailor-like manner will require some practice, for the sail must be hauled in and the helm put over at the same time and in perfect unison.

If the helm is put down too quickly the sail will flap and thrash and the boat may not come about, whereas if the sail is hauled in too rapidly and the helm is not thrown over promptly the boat may be tipped dangerously. Sometimes, however, it becomes necessary to jibe, while at other times a sudden shift of wind or some other cause may make a boat jibe despite every effort to prevent it.

When it becomes necessary to jibe, or if it is seen that it cannot be avoided, haul in the sheet just as rapidly as possible and just as soon as the boom passes the center of the boat pay out the sheet smoothly and quickly so that there will be no sudden jerk or pull as the wind swings the sail over. If there is much wind blowing it is a wise plan to lower the peak of the sail before jibing and when sailing before the wind dropping the peak will often make the boat sail better.

In sailing before the wind it is very important to have the boat ballasted or “trimmed” correctly. If there is too much weight near the bow the boat will invariably yaw and may bury her nose and swamp herself. On the other hand, if there is too much weight near the stern she may steer badly, but this is never as bad nor as dangerous as having her down by the head. If the boom has a tendency to jibe, to swing badly 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. Some boats come about more quickly with the board up; others refuse to come round unless it is down, and some sail better with the board down, even when dead before the wind. When tacking or sailing on the wind the board should always be down, however.

As a rule a boat should be trimmed so that the stern is a little deeper than the bow and while the effect of a badly trimmed boat is more evident when sailing before the wind, yet in sailing on the wind a little fault in the proper distribution of weight may make a vast difference in the behavior of the boat.

When you have become thoroughly accustomed to handling your boat on the wind you may try tacking or sailing to windward or against the wind. As I have already explained no boat will sail directly against the wind, but by sailing as close to it as possible in one direction, then turning and sailing as close as you can in the opposite direction and repeating the operation at intervals progress may be made directly towards the wind.

This is known as “tacking” or “beating” and while it requires considerable skill and practice to beat to windward to the best advantage yet it is not difficult to learn to tack and one can only become proficient by practice and by becoming thoroughly familiar with the boat.

Some boats will sail far closer to the wind than others and every boat has a certain point at which she will sail to windward to the best advantage. The nearer the boat is headed into the wind the closer or “flatter” the sail must be “trimmed” or hauled in and there is always a point at which the vessel loses headway and falls off the wind. For this reason it is a waste of time to try to sail too close to the wind and the objective point will be reached far quicker by heading off more and obtaining greater speed and making frequent tacks, than by attempting to head nearer the direction you desire to go and then losing almost as much as you gain by the boat’s sliding to leeward.

The idea is to keep your boat pointed as near the wind as she will sail well and the sails should be trimmed in until quite flat each time you tack. Then, as the boat swings over on the other tack, the sail should be eased off a bit to obtain headway and the boat should be again headed towards the wind until the edge of the sail begins to flutter and wrinkle. This shows you are sailing as close to the wind as advisable and to sailors it is known as sailing full and by. Every few moments the boat may be brought a trifle closer to the wind and then eased off so that the sail is always filled and yet the edge, by its fluttering, shows the helmsman that the sheet is trimmed properly.

Some boats have a remarkable power of “eating into” the wind in this way and although headed quite a bit off the wind will progress almost directly into the wind’s eye. If the wind is quite stiff a great deal may also be gained by luffing up from time to time, or in other words bringing the boat directly into the wind, allowing her to shoot ahead for a short distance and before she loses headway bringing her off until she catches the wind again.

A great deal of the skill in tacking depends upon one’s ability to judge just when to come about on the other tack. Very few boats will sail equally well on both tacks and as soon as you find on which tack your boat sails best you can make your longest tacks or “lays” on that tack and make shorter tacks when sailing with the wind on the other bow.

To make too many short tacks is a mistake for each time you go about you lose a trifle of what you have gained, but to make tacks which are too long is also a mistake, for you travel a great deal further than is necessary in this way. As a rule a long and a short leg is the best method to follow. This consists of making long tacks, or lays, close to the wind and then going about and making shorter and quicker reaches in the other direction a little farther off the wind. All of these maneuvers are illustrated in the diagrams and by studying these you will readily see just how the boat may be sailed directly to windward.

When ready to go about on a new tack the boat should always be eased off a little, the sails loosened lightly and as soon as the speed increases the rudder should be thrown hard over, the tiller being pushed away from the wind. As the boat wheels about the sheet should be hauled in briskly until it begins to fill on the opposite side. Then ease it off gradually until good headway is made and trim in and head up to the wind as before.

When tacking with other persons in the boat you should always signal before going about or tacking by crying, “Ready about” and as the boat is brought into the wind, call, “Hard-a-lee” and at these words your passengers should duck their heads as the boom swings over or should shift their seats to the other side of the boat if she heels over very much.

Some boats have a tendency to remain hanging in the wind when brought about or else come into the wind and fall off on the same tack again. This is known as missing stays and when it occurs you should swing the boat’s head around by an oar over the stern or hold the boom or sail far over to windward until the bow swings around. If the boat has a centerboard she may often be brought about quickly by raising the board as you swing her into the wind and then dropping it again as the sail fills away on the other tack.

If the boat carries a jib she will seldom miss stays if the jib is hauled flat as you go about and is kept sheeted to windward until the other sails fill away on the other tack. Then the windward sheet of the jib should be eased off and the leeward sheet should be trimmed in as shown in the illustration.

Usually a well built boat, if properly trimmed and rigged, will seldom miss stays except in heavy seas or in a very light wind or a strong current and often a boat under reefed sails will come about more easily and will sail to windward far better than under full canvas.

Remember that a boat’s sheets can be trimmed flatter in light winds and smooth waters than in rough seas and strong winds and that even a comparatively small sea will cause the sail to swing and spill the wind and thus lose headway.

Don’t forget that when a boat, sailing close-hauled is to be turned so as to sail off the wind the sheets must be eased off as she swings about and in the same way a boat sailing free must have her sheets hauled in as you bring her up into the wind.

The foregoing directions apply to boats with one sail only and it is best to learn to sail with such a craft and then you will find it much easier to learn to handle a boat with headsails or jibs.

Many small boats have the jib sheet attached to a sliding block or ring which can move from side to side on a traveler and when thus arranged the jib requires little or no attention when tacking.

As a rule, however, the jib has two sheets, one on either side, which lead aft and in tacking these require attention. As the boat is turned into the wind the lee sheet is let go, the jib flutters and the instant the mainsail begins to fill on the other tack the jib sheet should be trimmed flat as before, and then, as the boat pays off on the new tack the sheets may be trimmed to obtain the best results.

One advantage of a jib is that in case the boat misses stays, or fails to come about readily, her head may be brought around by keeping the lee jib sheet trimmed until the boat swings around and if the main boom is held far towards the lee side at the same time the boat will be almost certain to pay off.

If for any reason she refuses and commences to move backwards don’t forget that the tiller must be turned in the same direction as that in which you wish the head of the boat to go, or in other words, in exactly the opposite direction to that in which you would turn it if moving ahead.

If a boat misses stays in heavy wind or squalls, ease off the main sheet, lower the peak a little and trim the jib to the windward. Then if the boat does not gather headway but heels, lower the mainsail at once. When sailing on the wind with a jib and mainsail, trim the lee jib sheet to get the full benefit of the sail and if running before the wind either lower the jib or “wing it out” on the opposite side to the mainsail by means of a light sprit, a boat-hook or an oar, so it will catch the wind.

When you are thoroughly familiar with sailing before the wind, on the wind and against the wind in light breezes and smooth water, you should practice coming to a mooring or a landing. The ability to make a good landing marks a good sailor and nothing looks worse or bespeaks poorer seamanship than to make a clumsy landing.

Never attempt to make a landing or a mooring until you have learned just how far your boat will luff or “shoot” ahead when brought into the wind. By trying a number of times you can soon determine this and a mighty good plan is to practice luffing up to a stake or a float in the water.

When approaching a mooring or landing try to approach it from the leeward side; sail as nearly into the wind as possible and when you are near enough so that you think the boat will shoot to the mooring by her own momentum, bring her right into the wind’s eye and ease off the sheet so that the sail flutters and then steer the boat as close to the mooring as you can.

Never attempt to shoot the boat to the windward side of a mooring or landing if it can be avoided, but come up with the mooring or landing on your windward side.

If conditions are such that you cannot approach the mooring or landing from the lee side and you are compelled to run for it before the wind or with a beam wind, there are two methods which may be followed. One is to lower sail and let the boat run to the mooring under bare poles and the other is to ease off the sheet until the sail offers no surface to the wind. When coming before the wind the former method is the only right one and in order not to approach too rapidly it is a good plan to drop most of the sail long before the landing is reached and leave just the upper portion raised so as to catch the wind and carry the boat along very slowly. Then, when close to the mooring, drop this and drift slowly to the spot where you are to make fast.

If you are using a boat with a jib that sail should be lowered as you approach your moorings and you should come to the place under mainsail alone, as a jib as always in the way when going forward to make fast, and, moreover, it will frequently catch a puff of wind and force the head of the boat off at just the wrong instant.

If you are coming up to a dock or wharf don’t run to it head-on if it can be avoided, but run slanting towards it or alongside, for in that case if your boat has too much headway it will merely strike the dock a glancing blow and do little, if any, damage, whereas the same blow head-on might start a plank or timber or cause other serious damage.

These remarks apply to fairly good sized sailboats and if you are sailing in a very small open boat it is often easier to take in sail and row to a mooring than to sail to it.

When getting away from a mooring or dock some skill and practice are required, especially if in waters where there are numerous other boats. If you are on the lee side of a dock it is very easy to hoist sail, trim the sheets flat, shove off the bow and start away; but if on the windward side and you hoist sail the wind will force your craft against the dock and make getting under way very difficult. At such times the best plan is to row or pole your boat out from the dock before hoisting sail and then get under way in open water.

If at a mooring or an anchorage the boat’s head may be swung off the wind by hauling in the anchor from the lee side or by holding the sail far over to windward, but in every case you should look about, decide on your course and make a mental note of the position of neighboring craft before getting away from your moorings.

When coming to an anchorage have the anchor ready to drop and the anchor line coiled so it will run out readily. When you reach the spot selected, luff up, allow the boat to lose her headway and then drop your anchor by casting it ahead of the boat.

If you cast your anchor out while the boat is still moving ahead your boat will overrun it and it may not get a good hold on the bottom, to say nothing of the danger of getting the line entangled with the flukes. If coming to an anchorage before the wind, drop the sails, and wait until the boat loses headway and if on the wind either lower sails or let the sheet flow.

Never, under any circumstances, allow the sheet to run out entirely for there is never any necessity of allowing the sail to swing out beyond right angles to the boat. If it swings farther it becomes a source of danger.

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.

When you have learned to sail in all directions in smooth weather and have learned how to get under way and how to come to moorings you should put in some time learning how to reef quickly.