Yachting Volume Ii Part 13

You cannot make any kind of soup in an ordinary way that will keep in bottle. The 'extracts of meat' do not contain any nouris.h.i.+ng property; in fact, if you take any two animals, human or otherwise, feed one on water only, and the other on 'extracts of meat' only, the latter will be _sure_ to die first (proven). As a consequence of all this we find it desirable to make our soups aboard, and for that purpose carry meats, &c., in the carbonic-acid box I have described.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ringsend, Dublin.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Monkstown, Dublin Bay.]

But the 'extracts of meat' _are_ of great use in making rich and delicious gravies. They may not be very economical, but that cannot be perfectly studied in a boat, and it is possible to dress up the not too stewed contents of the stewpot, after the soup has been poured off, with a few capers, a little salt, a suspicion of pepper, and a thickened gravy made of 'extract of beef,' just thick enough to make a coating around each piece of meat--call it 'stewed beef,' or a more elaborate name if you like--and you will find that not only will none of it be left, but also no one will suspect it to be the remains of the soup at table a quarter of an hour before. The fish we have had meantime, it goes without saying, considering we are in Dublin Bay, is abundant and delicious. I do not know why Dublin Bay herrings should have such a delicate and inimitable flavour. The fish are much smaller than the Scotch herrings and are beautifully marked, and require only a drop or two of Harvey's sauce (Lazenby's) to bring out the proper flavour--they are of course grilled.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Ireland's Eye.]

With the small stores I have found it economical and convenient to set aside portions for each day. Thus, if the cruise is to be for ten days, I wrap up ten portions of cheese, for example, in air-tight paper, and there is not a moment's loss of time when cheese is required for dinner. b.u.t.ter for each day is similarly kept in jars; that which is over after each day is not wasted. Bread is kept in glazed earthen crocks with covers; salt in glazed earthenware jars; tea and coffee in bottles with air-tight screw covers; everything that can be put into an air-tight case is so protected, and each case has a particular fitting in a particular locker, so that no time is lost looking for it, no room is wasted, and if the boat gives a lurch or two nothing falls about nor is spilled.

In a coasting cruise you can always send a boat ash.o.r.e for plenty of fresh vegetables; but, except fish, eggs, and crustacea, you cannot get any other good provisions at any provincial place of call.

'Billy,' our cook, had been to sea on a coaster, where he filled a similar berth. His ideas of the perfection of cooking took the direction of 'plum duff,' of course taking especial care that most of the plums were at one end, the end the skipper would be sure to select. We had no 'plum duff' in the 'Iris,' but Billy's training was of such use that little instruction was needed to enable him to make a very respectable orange pudding, and to deftly and lightly make a paste suitable as a cover for any baked dish. In utilising food that is always at hand in a cruising boat, as crabs, scollops, oysters, &c., few can excel a sailor cook after he has been carefully shown how to dress them; and to this end it is necessary that the hon. steward should be able to perform each operation himself. It is not sufficient to have a cookery book aboard; as a general rule some little petty detail is omitted, it may be a quant.i.ty, or a matter of _modus operandi_, which perplexes the operator at the critical moment and makes the dish a solemn doubt. On the other hand, if the hon. steward selects such recipes as he thinks will be useful from some good cookery books, and practically tests them ash.o.r.e, he will be able to find out the weak points and amend them, and will have the gratification to know that the crew is not doing violence to itself by tasting his dishes in commiseration for his feelings. In small craft it too often, indeed nearly always, happens, that the feeding department is very crudely dealt with, and the material aliment itself is adequately described by the half-raw, half-boiled, stale, tough, naked generic term of 'grub.'

'WATER WAGS' AND 'MERMAIDS' OF DUBLIN BAY

BY THOMAS B. MIDDLETON

Kingstown is the headquarters of the Royal Alfred Yacht Club, the Royal Irish Yacht Club, the Royal St. George Yacht Club, and several minor sailing clubs, including the Water Wags.

The pleasantest part of a coast to reside on is, perhaps, that which has a sandy beach shelving gently down into deep water. Along such a beach in fine weather boating, bathing, and fis.h.i.+ng are easy and enjoyable occupations; the wavelets ripple, making soft music with the pebbles, and the little skiff lies half in the water waiting to be stepped into and pushed off. But such halcyon weather cannot always be counted on in this climate. The waves are not always ripples; they quickly turn first to breakers and then to a heavy surf, that surges up to the highest water mark if the weather becomes at all broken or the wind comes in from the sea, and consequently the boatman must be prepared to deal with such a change when it occurs, and overcome the many difficulties then presented.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Mermaids of Dublin Bay Sailing Club.

Water-Wag Dublin Bay.

_All matches sailed under Rules of the WATER-WAG Club_]

First, the boat cannot be left anch.o.r.ed in the open, as she will surely be lost or damaged in a gale. She must therefore be able 'to take the ground handsomely'; that is, she cannot have a deep keel, for her bottom must be broad and flat; and, secondly, she cannot have any weight of ballast in her, as it would fatally strain her when she stranded, and make her too heavy to draw out of the reach of the waves. Now, a boat with no keel and no ballast makes, as everyone knows, a bad sailor; in fact, she will only run dead before the wind like a duck's feather on the water: so a little keel of 3 in. or 4 in.

is generally used, and the boat ballasted with sandbags filled on the beach, or stones, which are emptied or thrown overboard before landing again. This plan has the objections of being very laborious and making the boat very heavy to launch. If she s.h.i.+ps two or three seas in the operation she becomes hopelessly submerged, and the advantages gained are very slight, as such a boat will scarcely sail closer to the wind than a broad reach--even then making considerable leeway and being very slow and uncertain in stays.

It was to improve on this state of affairs on the beach of this description that is to be found at Shankill, in the county of Dublin, that the 'Water Wag' was evolved from a Norwegian _pram_, into which a boiler-plate was fitted for a centreboard as an experiment. This novel craft was called the 'Cemiostama.' She was built in the year 1878, and was a great success; she sailed like a witch, carried a large sail with ease without any ballast save the iron-plate, worked well to windward without making any leeway, spun round like a top when the tiller was put down, and when the boiler-plate was raised she ran in on the surf, floated in a few inches of water, and eventually sat on the strand on her flat bottom. The plate (which weighed nearly 1 cwt.) was then lifted out of her, and she became as light to haul up as an ordinary sh.o.r.e skiff.

It was accordingly decided to build seven or eight centreboard double-ended 13-ft. punts with great beam (4 ft. 10 in.), full lines, and a flat floor. The 13 ft. was chosen as the best size that two persons could haul up without help, a larger boat being too heavy for two, and consequently liable to damage by being left in the surf while help was being obtained; and the round stern was to divide the surf when the forepart stranded, and prevent it jumping into the boat as it does in the case of a square stern.

In order that these boats might have an occasional race between themselves, to preserve the type and to save the expense of outbuilding and the trouble of handicapping and time allowance, it was further arranged that all the boats should be built on the same lines, and the canvas limited to a cruising amount. This was accordingly done, and they proved themselves to be such good seaboats, and so generally useful for two or three amateurs to amuse themselves along the sh.o.r.e in, that 'The Water Wag a.s.sociation' was started in 1887, to further develope and preserve the principles of the cla.s.s. Though it was started by boys, several older Wags joined, and as the boat was never designed for speed, the racing was not originally intended to be hard-down serious sport, but more a sort of friendly sail round a course in boats all alike, and that consequently should be all together; but of course skill in working would bring one to the front and make her harder to catch. Hence the rollicking t.i.tle 'Water Wag,'

and the inst.i.tution of a king and queen, bishops, knights, and rooks, to manage the affairs of the club, their chief duties being to get up as much fun and as many jolly water excursions as possible.

The first two or three seasons saw this idea carried out with great success; but gradually the racing grew more keen and serious, until it eventually became the sole object for which the boats a.s.sembled, so much so that it is now nothing but racing from early in April till late in September. The Water Wags' own races are held round Kingstown Harbour (the head quarters having migrated there when the generation which formed the Shankill Corinthian Sailing Club grew up and disintegrated over the world); others are got up for them by the Dublin Bay Sailing Club in Scotchman's Bay, outside the harbour, and there are races at the local regattas at Kingstown, Dalkey Bray, Greystones, Wicklow, Clontarf, Howth, and Malahide; so that since the cla.s.s was started they have had nearly 300 compet.i.tions.

They have greatly increased in numbers, and have become quite a local type of small boats in Kingstown, as they work in and out through the yachts and s.h.i.+pping, and are very handy to take four or five persons in to listen to the bands from the water.

They are not confined to Kingstown Harbour, however, as they have sent representatives to the River Plate, Hong Kong, the Persian Gulf, Australia, and many foreign ports. Their principle has been largely adopted in the B division of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club, which consists of 18-ft. boats, called 'Mermaids,' which are practically large Water Wags, being entirely open, with 6-feet beam, fitted with centreboard and carrying no ballast. These have a limited racing sail-area of 180 feet, but they are not further confined as to shape, and some have the rounded stern and some the square. They are very fast, lively boats, requiring a crew of three or four nimble hands, princ.i.p.ally to be employed in s.h.i.+fting ballast, and they give a great deal of sport, as many as twelve or fourteen starting in a race every Sat.u.r.day afternoon.

The 'Water Wag' costs complete between 15_l._ and 20_l._, a silk racing lug from Lapthorn and Ratsey alone coming to 2_l._ 15_s._ McAllister, of Dumbarton, built most of them; but Atkinson, of Bullock, Co. Dublin, and Doyle, of Kingstown, have built many more.

In handling, the skipper--especially if he is a tiro at the art--must be very careful, as 75 sq. ft. of canvas, and a 13-ft. mast in a 13-ft. boat, without ballast, require attention and caution if there are any puffs knocking round; so that the mainsheet must never be made fast, no matter how fine and calm the weather is; the halliards should also run very free, and the oars should always be carried, in case it becomes judicious to lower the sail in a squall. But a little practice will enable the skipper to sail his boat without danger during weather that any small open boat can be out in; and it is really marvellous what weather and seas the Water Wags have gone through.

Sailing out of sight of help in any small open boat is to be deprecated, and no exception to this rule is to be made with Water Wags, as they unquestionably run a risk of filling in unskilful hands; but, in that event, the absence of ballast is an advantage, for they do not go to the bottom as a ballasted boat will, but will actually support their crew if no attempt is made to climb up on them.

A lug of 60 sq. ft. is ample to begin with; and for most days when not racing, and for single-handed sailing, a reef should be taken in, or two kegs of water-ballast carried, unless on a very fine day.

The following sailing regulations are carefully enforced during racing:--

Only the boats of members shall compete in the races, and as it is one of the fundamental principles of the Water Wags that the boats shall be similar in every respect save sail-plan, it shall be in the power of the officer of the day to disqualify any boat that, in his opinion, is trying to gain an unfair advantage by infringing the above principle.

Each boat shall not carry more than three or less than two persons during a race, all of whom shall be amateurs, and shall be steered by either a member or a lady. And no money shall be awarded to a boat for a walk-over, but she may fly a flag therefor. Each boat shall carry on all proceedings of the Water Wags, all her platforms, floorings, thwarts, and stern sheets, also a pair of oars not less than 9 ft. long, with spurs or rowlocks for same; also, either one solid cork ring-shaped life-buoy, not less than 30 in. in external diameter, and capable of floating for three hours 21 lbs. of iron suspended therefrom, or two smaller ones of the same material and shape, which shall each float for the same time 14 lbs. of iron; or they may subst.i.tute a cork life-belt that will float 10 lbs. for three hours for each of the small life-buoys, providing each life-belt is worn the entire time the boat is afloat. Before taking a prize the owner of the boat shall declare to the party awarding it that the spirit of this rule has been carried out. And it shall also be the duty of every other compet.i.tor to protest against a boat without a life-buoy. The life-buoys shall rest unattached to anything in the boat, with nothing over or resting on them, so that they will immediately float out in the event of a capsize.

All persons on board who cannot swim 100 yards are requested to _wear_ life-jackets.

The following are the limitations of a 'Water Wag' 13-footer:

Length over all, 13 ft.; beam, 4 ft. 10 in.; depth and lines, that of model A.

Centreboard to be of iron and pivoted at forward end of casing. Length shall not exceed 4 ft. When hauled up flush with top of casing, no portion shall project below keel.

Immersed surface below keel shall not exceed 2-1/2 sq. ft.

Thickness at any point shall not exceed 3/8 of an inch.

Keel outside garboard strake, inclusive of thickness of keelband, if any, shall not exceed in depth 1-1/2 in.

Keelband of iron, bra.s.s, or copper, not to exceed in thickness 1/4 in.

Stem and stern post.--Moulded depth of, to be clear of hood by not less than 2 in.

Kedge not to exceed 15 lbs. No metal cable allowed. No ballast of any description save water.

Mast not to exceed over all 13 ft., measured from top of keel to truck, and not to be stepped above keel more than 3 in.

Fore and aft sails not to exceed 75 sq. ft. in area.

Spinnaker not to exceed 60 sq. ft. in area, and is only to be used before the wind, and in no case as a jib.

A full-sized tracing of the builder's moulds can be obtained by sending 2_s._ to the Society for Employment of Women 21 Kildare Street, Dublin.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 'King's Fisher,' 1776.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Commodore Thomas Taylor, of the c.u.mberland Fleet, 1780.]

CHAPTER IV

THE THAMES CLUBS AND WINDERMERE

THE ROYAL THAMES YACHT CLUB