Practical Boat-Sailing Part 8

VELOCITY OF WIND.

Generally speaking, a wind that blows sixteen miles an hour is called a fresh breeze. One that blows eighteen miles an hour calls for a single reef; and twenty miles, a close reef. Twenty-four miles an hour is a gale; whilst thirty miles an hour is a fresh gale.

THE LOG, REEL, AND HALF-MINUTE GLa.s.s.

This method of ascertaining how fast the yacht is moving through the water, and hence to calculate her position, has been almost done away with by the use of what is termed the "patent log," which is now almost universally used, and which consists of a small propeller of bra.s.s, which is towed astern, and records its own revolutions on dials. But, to enable one to use the common log-line and gla.s.s, the following description is written: The half-minute gla.s.s is of the same form as an hour-gla.s.s, and contains such a quant.i.ty of sand as will run through its neck in twenty-eight seconds of time; or a watch with a second-hand may be used, if the gla.s.s is not handy. The _log_ is a piece of thin board of a quadrantal form, about the size and shape of a quarter-section of the bottom of a common water-pail, loaded on the circular side with enough lead to make it swim upright in the water. To this is fastened a line, about one hundred and fifty fathoms in length, called the _log-line_, which is divided into intervals called _knots_, and is wound on a reel which turns very easily.

To ascertain the velocity at which the yacht is sailing is called _heaving the log_, and is performed as follows: one person holds the reel, and another the half-minute gla.s.s, whilst a third throws the log over the stern on the lee-side; and, when he observes that the stray line has run off (which is about ten fathoms), and the first mark (which is generally a red rag) has pa.s.sed the stern, he sings out, _Turn_: the gla.s.s-holder answers, _Turn_, and, watching the gla.s.s, the moment it has run out, sings out, _Stop_. The reel being immediately stopped, the last mark run off shows the number of knots that the yacht has sailed during the last hour, if the wind has been constant.

The log-line is marked as follows: allow ten fathoms for stray line, and then insert a red rag, and at every 47.6 feet mark the line as follows: at one, one leather; at two, two knots; at three, three knots; and also have a small mark at each half-knot, and so on to ten and twelve knots.

The principle of the log-line is, that a knot is the same part of a sea-mile that half a minute is of an hour: therefore the length of a knot should be one hundred and twentieth the length of a sea-mile, or fifty-one feet; but, as it is more convenient to have the knot divided into eight parts of six feet each, the proportional reduction is necessary in the half-minute gla.s.s.

BUOYS.

In entering harbors, the _red buoys_ are to be left upon the starboard hand, and the _black_ buoys upon the port hand.

MAN OVERBOARD.

Throw overboard at once any light object that will float, such as a stool, oar, boat-hook, or life-preserver, for him to grasp; then bring the yacht at once to the wind and heave her to, and pick up the man with the tender, or by going about and standing for him. _Don't look out astern for the man where he disappeared_, but out on the beam, which will be his position when the yacht is brought to the wind.

CHAPTER VII.

PRACTICAL HINTS ON BOAT-SAILING.

Remember, in the first place, that no small boat fit to be called a sail-boat can capsize, unless the sail is confined by the sheet being made fast.

If the sail is loose, and the boom, or lower leach of the sail, as the case may be, can move in a direction parallel to the wind, or in the "wind's eye" as sailors would say, the boat cannot be upset by an ordinary gust of wind.

In other words, in all fore-and-aft sails, such as are used almost the world over for small sail-boats, the sheet, or rope that confines the after-part of the sail to the stern-part of the boat, is the key to the whole science of boat-sailing.

If one knows how to use the sheet properly, one knows how to sail a boat with comparative safety. Of course it is supposed that he should also understand flaws of wind and their effects.

It is the flaws of wind caught by the sail--more than it can bear--that capsize a boat; and, if the wind that has force enough to do this could be "spilled" out of the sail, the boat would be immediately relieved.

Therefore to insure safety, the person steering a boat should never belay the sheet, but keep it in hand, so as to be able to slack it off gradually, or cast it off entirely at a moment's notice. To do this, only one turn should be taken round the cleat; so that the sheet will slip under the force of a gust of wind, when the hand retaining it in place slackens it in the slightest degree.

If the whole sail points towards the wind's eye, it no longer has any effect upon the boat. The sail then shakes in the wind exactly as a flag does from the top of a flag-staff, the wind pa.s.sing by on both sides.

Should the sheet be hauled aft, the sail would be filled with wind upon one side, and, if the wind had strength to overcome the gravity of the boat, capsize her.

Or, if the boat is so heavy ballasted that its gravity cannot be readily overcome, the mast or sail are liable to be carried away, and danger incurred on account of the towing mast and sail. These would most likely draw the boat into the trough of the sea, where she would be swamped almost instantly.

It does not follow, because the slacking of the sheet is a safe thing to do, that it should always be done. With boatmen who are thoroughly practised, it seldom is done; for they can obtain the same result with the rudder by bringing the boat into the wind until the sail shakes, with the sheet still fast. This gives more control of the boat than would be the case if the boom were out to leeward, perhaps dragging in the water, on account of the pressure of the wind upon the hull and mast.

The very best thing to do in a sudden squall is to use a modification of both these methods; i.e., slack off the sheet for a foot or two, so that the sail, before it can fill with wind, will be at such an angle with the hull, that the shock upon the latter cannot be great. This gives one more command of the boat, and insures quicker movement of the hull, and hence quicker obedience to the helm, should a sudden change occur. This slacking of the sheet also prevents the boat from going about on the other tack, should she be brought too suddenly to the wind.

With an experienced hand at the helm, unless the squall is very severe, there is no need of luffing so as to shake the sail to any great degree.

The slightest movement of the tiller will keep the sail just quivering in the wind, the boat still advancing, so that she will not lose steerage-way; thus enabling one to at once luff up nearer to the wind, or change the boat's position rapidly, should the wind, which is often the case, s.h.i.+ft its direction suddenly.

Nothing is of more importance than to keep steerage-way on the boat, as it is only in the utmost emergency that the sheet should be slacked wholly off, and the headway lost.

If the boat is well under command when the squall is seen advancing, then the method of steering into the wind's eye may be safely adopted, and is, in fact, the better and more seamanlike method.

In small sail-boats on ponds, or arms of the sea, when a thunder-shower is coming up,--which can always be seen in time,--it is, as a rule, much the safest plan to take the boat as quickly as possible towards the nearest harbor or land, unless rocky, inaccessible, or dangerous; in which case, furl all sail and let go an anchor, paying out such a scope of cable that the boat will ride easily. Then wait for the coming blast.

However severe it may be, the thunder-gust can then do no harm. With an oar you can head the boat towards the coming blast, so that she will feel but little of its force, and prevent the dragging of the anchor.

Thunder-showers are particularly dangerous, however, from the fact that they almost always make their way directly against the prevailing wind.

When the two winds meet, and one finds one's self in the vortex between them, it is very difficult to command a boat. Each wind, fighting for the supremacy, will fill the sails with gusts, for which one does not more than have time to prepare before a counter-gust will throw them aback, or violently to the opposite side of the boat. Often, in fact, the wind, blowing a gale all the time, will in less than five minutes have visited every point of the compa.s.s. An anchor down and a furled sail are the best for all small, open, or half-decked boats or yachts in such an emergency.

Boats are often capsized by persons on board suddenly scrambling to the windward, or upper side, when a squall buries the lee gunwale in the water. Should the boat at this moment be taken aback by a counter squall or flaw, she will almost surely capsize, for in one moment the windward side becomes the leeward side; and the ma.s.s of weight hanging to what was, a moment before, the weather-side, will carry the boat over. It is too late to try and struggle back again: the bodies are all in the wrong position to be able to turn around inboard towards the centre of the boat. In their helpless postures they face the waves that are ready to devour them.

The safest position in an open boat, when preparing for an approaching squall, is, for all except the helmsman, to sit down in the bottom of the boat, as near the centre as possible, thus being safe from any blows from the boom of the sail, and increasing the steadiness of the boat in a marked degree. Here they act as ballast, and do much good in keeping the boat upright.

To the above knowledge should be added also the science of reefing the sails of a boat quickly and neatly, so that she will stand up under a great pressure of wind.

The mistake most frequently made is to neglect to reef till it is too late. Landsmen scarcely ever calculate how quickly wind moves, and how suddenly a change in the weather takes place. It is easy to reef while there is time, but sometimes almost impossible if too long delayed.

Reefing saves one from much anxiety. The boat that with her whole sail would be cranky and dangerous plunges along buoyantly through the summer gale when her sails are properly reefed.

With a thorough knowledge of the sheet and rudder, and how to reef a sail, there ought to be no accidents, even in very small boats; but the trouble is, that too many tyros are allowed to invite unsuspecting ladies and young girls into their boats, they not understanding the first rudiments of a real nautical knowledge, of how to manage a craft in times of danger.

A boat is like a good horse,--it will always do the best it can. It will not capsize if it can help it; but, if mismanaged in time of emergency, it is a dangerous plaything. Properly handled, it is amazing, almost incredible, what can be done with a small open boat, with a common lug-sail, and what weather it will live through.

But without knowledge, and knowing just what to do in dangerous times, this pleasant summer sail is a treacherous pastime.

CHAPTER VIII.

A SHORT CRUISE WITH A SLOOP-YACHT, ILl.u.s.tRATING THE COMMON SEA-MANOEUVRES.

"Well, uncle Charley, when are you going to give me a sail in your yacht? You know, that, although I have sailed a little, I look forward with the greatest impatience to a trip with you; so that I may become posted in all respects, and finally turn out a first-cla.s.s sailor."

"Your ambition is a worthy one, Tom; and I am willing to gratify it. But it is yet very early in the season; and I am afraid that we shall encounter some dirty weather, should we attempt now to make a trip."

"Well, that is the very thing that I want to encounter," said Tom.

"Besides, you have quite a large yacht, and every thing in apple-pie order; whilst I only have a little bit of an open boat at my home, and really know but little of the science of boat-sailing, and nothing of the technical language or discipline of a well-appointed vessel."