PART II. THE RATING RULES
Extract from Letter to the Field in 1892.—'With shame I confess that the problems and calculations, the combinations of straight and crooked lines, with large and small numerals and Latin and Greek letters, the mathematical contortions and algebraic hieroglyphics ... are meaningless to my uncultured eyes. They are fascinating; I admire their beauty, and can well understand that inventing rules for rating must be a most charming pursuit for intellectual yachtsmen....
'Dunraven.'
An attempt will be made to treat the subject as simply as possible, so that anyone who knows a little arithmetic may follow it.
The following 'hieroglyphics' will be used:—
| B. | Beam |
| D. | Draught |
| F. | Freeboard |
| G. | Girth |
| L. | Length |
| L.O.A. | Length over all |
| L.O.M. | Length between official marks |
| L.W.L. | Length on W.L. |
| M. | Area of immersed mid-section |
| M.S. | Mid section |
| R. | Rating, whether Y.R.A., or corrected length, or other |
| S. | Sail area |
| T. | Tonnage |
| U.Y.F. | Union des Yachts Français |
| W. | Weight of yacht complete in English tons dead weight same as her displacement |
| W.L. | Water level |
| Y.R.A. | Yacht Racing Association |
If the subject of rating were treated historically, it would be necessary to begin with the old tonnage rules; but we live in the present, and the more important of the existing rules will therefore be examined first. The old tonnage rules will more conveniently be described at the end of the chapter, with existing tonnage rules.
England and America have used rating rules for some years, and France determined to do the same in October 1892.
The efficiency of a sailing yacht can be calculated very similarly to that of a steam yacht, the sails being the motor in one, the engines in the other. But we know that the efficiency of a steamer should vary directly as her indicated horse-power, and inversely as her displacement. The same idea should apply to sailing yachts. It is, in fact, almost impossible to rate a sailing yacht satisfactorily without taking into account both her sail-area and her displacement—or something very closely allied with the latter.
A length and sail-area rule proposed by Mr. Dixon Kemp in 1880 was adopted in 1883 for second-class racing, and in 1886 this alternative rule was adopted as the sole rule. It is—
English R = L × S ÷ 6,000 (I.)
This important step was taken after a careful and exhaustive inquiry conducted by a special committee appointed by the Council, Y.R.A., and presided over by Sir William Forwood. The committee took the evidence of our most noted yacht architects, and finally reported in favour of Rule (I), and of the present classification (except 2½ rating, which was afterwards added by the Council). The report met with general approval; the Y.R.A. put its seal upon it, and gave it a tenure of seven years; subject, however, to General Rule 12, by which any change at any time can be made by the requisite majorities.
The tonnage time scale in use before 1886 was altered to agree with the new rating, which cannot be said to represent anything but what it really is—viz. the product of a yacht's taxable length and her sail-area.
The classification and the divisor do not alter the rule one iota. They are purely arbitrary, as was very clearly stated in an excellent letter by Mr. G. B. Thompson, published in the 'Field' of December 17, 1892. He said very truly that the 5-rating class is in reality the 30,000 class, and the 10-rating class is the 60,000 class. If the divisor 6,000 be altered alone, the result is precisely the same as altering the rating itself in like ratio, and in the same direction. Thus (R. × divisor) and (L. × S.) must each equal 120,000 in the 20-R. class, and must each equal 240,000 in the 40-R. class, and so on. In short, the Y.R.A. rule may be regarded thuswise:—In each class L. × S. = a constant, for boats at the top of the class.
By a recent decision in general meeting, Y.R.A., December 6, 1892, L. will in future be measured between the outer edges of the official marks, which must be affixed by the owner and always show clear above W.L. when a yacht lies in smooth water in racing trim.
L., therefore, is no longer L.W.L., but L.O.M. (length by owner's marks), rather longer than L.W.L.
By Rule 3, Y.R.A., in calculating a yacht's R., a fraction of or exceeding 0.01 counts as 1.0 in classes exceeding 10 R.; but in classes exceeding 1.0 R. and not exceeding 10 R., a fraction less than 0.1 counts as 0.1; and in classes not exceeding 1.0 R. fractions from 0.01 to 0.99 inclusive count for their value.
Example: 'Dacia's' certificate, June 1892, recorded S. = 887.6 and L. = 33.83 and R. = 5.00. But her S. × L. ÷ 6,000 = 5.005 and 0.005 is 'a fraction smaller than 0.1'; consequently, by the wording of Rule 3, her R. = 5.01, and she was over-rating; but the secretary, Y.R.A., when questioned, stated that the 'Y.R.A. only recognises two places of decimals,' and words to this effect were added to Rule 3 at the general meeting February 22, 1893.
The Time Allowance
The time scale for differences of R. under Rule 1. was based on the conception that a racing yacht's 'capability for speed varies as the fifth root of the rating,' the argument leading to this being that—
and that sail varies as L√B (2)
and by the rating rule, R varies as S × L
it therefore follows from (2) that R varies as L2√B
and, assuming that B varies as L (3)
it follows that R varies as L2√L or L5/2
therefore ... L varies as R2/5
Hence, by (1), speed varies as √R2/5 or [5]√R.—Q.E.D.
The Y.R.A. time scale therefore rests not only on the two assumptions (1) and (2) mentioned in the book, but on the further assumption (3), which we know to be incorrect.
However, the 5th root of R. gives a time scale which is found to act fairly well in practice, and this being so, the theory of the time curve is a matter of minor importance.
At first (1886 and 1887) the adoption of the unrestricted rule met with some opposition, especially in the small classes, where a few of the most experienced yachtsmen advocated restrictions in L.W.L. or L.O.A., and in mainsail area. But the majority determined, and rightly, to give the rule free scope; and the results on the whole have been highly satisfactory, fine seaworthy vessels, driven by a small sail-area at great speed, having been produced in the large classes. The evolution in the small classes has been more rapid, and in 1892 some rather undesirable types were prize-winners, and yachtsmen who wished to protect themselves against similar vessels in the large classes induced the Y.R.A. to appoint a special committee to consider whether the unrestricted and unaltered rule should be continued beyond the seven-years period, terminating in 1893. This committee, under the presidency of Sir George Lampson, obtained the opinions of our leading designers, as was done in 1886, and the designers themselves met in conference twice, and jointly addressed two letters to the Rule Committee in which they finally recommended the adoption of the Seawanhaka rule for rating racing yachts and a classification of corrected lengths suitable for our existing racing fleet; also other details, the most important being a proposal to tax overhang above the W.L. and cut away keels below it.
The Rule Committee adopted the recommendation as to change of rating rule, but proposed a modification whereby the British rating and time scale could be retained.
When this report was brought before the Council it was upset, some of the committee themselves voting against their own report. But the action of the Council has since been justified by the production of several splendid specimens of yacht architecture to race under the Y.R.A. rule of rating.
The elements of the fastest types which have developed in small yachts under the rule can be studied in the tables given in the chapter on Racing in the Solent Classes.
One of our ablest designers has consistently advocated the introduction of a tax on beam into the formula. He did so in 1886, and again in 1892, when he proposed to tax draught also.
Unfortunately the mathematics of the rule make it difficult, if not impossible, to do so, because the blow on L. is lessened when it is shared by other quantities.
Thus by Mr. Watson's modification of the rating rule, proposed in October 1892, viz.
English R = (2L + 2B + D) × S ÷ {constant, say 17,000} (II.)
'Doreen' is of smaller rating, although both longer and more beamy than 'Decima.' They are of the same rating for racing by the Y.R.A. rule. Mr. Watson's formula would therefore encourage even greater length of hull than the Y.R.A. rule. No such difficulty is encountered by the introduction of such taxes into the Seawanhaka rule, where the plus sign replaces the multiplying sign used by us. This rule was adopted by the American Yacht Club of its name in 1882, the form being
American R = (L + √S) ÷ 2 (III.)
The New York Yacht Club has raced for a number of years under a similar rule for time allowance,[6] viz.
American R = (2L + √S) ÷ 3 (IV.)
and just as the Y.R.A. rule can take the form
L × S = constant in any class,
so these rules can take the forms
L + √S = constant, in any class III.
2L + √S = constant, in any class IV.
It then becomes evident that any sacrifice of S. to obtain greater L. under Rule IV. is only half as effective as the same process under Rule III. Conversely, any sacrifice of L. to obtain more S. is twice as effective under Rule IV. as under Rule III.
Again, as comparisons between L. and S. must be brought to some common measure, the Y.R.A. form ... L. × S. = constant in any class, may be read L. × √S. × √S. = constant, and it then becomes clear that any sacrifice of S. to get L. is twice as effective as in Rule III., and four times as effective as in Rule IV.; and conversely, that any sacrifice of L. to get more S. is half as effective as in Rule III., and one-fourth as effective as in Rule IV.
The author of the Y.R.A. rule has pointed out that it can be converted into the American form of 'corrected length,' thus:—
American R = [3]√L × S (V.)
See his second edition of 'Yacht Architecture.' The sail curve is precisely the same as that from the Y.R.A. rule.
An examination of this form of the Y.R.A. rule is interesting. By cubing V. and comparing it with I., it will be seen that six thousand times the English rating equals the cube of the American rating derived from formula V.
Diagram of sail curves, showing the relation of sail to L.W.L. in the Y.R.A., New York, and Seawanhaka Rules. 40-rating class.
When English and American rules are examined diagraphically, the sail-curves take three positions that differ considerably in their steepness—the Y.R.A. rule giving a curve nearest to the horizontal which indicates R. = S. ÷ constant, proposed by Mr. Richardson in 1886 (or R. = √S ÷ constant if expressed in American measure; or R. = S. √S divided by a constant if expressed in English measure); and the New York rule taking a position nearest to the vertical denoting R. = L., under which the Solent Length Classes used to sail.
The Seawanhaka rule gives an intermediate curve—perhaps the 'happy medium.'
The curves have been plotted for yachts of 40-rating by our rule, and the following table gives the actual numbers:—
| L.W.L. | Sail-area allowed to | ||
| 40-raters, Y.R.A. Rule | 61.5 Corrected L. Seawanhaka Rule | 61 Corrected L. New York Rule | |
| ft. | ft. | ft. | ft. |
| 54 | 4,444 | 4,761 | — |
| 56 | 4,286 | 4,489 | 5,041 |
| 58 | 4,139 | 4,225 | — |
| 59 | 4,068 | 4,096 | 4,096 |
| 60 | 4,000 | 3,969 | — |
| 62 | 3,871 | 3,721 | 3,481 |
| 64 | 3,750 | 3,481 | — |
The Turning-point of Maximum Efficiency, or best Length
Each L. and S. rule for rating racing yachts must have a turning-point, or best length, in each class for winning prizes in a given climate. It depends far more upon the average wind-pressure during the racing season than on any assumed connection between L. and √S. It will vary on different days, and for different seasons, and for different localities. The average wind-force is stronger on the Solent than on the Clyde, and stronger at Rothesay than at Sandy Hook. But type is another matter. Type is governed by the racing rule, and differences of climate have very little effect upon it. The best proportional length also varies in different classes, the water being rougher and the wind harder, comparatively speaking, on small than on large yachts, thus causing the former to develope L. and sacrifice S. to the utmost. Under the tonnage rules it is true that the small yachts carried the larger comparative sail-plan, but this was due to other causes, such as their greater comparative draught and ballast.
The best length under L. and S. rules also varies with the rating rule, those rules having sail-curves nearest to the line R. = S. developing the greatest length, and those having sail-curves nearest to the line R. = L. developing the greatest sail.
Still another factor governs the best length in any class, viz. lightness of construction; and this depends on four other factors: cost, design, workmanship, and strength of materials.
We are therefore met by quite a crowd of considerations when endeavouring to determine best length; but in comparing the rating rules we can eliminate many of them by making a few assumptions and reasoning therefrom.
First, assume that a new boat is built with the lightest possible hull consistent with strength, and of the best possible design for the 40-R. class 1894, and that her L.=62 ft., therefore S=3,871. (See preceding table.)
Second, assume that a longer boat and a shorter boat equally well built and designed are tried and are beaten, and that 62 ft. is then acknowledged to be best length for 40-ratings in our climate.
Third, assume that the class is converted in 1895 into one rated at 61.5 American R., 'Queen Mab' being thereby placed at the top of the class by the Seawanhaka rule without alteration. The 62-ft. yacht, however, must clip to 3,721, or 150 off her S. as a 40-rater.
But the shorter boat, say a 'Queen Mab' 59 ft. L.W.L., which we assumed to fail when racing under our rule, could now add 30 ft. and sail against the crack 62-footer with an advantage of no less than 180 sq. ft. of canvas.
Evidently, the best length under our rule being 62, the best length under the American rule is something less; how much less being only determined by trial, and depending on the numerous factors before mentioned. Moreover, an arbitrary limit of L.W.L. is thus shown to be less necessary under the American rule than under ours; and with L. so greatly developed in our racers at the present time, it may be that we have already gone beyond the best length for the American rule, especially in the small classes. This was carefully pointed out by the present writer in two letters to 'Land and Water,' October 5 and 9, 1892. Mr. R. E. Froude also stated the case very clearly in the 'Field,' December 31, 1892; but it is very difficult to convince the defenders of the Y.R.A. rule that any other rule is superior.
Mr. Dixon Kemp, in his excellent work on 'Yacht Architecture,' says (p. 15, 2nd edition) in comparing rules I., III., IV.: 'Of these rules, that of the Y.R.A. admits of the employment of the greatest length for any given rating'; and the length referred to was evidently best length in a given climate.
The Seawanhaka rule is therefore superior to ours if excessive length be feared; and being a plus formula, it lends itself readily to the adoption of any desired tax on other linear dimensions.
For instance, Mr. Watson's proposal (II.) might be put into the plus form, thus:—
American R = (2L +2B + D + √S) ÷ 3.8 (VI.)
This shows the value of a plus rule over a multiplying rule and the value is not lost when a plus rule is converted into an English rating rule by cubing the former and dividing by a constant. Thus, the recent Rule Committee proposed to convert the Seawanhaka rule into an English rating rule by cubing it and dividing by 6,000, the result being:
English R = (L + √S)3 ÷ constant, say 48,000 (VII.)
The variable within brackets in VI. can be cubed and divided by a constant in a similar manner. But the cubic forms of the 'plus' rules are clumsy, and seem difficult to those who cannot compute by logarithms. No real advantage is gained by adhering to the English rating and time scale and classification. In fact, the American time scale is simpler. If, therefore, a 'plus form' of rating be ever adopted, it would be much better to adopt 'corrected length' as the rating, together with the American time scale. The classification could, of course, be chosen in such a manner that our own racing yachts would be at the top of the classes without any important alterations.
Another rule was proposed in a leading article of the 'Field' on October 15, 1892. It is:—
English R = L2 √S ÷ constant, say 6,000 (VIII.)
It gives a sail-curve nearly parallel to the one produced by the New York rule, and may almost be regarded as that rule dressed in Y.R.A. uniform; but the advantages of a plus rule are lost, whereas in the conversion of the Seawanhaka rule proposed by the Y.R.A. Committee 1892 they are retained.
Similarly, the Y.R.A. rule—varying as [3]√L.S. (see [V.]), or as [3]√L. × √S. × √S.—may be considered as equivalent to the plus formula L. + 2 √S. ÷ constant, and the English and American rules may therefore be regarded to vary as follows:
| In linear measure | |
| New York as | 2 L + √S |
| Seawanhaka as | L + √S |
| Y.R.A. as | L + 2√S |
Mr. Herreshoff has recently proposed a rule of rating based on L. √ S., which is an area, but the cube root of tonnage is placed in the divisor; and this being linear, it converts the rating into linear measure, an area divided by a line being a line. The result being linear, it is translatable into American rating and time allowance.
Mr. Herreshoff's proposed rule is:—
American R = ( L √S / [3]√T ) ÷ constant, say 15 (IX.)
A critique on this rule by the editor of the 'Field,' December 17, 1892, suggests that the cube root of 100 T. should be taken, as there are 100 cubic feet in a registered ton. This is unnecessary. So long as S. is superficial, and T. cubic, the √S. and the [3]√T. will be linear; and a constant can be selected which will convert the quotient resulting from the rule into corrected feet or inches, or metres, as required for the linear rating adopted.
Mr. Herreshoff's rule when tested is not encouraging; 'Doreen's' length so corrected being 2½ per cent. smaller than 'Decima's.' The rule evidently does not encourage that compactness of hull-dimension which Mr. Watson considers desirable. It also appears to put a premium on abnormal freeboard, so as to increase T. by means of a large body over the water-level.
This was pointed out by the editor of the 'Field,' December 24, 1892, and an improved rule suggested in which displacement was used as a divisor in place of tonnage. W. the total weight of yacht in English tons dead weight is of course her displacement, and the rule proposed may be written:—
| English R = | L2S | ÷ 10,000 | (X.) |
| [3]√W |
So far as L. and S. are concerned this rule would produce a similar sail-curve to the Y.R.A. rule (see diagram); but the divisor would encourage a large powerful hull, and the rule would therefore produce a shorter type with more sail than now exists in English racers. The practical difficulty of discovering W., either by measurement or by some system of weighing the yacht complete, has to be considered in connection with this rule.
The most important point to be noted about these rules (IX. and X.) is the fact that Mr. Herreshoff and Mr. Dixon Kemp proposed them—showing that two of the leading experts consider it necessary to encourage greater displacement by means of the rating rules. The question, therefore, arises whether the desired result cannot be effected in a less objectionable manner; and it appears to the writer that dividing the present Y.R.A. rule by some area proportional to that of the immersed mid-section would have the desired effect, and would avoid the difficulties already mentioned. The actual area of M.S. cannot be found without encroaching on the secrets of a yacht's design; but M. the area of immersed mid-section can be easily found if measured internally, and the Y.R.A. rule may take the form:—
| American R = | LS | ÷ constant (say 72) | (XI.) |
| M |
L.S. being cubic, and the variable divisor M. being superficial, the quotient is linear, and a constant divisor can be chosen which will convert the result into American rating, which is expressed in 'corrected' feet.
The general tendencies of the Y.R.A. rule would be modified by the introduction of M. as proposed in XI., a large immersed M.S. being encouraged, without the necessity of employing a deep narrow body, as may be seen on the following table, where 'Bedouin' figures out very well owing to her large but not deep immersed M.S. The author claims with some confidence that this modified rule presents the best solution of the problem yet suggested. But there is really no problem requiring solution at present. So long as yachts like 'Britannia' and 'Satanita' are built for racing under the Y.R.A. existing rule of rating, grumblers will not command an audience. In the event, however, of yachts like 'Pilgrim' or 'Jubilee' winning in our waters a change of some sort will be required.
The measurement of M. can be easily done in a few minutes, with yacht afloat, as described on p. 87 of the 'Field,' January 21, 1893.
The Seawanhaka rule (III.) can be treated similarly, the divisor 2 being thereby avoided. It becomes
American R = L + √S - √72M (XII.)
The action of these rules may be seen from the table on p. 180; column headed XI. giving the rating under the modified Y.R.A. rule, and column headed XII. giving the rating under the modified Seawanhaka rule. Each result is in 'corrected length.'
The dimensions in above were obtained from the drawings in Dixon Kemp's 'Yacht Architecture,' 2nd ed., except 'Decima's' and 'Doreen's,' which were kindly given by their designers.
It will be found on trial that 72 M. is approximately equal to the mean value of S. and L2 in successful yachts.
The New French Rule
On November 5, 1892, it was announced in the 'Field' that the Union des Yachts Français had decided to adopt a hull- and sail-area rating, it being considered by the 'active element in French yacht racing' that 'the type ... produced by the French length and girth rule is inferior to the type produced by the British and American rules ... British yachts having defeated those of France, although handicapped by the French rule of rating.' The conclusion was scarcely a logical sequence from the premisses. It should have been that French racing yachts were not the correct evolution of the French rule of rating. But we are now concerned with the new French rule (proposed by M. Godinet) in which sail is an important factor.
| Name of yacht | L | S | √S | M | XI. | XII. |
| Genesta | 81.0 | 7,643 | 101.40 | 91.27 | 94.21 | 87.39 |
| Volunteer | 85.9 | 10,270 | 87.43 | 105.42 | 100.24 | 93.30 |
| Chiquita | 45.5 | 2,636 | 51.36 | 31.32 | 53.20 | 49.35 |
| Ghost | 46.5 | 2,577 | 50.77 | 34.60 | 48.10 | 47.38 |
| Minerva | 40.0 | 2,700 | 52.00 | 29.73 | 50.39 | 46.00 |
| Dis | 36.0 | 1,658 | 40.71 | 22.37 | 36.23 | 36.00 |
| Decima | 35.67 | 1,679 | 40.94 | 22.17 | 37.23 | 36.71 |
| Doreen | 38.05 | 1,572 | 39.62 | 21.67 | 38.34 | 38.23 |
| Oread | 28.2 | 1,063 | 32.60 | 13.33 | 31.25 | 29.82 |
| Quinque | 33.0 | 900 | 30.00 | 13.33 | 30.93 | 32.02 |
| Valentine | 29.8 | 996 | 31.56 | 14.47 | 28.50 | 29.08 |
| Bedouin | 30.0 | 1,000 | 31.62 | 14.96 | 28.00 | 28.92 |
| Madcap | 21.0 | 714 | 26.72 | 9.97 | 20.89 | 20.97 |
| Lady Nan | 23.0 | 653 | 25.55 | 8.63 | 24.16 | 23.63 |
| Dolphin | 25.7 | 581 | 24.10 | 8.27 | 25.07 | 25.41 |
In its simplest form, it is:—
English R = (4L - G) G √S ÷ 520 (XIII.)
G. being the greatest girth from top of deck planking port, round keel to ditto starboard, plus extreme beam. Each of the three factors L. G. √S. being linear (metric measure) the result is given in cubic form, and is converted into English rating by the divisor selected, and the Y.R.A. time scale has been adopted by the Union des Yachts Français.
The editor of the 'Field' considers that 'the rule is calculated to produce a poor kind of vessel for match sailing or anything else'; but it is hazardous to prophesy the evolution of any rule, more especially one which taxes L., B., D., bilge, and S. No doubt the tax on D. is doubtful policy, and it seems very unnecessary when we consider the small depth of water in many French harbours, which is the most efficient check on D. it is possible to conceive for large yachts, and in the small classes D. gives grip and power to windward, and seaworthiness.
A careful analysis of the rule by the writer leads him to believe that the conclusion arrived at by the editor of the 'Field' is correct. It certainly appears that the rule has a sail-curve nearly as steep as the New York rule, which has been abandoned because it encouraged such large sail-plans. For this reason, therefore, if for no other, the new French rule seems to be inferior to the Y.R.A. and the Seawanhaka rules. A good letter on the subject of girth, by one of our leading designers, was published in the 'Yachtsman,' September 8, 1892.
On the whole, English yachtsmen would probably feel very disinclined to adopt the new French rule for British yacht-racing.
This concludes the examination of the more important national rules in which sail-area and some hull dimension or dimensions are combined in the formula for the rating, whether the result be cubic, linear, or otherwise.
We therefore now pass to the simple sail-area rule proposed by Mr. Richardson in 1886, viz.
R = S ÷ 100 (XIV.) A
The rating so obtained being neither cubic nor linear, but superficial, difficulties as regards time scale arose, and neither Mr. Richardson nor the Council appeared to notice that the rule could easily be made linear by putting it in the form
American R = √S (XIV.) B
when American rating and time scale could have been adopted. Also that it might have been rendered
English R = S √S ÷ constant (XIV.) C
which is the cubic form, suitable for the Y.R.A. rating and time allowance.
The graphic result in the sail-diagram is the same in each case, viz. a horizontal line for any given class, the limit for each class being one of sail-area alone.
It was not adopted because the Council considered that the type evolved from it would be one of excessive length and small displacement; and our experience with the Y.R.A. rule, which approaches it more nearly than any other hull- and sail-area rule, has shown that this estimate was correct.
We will now examine a few of the rules which rate yachts entirely by hull-measurement. The simplest of the kind is the pure length rule, used for some years on the Solent for racing small yachts up to 30 ft. of L. See chapter on Solent Racing.
American R = L (XV.) A
Some trouble was taken in 1884 to produce a special time scale for this formula. It was quite unnecessary, because the time scale for tonnage (see [XVIII.]) then in use could have been employed, (XV.) A being modified to
R = L3 ÷ constant (XV.) B
and by adjusting the constant this form of the length rule can be adapted to the time scale of any cubic rule. Thus, the divisor 5,000 adapts it to the Y.R.A. time scale for rating.
The type resulting from the length rule was, of course, a very fast and powerful boat for its L., carrying an enormous sail-spread—somewhat costly to build and race.
Our grandfathers raced their yachts under the old tonnage rule,
Tonnage R = L × B × H ÷ 96 (XVI.)
H. being depth of hull to deck beam, and L. being measured in various ways at different times. After 1854 it was taken on deck from stem-head to sternpost, and certain deductions made for rake. Eventually the Thames Rule,
(L - B) × B × ½B ÷ 94 or B2(L - B) ÷ 188 (XVII.)
The Rating Rules and Proposals
| Date | No. in text | Name of rule or proposal | Rule or proposal | Examples | |||
| Cubic rules | Variable ÷ constant | Decima | Doreen | ||||
| 1886? | I. | Y.R.A. rule (Dixon Kemp) | LS | ÷ | 6,000 | 9.98 | 9.96 |
| 1892 | II. | Ditto modified (Watson) | (2L+2B÷D)S | ÷ | 17,000 | 10.06 | 9.89 |
| 1892 | VIII. | New York modified (Dixon Kemp) | L2 √S | ÷ | 6,000 | 8.69 | 9.56 |
| 1892 | X. | Y.R.A. modified (Dixon Kemp) | (L2S)/[3]√W | ÷ | 10,000 | 8.80 | ? |
| 1892 | VII. | Seawanhaka modified Y.R.A. Committee's rule | (L+ √S)3 | ÷ | 48,000 | 9.39 | 9.75 |
| 1892 | XIII. | U.Y.F. rule (Godinet) | G(4L-G) √S | ÷ | 520 | 8.57 | 9.02 |
| 1892? | XIX. | Old French rule | G2(2L-B) | ÷ | 176 | 12.58 | 13.53 |
| 1876? | XVI. | Old English tonnage rule | L B H | ÷ | 96 | ? | 10.60 |
| 1876-80 | XVII. | Thames tonnage rule | B2(L-B) | ÷ | 188 | 15.9 | ? |
| 1880-86 | XVIII. | Y.R.A. tonnage rule | B(L+B)2 | ÷ | 1,730 | 13.8 | 17.9 |
| XIV. C | Richardson's rule, cubic form | S √S | ÷ | 6,000 | 9.97 | 15.7 | |
| XV. B | Length rule, cubic form | L3 | ÷ | 5,000 | 9.08 | 11.01 | |
| Date | No. in text | Name of rule or proposal | Rule or proposal | Examples | |||
| Linear rules | Variable ÷ constant | Decima | Doreen | ||||
| 1882? | III. | Seawanhaka rule | L+ √S | ÷ | 2 | 38.33 | 38.82 |
| ? | IV. | New York rule | 2L+ √S | ÷ | 3 | 37.45 | 38.57 |
| ? | V. | Y.R.A. Rule (Dixon Kemp) | [3]√LS | ÷ | 1 | 39.12 | 39.11 |
| 1893 | XI. | Y.R.A. modified (Thalassa) | LS/M | ÷ | 72 | 37.23 | 38.34 |
| 1893 | XII. | Seawanhaka ditto (Thalassa) | L + √S - √72M | ÷ | 1 | 36.71 | 38.23 |
| 1893 | IX. | Herreshoff's new rule | L √S/[3]√T | ÷ | 15 | 38.69 | 37.01 |
| 1892 | VI. | Watson's rule, linear form | 2L+2B+D+ √S | ÷ | 3.8 | 37.60 | 38.58 |
| ?-86 | XV. A | Length rule | L | ÷ | 1 | 35.65 | 38.05 |
| 1886 | XIV. B | Richardson's rule, linear form | √S | ÷ | 1 | 41.00 | 39.60 |
The following Dimensions were used in the Examples
| —— | L | L2 | S | √S | B | D | G | M | W tons |
| Decima | 35.67 | 1272 | 1679 | 41.0 | 11.0 | 8.5 | 36 | 22.2 | 14.3 |
| Doreen | 38.05 | 1448 | 1572 | 39.6 | 11.2 | 8.5 | 36 | 21.7 | ? |
N.B.—G is only approximately correct. It is measured in the French way was evolved and adopted by the Y.R.A. in 1876. And in 1878 it was decided to measure L. on the water-line. In 1880 the Y.R.A. altered the rule to
English T = B(L + B)2 ÷ 1730 (XVIII.)
The type evolved, as might have been anticipated, had a long, narrow, heavily ballasted, deep-bodied, wall-sided hull, possessing little beauty, small initial stability, and no great speed, considering the sail-area employed to drive it. There was little scope for improvement, and the energies of our best designers were directed to producing yachts which carried large sail-plans on narrow hulls, their L.W.L. often approaching and sometimes exceeding six beams. Nevertheless, this '1730 Rule,' as it is often called, governed first-class racing in British waters from 1880 to 1886.
Another hull-measurement rule is the one used for some time in France, and often called the 'Girth Rule.' In its simplest form, it was:—
French T = G2(2L - B) ÷ 176 (XIX.)
G., the girth, is taken as in Rule XIII. The rule taxes draught heavily, and does not appear to have given satisfaction, or it would not have been changed last October to No. XIII.
Many other hull-measurement rules might be mentioned; in fact, a short time ago the yachting press was full of such proposals; but those who make them must be aware of the general feeling among sportsmen in England, France, and America, viz. that sail-area should be taxed in the formula for rating. Any lengthy discussion on rules which do not conform with this opinion is, therefore, a waste of time and energy, and the hull rules just described have been noticed principally on account of their historical interest.
The rules are numbered consecutively in the order in which they have been examined; the tonnage rules last, although some of them are the most ancient. But it may be convenient for the student to have them grouped somewhat differently and this has been done in the tables on pp. 183, 184, which also afford an opportunity to compare two yachts of similar hull-dimensions, but differing in regard to their length and sail-area, except that the product is equal. 'Doreen' and 'Decima' make an excellent pair for such a comparison, being each 10-rating by the Y.R.A. rule, and of nearly the same beam, draught, girth, and depth of hull, but differing in length and sail-area.
The tendencies of those rules which aim at encouraging larger body, like Mr. Herreshoff's, or larger immersed body, like X., XI., and XII., are shown in the tables on pp. 183 and 184, and the student is invited to work out some examples for himself to test their action, as the New York committee has reported in favour of some such modification of existing rules.
CHAPTER VIII
YACHT'S SAILING BOATS
By The Earl of Pembroke and Montgomery
'Why in the world do not yachting people make more use of their sailing boats?' I have often thought, while gazing on a bright breezy morning at some great steam yacht, capable of carrying one or more fine sailing boats, and presently observing her owners and their guests, all arrayed in faultless yachting costume, departing for the shore in their steam launch to spend their time pottering about some dull and dirty little seaport town, when they might, some or all of them, be enjoying the most glorious sail, with who knows what possibilities in the way of fishing thrown in. Even landing and putting off to the ship become a pleasure when they are done under sail instead of steam or oars. I have had many an interesting and exhilarating day's sailing which has been made up entirely of trips between the yacht and the shore with passengers, luggage, provisions, telegrams, and what not. Yet, though in these days large yachts may be numbered by the hundred, and many of them carry fine sailing boats, I can count on the fingers of one hand the vessels I happen to have met which both carry and habitually use a sailing boat for the purposes of cruising, landing, and fishing. It is really very curious; and I can only account for it by supposing that many people who go to sea in large yachts do not know how much amusement there is to be got out of such a boat, and the ease and nicety with which she can be handled. For when there is any wind at all a sailing cutter can land anywhere where it is safe to take a steam launch, and with a little practice it is as easy to take her alongside a ship's ladder as a six-oared gig. And when a yacht is on a cruise, moving daily from port to port, a sailing cutter takes considerably less time to get ready than a steam launch. Anywhere on the coast she can generally be carried in the davits with her mast stepped and rigged, so that there is nothing to do but to lower the ballast into her and loose the sails, and she is ready to start. Of course there are places and days when the steam launch is of use and the sailing boat is not; but they are not so numerous as one might suppose. One year when, after a severe illness, I spent all the spring and early summer cruising in the Mediterranean, and the autumn on the coast of Scotland, I thought it advisable to take a steam launch as well as my sailing cutter. I found that at the end of this long cruise I had used her just three times. I have never carried one since. It is not advisable on vessels of less than 400 tons (yacht measurement) to carry two such heavy boats. They are not safe in the davits on an ocean voyage, and two of them carried inboard completely block the deck amidships; but a yacht of 500 tons or more can perfectly carry both, if a steam launch is considered necessary.
As for the fun to be got out of her, a good sailing boat simply doubles the pleasure of yachting. It combines the amusement of small yacht sailing with all the advantages and comforts of a large vessel to sail in from port to port. When the anchor goes down, and fires are banked or put out, your fun begins rather than ends. In less than half an hour you are off in your cutter, to sail, to fish, or to explore; perhaps, when you are tired of sailing, to land in some snug, inviting cove, and to feel the fascination of a ramble in strange and beautiful ground; to sit on the hillside and watch the sun go down in glory, and to make your way back to the ship as the rosy light dies out and the purple hills grow black.
And the next day, let us suppose, is a fine one. Sea and sky are of a rapturous blue, and a pleasant summer breeze is blowing in from the sea. The great yachting question of the morning, 'What shall we do to-day?' is scarcely debated at breakfast at all. It is pre-eminently a day for sailing. The cutter is got ready at once, and you beat out towards the open water. In all probability there are fish to be caught, for you noted a quantity of birds fishing off the mouth of the bay when you steamed in yesterday—but you really hardly care whether there are fish or not, it is so good simply to be alive and sailing the sea on such a day. The sun warms you through in your shirt sleeves, the steady breeze is balmy to feel, and though it is the coast of Scotland you are vaguely reminded of coral islands and trade winds.
Whales.
As you work out to seaward it becomes evident that you are in a fishy sea, for the foolish confidential little guillemots and razorbills (he that shooteth such knoweth not how to live nor the nature and object of things) are squeaking and croaking and ducking under water all round. And lo! close ahead appear two whales, not mere black fish (whatever they may be), but great fellows looking 40 feet long on a moderately calm computation, spouting and showing their black backs at intervals. You go as close to them as they will let you and watch with breathless fascination their oily movements so full of lazy strength and sensuous enjoyment; and you call them bottle-noses or finbacks or rorquals according to your individual taste and fancy; for the scientific classification of whales is in an extraordinarily imperfect state, and even the Encyclopædia, that settler of disputes and averter of quarrels that no yacht should ever be without, will give you but little assistance.
But you must tear yourself away from the whales, for half a mile to windward there you sight a cloud of birds fishing furiously, the gannets swooping and soaring, and then suddenly shutting their wings and dropping in quick succession, pop, pop, pop, like bullets into the sea; and a dense mass of gulls flying and swimming, screaming and squattering, and flapping their wings on the surface of the water. How a gull ever gets a living is a wonder; he seems so dainty and hesitating and afraid to commit himself. A gannet will soar, plunge, dive under water, and swallow half a dozen little fish while a gull is apparently making up his mind whether it is worth while to risk wetting his feet.
As soon as your boat will fetch, you go about and stand straight for the birds, overhauling meanwhile the 'whiffing' or 'railing' lines that are towing astern, to make sure that there is nothing foul, and that there is no seaweed on your silvery spinners. You are all keen, but not too sanguine, for there is never a certainty of catching fish like this. Sometimes you may sail backwards and forwards till you are sick of it through a mob of feeding seabirds, trying every sort of bait and never getting a ghost of a bite. Either it is herring that they are after, or else it is that the unknown big fish who are hunting up the small fry to the birds from below will not take a bait. You are close now, and there is a noise not unlike that of the parrot-house in the Zoological Gardens. Mackerel is what you hope for; gurnard you will put up with; pollack will not be caught in any numbers so far from the shore. You shake your sails to reduce your pace, and then, filling them again, stand straight in amongst the screaming gulls, and as they reluctantly rise from the water and the little guillemots squatter away and dive, you get a rapid vision of fish shooting about near the top of the water and little tiny silver things rippling its surface and hopping feebly above.
A moment more and the lines tauten: 'Mackerel it is, by Jingo!' and as soon as the lines are out again and no one feels another bite, round goes the boat again, and back through the school. So you go on, sometimes catching them slowly and singly, sometimes two at once as fast as the lines can be got out, until you have several dozen in the bottom of the boat. All of a sudden the fish cease to bite and the birds fly away. They gather again into a new cluster half a mile off, and away you go for it as fast as you can sail, and begin catching fish once more. Once more the fish stop biting, and the birds move off, and you can see no more of them fishing except a very few a long way to windward. It seems a sin to go home on such a day, and it is too early to try for pollack with so bright a sun. But your chart shows you a fishing-bank close to, and you have got a few herrings for bait; so you make for this place, and get the exact spot by the relative bearings of points and islands, and drop your anchor in twenty fathoms.
Hardly are the lines down before it becomes evident that you are in the right place. Whiting, haddock, and gurnard come up with rapidity, varied by an occasional cod, skate, or bream. You have caught quite a lot before the dog-fish set in. Then it is all over. First comes one, then another, and then nothing else. In vain you despatch them with knives and throw their bleeding corpses back into the sea to terrify the rest. Dogfish have no nerves that you can work upon in this way. The sight and smell of their murdered relations and friends only whet their appetites and make them the more greedy. You give it up in despair, haul your anchor up, and get under sail once more.
It is now late in the afternoon. The day has changed for the worse—weather changes quick in these latitudes—and looks rather wild and windy, with promise of more to come before long. But your port is to leeward, so you need not be anxious, and you make up your minds to fish for pollack round the headlands and the islands at the mouth of the bay; for just before sundown is the best time of all, especially if it is about half flood. You take a reef down in both sails to make the boat slower and easier to handle, for you do not want to have to devote all your attention to keeping her right side up when you are fishing for pollack close in to the rocks. The tack is triced up so as to let the steerer see under it; a crutch is shipped on each side of the boat, and a couple of oars are cleared and made ready for instant use if required. One man stands up in the bows to look out for rocks, and also to attend to the peak halliards when called upon; two others handle the lines on which a red or a white india-rubber sand-eel has been substituted for the spinners; while the steerer takes tiller in one hand and mainsheet in the other, and concentrates all his faculties on regulating the pace of the boat, and going as near as he can to the rocks without incurring shipwreck or fouling the lines.
The swoop of the gannet.
In this order you coast slowly along about twenty yards from the steep cliffs, running out occasionally to avoid reefs and shoal places, the steerer keeping the speed to something under three knots an hour by slacking the mainsheet and spilling the sail when the wind is abeam, and hauling it right in when it is aft, occasionally dropping the peak as well. Every now and then, generally off a point, you catch a fish, and when you do you go about to see if there are more in the same place. But fish seem scarce, and the sport is rather slow until you sail through a narrow channel between two islands. Then in a moment there is a heavy fish on each line, and no sooner are they hauled on board and the lines thrown out again than the same thing happens. You have struck fish at last in earnest. While the hooks are being disengaged up goes the peak, and you stand back close-hauled through the narrow channel. Backwards and forwards you go, again and again, with varying luck. Now you haul in two at a time, now you give a groan of dismay as a monster gets off as you are in the act of swinging him in. Sometimes the boat will not go fast enough to make the fish bite, and there is agony of mind; sometimes it will go too fast. But on the whole the fishing is fast and furious, and you are all wild with excitement; and then—snap goes a snooding with a particularly big fish, and you must fish with one line till the other is refitted. The wind heads the boat off standing back through the channel this time; the centreboard hits a rock and bumps up into its case; there is no harm done, but alas! the remaining line gets foul of the rock before it can be shortened up, and snaps above the lead, and there is nothing for it but to stand off until the tackle is repaired; the steersman, who has to look on, grinding his teeth with impatience as the precious moments slip away. But, though minutes seem hours, you are soon at work again, and by the time that darkness brings the sport to an end you have caught some four dozen fine pollack, the larger ones 9 lb. or 10 lb. apiece. And you sail home full of that sense of physical well-being and mental contentment that comes of a long day spent in pure air, healthy enjoyment, and freedom from care. And, somehow, it is not on days like these that one looks back with the keenest sense of having wasted time.
Or imagine a morning of quite another sort. The sky is gloomy; the sun is quite invisible; it is raining occasionally, and a strong searching wind is blowing. The seas are running up in magnificent white masses on the islands outside the mouth of the loch. It is too cold to sit on deck; indeed it seems cold everywhere on board. It is impossible to do anything with the yacht, for you want to go south, and it is evidently blowing a gale outside from the south-west. It is the sort of day on which, if you had no boat, and there was nothing to do on shore, you would sit shivering most of the time below, trying to read, thinking what a miserable business yachting is in bad weather, and feeling ill from defective circulation. But if you have a good boat such a day has positive charms. You and your boating pal look in each other's eyes and say, almost in a breath, 'Let's beat out round the islands and see what the sea is like.' Indeed you almost persuade yourselves that it is a duty to do so with a view to the possibility of getting away to-morrow. So your boat is hauled alongside, and a little extra ballast is put in, and you and your mate get your oilskins, and, dropping into her, double reef your mainsail and foresail, and shove off. And by the time you have got your sheets trimmed, your halliards coiled away, and everything made snug, you are already as warm as any reasonable men can wish to be.
It is a long leg and a short one out of the harbour, and you get a heavy puff now and again from over the high land that brings your lee-rail level with the water, and makes you luff in a hurry. Three or four tacks bring you to the headlands of the bay, and as you stand out from under the weather-shore you begin to feel the real wind and sea. There is plenty of both, and you have to do all you know with tiller and sheet to negotiate the big seas that roll up on the weather-bow and to keep the lee-gunwale out of the water at the same time. It is just a little more than you can manage. A couple of steep combers that you have to luff up to knock all the way out of the boat and make her stagger; the next sea throws her head off the wind, while at the same time a heavy puff forces her lee-side under water. You put the helm down, but she has had no time to gather much way, and is slow coming to; you are forced to let go the sheet, but she has taken a good drop on board before she comes up, and there are more big seas coming. 'It won't do,' you say to your mate; 'we must have another reef in.' So you drop your peak, and wear, and run back under the shelter of the point, and take your third reef down. Then you stand out and try again; and it is wonderful what a difference the reduction of canvas has made. She stands well up, and rides beautifully over the big seas, hardly shipping a cupful of water as she rears up and lets them pass under her. It is an art, if a simple one, steering a boat to windward in a big sea. You have to put her almost straight at the worst seas, and yet you must never let her lose way, or she will fall off broadside to the sea, and perhaps be too 'sick' to come to again in time to prevent a vicious wave from breaking on board or capsizing her. And there are few things more exhilarating. Every big sea successfully surmounted is a triumph in itself, and the winning of ground to windward foot by foot against wind and sea feels like an arduous but steadily victorious struggle against a sturdy foe.
And now you find you can weather the island, and, choosing a 'smooth,' go about for the last time. If the seas breaking on it looked fine from the yacht nearly three miles off, they look awe-inspiring now close under your lee with their roar thundering in your ears. Now you are no longer riding head first over the seas, but running free at a slashing pace, sheet in hand, watching the sea narrowly over your shoulder, ready to luff instantly if some specially dangerous monster should make it necessary.
And when you are well clear of the rocks you bear up and run before it—most glorious and exulting sensation of all. The big seas come hissing and growling up in pursuit, and lift up her stern on high, and the boat seems positively to fly as she tears down their steep faces. You have to use all your strength at the tiller to keep her straight, and your mate keeps the peak halliards in hand and lowers the peak now and again to ease your task and avert a possible broach to. In less than half an hour you are back on board the yacht; a little wet, maybe, but tingling with exhilaration, and warmed through for the rest of the day.
These are but two typical sails out of many that might be sketched, for the variations of weather and sea and coast are nearly endless, and the yachtsman who is a persistent boat-sailer will find his memory stocked with glowing recollections of rapturous sails and fascinating explorations wherever his yacht has taken him—in breezy English waters, and on the wild west coasts of Scotland and Ireland; in Greece and Italy, and many a pleasant land in the Mediterranean Sea; perhaps even the Coral Islands of the South Pacific, and the wooded bays of far New Zealand.
Of course there is a reverse side to the picture—days when storms make sailing too dangerous to be quite pleasant, and more often, days when want of wind makes it almost intolerably tiresome. To row, or be rowed in, a heavy boat halfway across the Bay of Naples by night is certainly an experience in tediousness. Though even such an ordeal as that is not quite without its compensations. But I feel it is rash of me to say so.
Like so many things material and other in the world we live in, every boat is necessarily a compromise between inconsistent objects. In building a boat you must compromise somewhere between speed and stability, weatherliness and the advantages of light draught. And in the case of a yacht's boat freedom of choice in design is limited by some special considerations. She must not be too heavy to carry in the davits; she must not exceed a certain length, say 25 feet; she must not be too broad in the beam to be carried inboard; and her draught of water must be somewhat shallow for the sake of convenience in landing. Subject to these conditions, stability is, I am sure, the object that should principally be aimed at in the construction of a yacht's boat. The ever-present and the most serious danger of boat-sailing is that of being overpowered by weather: that is to say, of being overtaken by a wind so strong that the boat will not carry any canvas sufficient to work her without instantly capsizing or filling with water. And a very ordinary gale of wind, such as occurs on our coasts once at least in most months of the year, will be enough for this, and will, especially if combined with sea, so overpower any open boat, of a size that can be carried on a yacht, that is exposed to its full strength, that she will be unable to show any canvas to it except just to scud before it.
I am aware that this statement will be felt a little startling, perhaps even by some sailors; but I have tried a good many experiments in sailing boats in rough weather, and I am sure it is true of any boat that the yacht-owner is likely to carry.
Builders of yachts' sailing boats are not, somehow, usually very successful in making boats 'stiff.' They will not make them flat enough in the floor, or, if they do, do not make it the right shape. Their idea, generally, is to build a boat that will beat boats of a similar class in regattas, and sail fast on a fine day in the smooth waters of a harbour; and if you allow them their own way, they will generally provide you with a crank boat, over-masted and over-canvassed, that may sail very fast in a light wind and smooth water, but which will be overpowered at once in a fresh breeze and a choppy sea. And some day, even perhaps after you have done your best to make her more seaworthy by lightening her mast and cutting down her canvas, you may have the mortification of seeing a fishing-boat no larger than your own craft making a good passage and standing up like a stake under her close-reefed sail, whilst you are unable to show a rag to the wind without being at once overpowered. And remember that you cannot make an open boat stiff by the simple process of loading her with ballast, as even some sailors vainly suppose. Beyond the amount which brings her to her best sailing trim in a good breeze, and which experience of the boat will teach you, additional ballast hardly makes her appreciably stiffer, and does make her very appreciably slower. Make stability, then, your primary object, and impress on your builder that he must not sacrifice it to speed; and that, as it is out of the question to obtain it by means of a lead or iron keel, the weight of such a thing in the case of a large boat being quite prohibitory (not to speak of inconvenience in landing), he must make her flat in the floor and give her plenty of beam.
With the same object in mind, her spread of canvas should be moderate but sufficient, and her masts and spars no heavier than is really necessary. These are generally quite needlessly stout. If the mast is strong enough to capsize the boat without breaking, it is as strong as it need be; anything beyond this merely means additional topweight, decreasing the stability of the boat, and doing no service. A very light mast, if properly stayed by a couple of wire shrouds on each side, will stand an immense strain.
It is a disputable question whether such a boat should be a lifeboat. The air-tight compartments, usually made of copper, certainly add to her weight, and, some say, make her less stiff. On the other hand, it is pleasant to feel that your boat is unsinkable, and that if you knock a hole through her bottom with a rock, or ship an unlucky sea, she will not go down. But if you decide, as I should do, on a lifeboat, be sure that she really is one, and that her air-tight compartments are large enough to float her with ballast and crew on board. A 25-ft. cutter, such as is built by White of Cowes, will carry more than half a ton of ballast and half a dozen people quite comfortably when she is full of water. But I have seen small steam-launches, nominally lifeboats, that would undoubtedly, with their engines and boilers on board, sink like stones if they were filled with water.
Wooden air-tight compartments are lighter than copper tanks, but they are apt to warp and become leaky. Twenty-two years ago, in New Zealand, I had a lifeboat sailing-cutter sent out to me by long sea that I had had built for me in England. As soon as she arrived I took a friend out for a sail on a rough day and filled her with water, just to show him her marvellous properties. The result was ignominious. The water-tight (!) compartments filled, and we drifted helplessly home, thanking the Fates that we had nothing but water ballast on board.
The shape of the stern is another point on which opinions may reasonably differ. There is much to be said in favour of a boat being sharp at both ends. A sharp stern is undoubtedly safer when running through broken water or before a heavy sea, and when a boat 'squats' in running before a strong wind it does not drag dead water behind it, and makes a cleaner wake. But unless increased length can be given to the boat it diminishes stiffness. The square-sterned boat carries her bearings farther aft, and so, if both are of the same length, the square-sterned boat, other things being equal, will be the stiffest of the two. But if you decide for a square stern let the boat have a fine run aft, and let the square surface of the stern be small and well up out of the water.
Any sort of a counter is an abomination, dangerous to a boat in a sea-way.
She should have a good side; that is, a high side above water. It adds to her stability, as well as making her much drier. If her side is rather low, washboards fixed along the top of the gunwale will be found advantageous in rough weather. She should be higher out of water at both ends than amidships, and the line of her rail should describe a graceful curve from bow to stern. A boat that looks quite level from end to end is generally a poor sea-boat, and, if her bottom corresponds with her top, a bad steerer besides.
I think she should certainly have a centreboard. Several of the smartest yachts' cutters use instead a half-moon-shaped keel of galvanised iron, clamped on to the keel of the boat. I cannot see that this contrivance, which makes a boat useless for anything but deep-water sailing, has any advantages of its own over a centreboard, and its disadvantages are serious. It makes it impossible to beach the boat, or to attempt any landing-place when the water may be shallow, and whenever the boat runs aground or hits a rock, as she is sure to do sometimes when fishing or exploring, it is nearly certain to get broken or bent; and whenever it is left behind, a boat of this kind will cease to be very weatherly, and may even miss stays. Moreover, it must be rather an awkward thing to put on and take off when the boat is in the davits.
'Black Pearl's' cutter, midship section.
A wooden false keel of more graduated shape, deep in the middle and tapering to nothing at the ends, is a better contrivance, but it is open to some of the same objections about landing, in a minor degree.
It is hardly necessary at the present day to combat the prejudice against centreboards. But for many years there was a curious dislike and distrust of them among British boat-sailers and builders. They were excluded altogether from most regattas; and not one in twenty of the boats that would have been vastly improved by them were ever fitted with them. They were regarded, for some mysterious reason, as unseaworthy, unsportsmanlike, and unfair; and when the average boating man found his craft beaten out of sight in going to windward by a centreboard boat, he considered the discovery that she had a centreboard a satisfactory explanation of his defeat, and seldom drew the further conclusion that a centreboard was an excellent thing.
And yet, after nearly twenty-five years' experience of them, I have never been able to discover what the objections to them are. The case of the centreboard is said to get in the way; but unless you want to load your whole boat with very bulky cargo, I am unable to conceive what it can get in the way of. And the merits of a centreboard are many and obvious. It enables you to combine the advantages of deep and shallow draught. You can run your boat up on a beach, and be holding your own to windward against a deep-keeled yacht ten minutes afterwards. It makes the most ordinary boat weatherly, smart, and handy to steer. It gives you timely warning of shallow water, and the only result of its touching the bottom or striking a rock is to send it up into its case. I have never had my centreboard either bent or broken by such contact. But it is well to have it lowered on a chain or wire rather than on an iron shank, with a joint or two near the handle, as in most of White's boats. Because when the centreboard hits the bottom and is forced up into the case, these joints will double up inside the case, and the solid part of the shank be driven through the top of it; which would be unpleasant for anyone who happened to be sitting there.
A centreboard, except in so far as its weight makes ballast, does not make a boat stiffer, as the uninitiated often suppose, but in the case of a broad, shallow boat, rather the reverse, as it prevents her from being blown away to leeward. And in a boat such as is being here considered, it should not be too heavy for one man to haul up. It should be made of a thin sheet of galvanised iron.
As regards her rig, nothing is really so handy and capable as the cutter, or, to speak more accurately, the sloop rig; consisting of mainsail and foresail, as ordinary working canvas. I prefer the sloop rig of a single foresail on a short iron bumpkin, to the end of which the forestay is attached, to the cutter rig of staysail and jib with a regular bowsprit; for a bowsprit is an awkward thing in rounding to and coming alongside a ship, under all sorts of conditions of wind and tide, and a second head-sail gives you more gear to attend to when you are single-handed. And on a boat of this size a single foresail is not too large to be easily handled.
What makes this rig so suitable for the peculiar and varied purposes of a yacht's boat is, that, with mainsheet and peak halliards kept in hand, it gives such absolute control over the pace and direction of the boat at a moment's notice. In whiffing round the rocks after pollack, for instance, in a flawy wind, by lowering and raising the peak, and easing off and hauling in the mainsheet, it is easy to maintain a perfectly level pace of two or three knots. In a squall, or in going alongside a ship or a landing-place, the peak can be dropped and the boat eased or checked at once without becoming unsailable. This constitutes, in my opinion, a very important advantage over the standing lugsail, of which, of course, the peak cannot be lowered. A downhaul should be attached to the end of the gaff, as the peak will not always drop when the wind is pressing the sail against the topping lift.
Mainsheet on iron horse.
The foresheets should lead aft and be made fast round cleats or pins within reach of the steersman for convenience when sailing single-handed; the mainsheet should travel on an iron horse across the stern; but care should be taken that the shackle, A, that attaches the block to the horse, should be of a size and shape that will not jam when the block hangs down loosely, and perhaps takes a turn, as it may in going about. One squally day this year, the writer, who had always wondered how people could be so foolish as to get drowned through their mainsheets being foul, found himself, after going about, with the lower block of his mainsheet twisted and jammed under the horse, at such an angle that the sheet would not run: while, to make the mischief complete, the tiller was jammed by the block as well, so that he could neither luff nor ease the sheet.
Sail-plan, 'Black Pearl's' cutter.
A jackyard topsail that requires no topmast can be set, and a spinnaker will be found very useful for running in light weather. A bowsprit can also be run out and a jib set; but this will probably be found to upset the balance of sail on the centreboard, and make her carry lee-helm, in which case it will be of no use.
If a standing lugsail is preferred, the peak should be cut high, and the long yard should be as light as is consistent with the necessary strength. I can see no advantage over the cutter mainsail, except that the halliards are rather simpler. Old sailors and fishermen will tell you that a boat with a yard is always stiffer than one with a gaff. With a dipping lug, such as fishermen use, or a balance lug, this seems not improbable, as in these rigs a considerable part of the yard and sail is to windward or in front of the mast; but with a standing lugsail, which, if it has a boom, is practically identical in shape with a cutter's mainsail, it is hard to believe that there is much in it—the peak halliards can hardly make much difference.
A balance lug, however excellent for racing or for fine-weather sailing in protected waters, is unsuited for the varied purposes of a yacht's cutter, and the rough experiences to which she will be exposed. For it is not possible either to lower the peak, or to trice up the tack, or to brail up the sail by means of the topping-lift, and in a squall it is not unlikely to jam against the mast and refuse to come down.
Though the yawl may not be quite so handy as the cutter-rig in the matter of instantaneous control of pace and direction—for there is the mizzen as well as the mainsail to think about—it has certain special and important advantages of its own. When it is necessary to shorten sail, to strike the mizzen is equivalent to taking a reef in the mainsail without any of the difficulty and delay involved in that operation; or you can lower the mainsail and reef it at leisure whilst you sail under foresail and mizzen. To lower the mainsail of a cutter in order to reef it involves losing way and falling off to leeward. Moreover, whether the sail be up or down, it is much easier to take reefs down on the main-boom of a yawl, which is well inside the boat, than on that of a cutter, which is right out over the stern. To haul down and secure the earing on the main-boom of a cutter when she is plunging in a sea-way and burying her rail with the force of the wind is a difficult and even dangerous operation, which is not unlikely to end, if you are not careful, in your finding yourself in the sea and your boat careering gaily away without you.
The tiller of a yawl must be shaped or placed so that the mizzen-mast does not get in its way; there are several ways of contriving this. A yoke with lines does not give sufficient power, unless so large as to be inconvenient.
'Aline's' cutter (Colonel Gamble).
The amount of ballast required will depend somewhat on the shape of the boat, but about 11 cwt. will probably be found to be about the right amount for a 25-ft. boat with three or four men on board under ordinary circumstances. When there is a very strong wind and fewer hands on board, an extra 2 cwt. or 3 cwt. may be added. But much extra ballast makes a boat slow—much more so, oddly enough, than the same amount of weight in people—without adding very much to her stability.
Blocks of lead about ½ cwt. each make the best ballast. These should be cast so as to fit two long boxes along the floor on each side of the keel in the centre of the boat. But it is well to have some of the ballast in the form of shot-bags weighing about 40 lbs. each, which can be placed further aft and shifted about as required.
Water ballast is unsatisfactory. Its bulk is not the only objection. Its specific gravity is so small that it will not make a boat stiff, and so even a boat that has no water-tight compartments will be safer in a strong wind with lead or iron ballast. A lifeboat that will float ¾ ton of lead or iron is, of course, much more so.
I give here dimensions, drawings, and diagrams of two typical yachts' sailing boats, well suited for knocking about in all sorts of weather, one belonging to the writer, the other to Colonel Gamble of the 'Aline.' The former, the 'Black Pearl's' cutter, is a 25-ft. lifeboat, with copper air-tanks, built by Messrs. Fay & Co., from a design of T. Soper's, with a centreboard, and sloop-rigged. She has a high side, and a good deal of shear, while her forefoot is somewhat cut away. She is fairly fast, and weatherly, fairly stiff, and a beautiful sea-boat. She carries usually 11 cwt. of ballast, occasionally as much as 14 cwt.
s.s. 'Aline's' lifeboat (Colonel Gamble, C.B.)
Colonel Gamble's boat is a 22-ft. lifeboat, with wooden air-tight compartments, of the Lamb & White pattern, built by Hansen & Sons. She has no centreboard, but a 9-in. wooden false keel, deepest in the middle, and tapering to nothing at the ends, is screwed on to her keel. She carries a standing lug mainsail, and a foresail. The peak of her lugsail is cut very high, and her mast, yard, and boom are very light and workmanlike. Her side and ends are less high out of the water, and she is in every way a smaller boat than the 'Black Pearl's' cutter, and probably less of a boat in a sea-way: but she can sail round the latter in a light wind, and in a strong one is very nearly as fast, and stands up like a stake. The reader will please to notice the flatness of her floor in the drawing of her midship section on p. 207. She has been, I believe, very successful in races against boats of her class, showing that speed and stability are not quite so incompatible as they are sometimes supposed to be. She carries usually about 9 cwt. of ballast in shot-bags, and when full of water will float 4 in. clear of the sea, with that ballast and four men on board.
| 'Black Pearl's' cutter | 'Aline's' cutter | ||||||
| ft. | in. | ft. | in. | ||||
| Length | 25 | 0.0 | Length | 22 | 0.0 | ||
| Beam | 7 | 1.0 | Beam | 6 | 3.0 | ||
| Depth amidships from gunwale to outside garboard | 3 | 2¾ | Depth inside | 2 | 7.0 | ||
| Depth of keel from outside of garboard | 5¼ | Depth of keel from outside of garboard | 3½ | ||||
| Draught of water with 11 cwt. of ballast and crew | 2 | 0½ | Depth of additional false keel | 9.0 | |||
| Draught with centreboard down | 5 | 0.0 | Draught of water with 9 cwt. of ballast and crew | 1 | 10.0 | ||
| Ditto with false keel added | 2 | 7.0 | |||||
| Sail plan | Sail plan | ||||||
| Length of mast from step to hounds | 16 | 0 | Length of mast | 14 | 0 | ||
| Ditto from step to masthead | 19 | 7 | Length of main-boom | 16 | 9 | ||
| Length of main-boom | 20 | 4 | Length of yard | 19 | 0 | ||
| Length of gaff | 11 | 3 | |||||
It does not come within the scope of this chapter to give a full and elementary manual of the art of boat-sailing. Descriptions of the thousand and one things belonging to a yacht and the sailing of her, a glossary of nautical terms and their meaning, and a full account of the art of sailing are given in another portion of this work. The leading principles of boat-sailing are the same as those for sailing a larger vessel. The gear of a boat, as far as it goes, is identical, and the knots, bends, and hitches that are most used are common to both. I need not, therefore, describe them, nor waste space by repetition in giving such elementary directions as that a boat should be luffed in a squall, or in explaining what is meant by 'gybing' a boat or 'putting her about.' But there are some things in the art of sailing that have a special application to open boats, so perhaps I may be allowed, even at the cost of an occasional repetition of what has been said elsewhere, to give a few hints and directions, based upon practical experience, as to the handling of a boat, together with some of the simple rules that experience has taught me are the most important to remember, even though some of these may seem to be of a very elementary character.
Earl of Pembroke's 'Black Pearl's' cutter.
The yachtsman who is inexperienced, or much out of practice in the management of a boat, had far better take a sailor or a couple of sailors with him. By observing what they do he will learn or remember how to do things properly, and the tiro will pick up in a day or two, from watching an expert, many things that he would take long to learn for himself. Indeed, I think that in dangerous weather it is always as well to have a seaman on board. He will be unnecessary, probably, if nothing happens—that is to say, if nothing carries away or gets jammed; but it is just on such days that things do happen, and it is in such emergencies that the difference between a sailor and an ordinary amateur becomes widest. A good sailor has some resource for almost everything that can happen, and if one thing will not do he tries something else. Even if the amateur is as quick to know what should be done, he is usually far slower and more clumsy in the doing of it. Suppose, to take a very simple instance, the peak halliards carry away. How many amateurs are there who could make a long splice and re-reeve them with reasonable expedition? In a tumble of a sea, with a lee shore imminent, the mere reeving of them, if no splice is required, will very likely bother him considerably.
Still no one will ever be a passable boat-sailer, or will ever enjoy boat-sailing as it can be enjoyed, until he learns to dispense with professional assistance and to manage his boat single-handed if necessary. So, when he has learnt with his eyes, as far as a man can, how things should be done, other than steering and giving orders, let him go out alone or with an amateur like himself and learn his business. Let him choose a fine day and sail away if possible out of sight of the most powerful glasses on his ship, and then deliberately and of set purpose practise everything essential that is comprised in the art of boat-sailing. He will instantly discover that between knowing how things are done and doing them there is an extraordinary difference, and he will find himself curiously awkward in doing what he has seen his men do a hundred times. He will make acquaintance with the malign tendency of all ropes to get foul of each other, and the strange law that whenever you are trying to put something right on a boat something else always goes wrong. When he first tries to reef his sails—he will do it at anchor if he is wise—he will find that the foretack is horribly inconvenient to get at, and that the foresail will keep running up the stay and muffling his head, while the main-boom seems to be possessed by a devil and tries to push him overboard whichever side of it he gets. When he gets under way again he finds that he has got the anchor-line foul of the foresheets, and while he is clearing these and re-reeving them through their fairleads, a puff of wind knocks the boat nearly flat and sends him scrambling aft to the tiller and the mainsheet. He will bruise his shins and bark his knuckles all manner of ways—he hardly knows how; he will get hot and blown, and go near to tumbling overboard in the violence of his exertions; he will do things and he will forget to do things that it will make him blush in bed to remember afterwards. But let him not feel too deeply humiliated. For even experienced sailors will make the most monstrous blunders in a boat when they are strange to her, and to boatwork; and he will find that his awkwardness seems to vanish miraculously after a few lessons, and it will not be long before he has the satisfaction of feeling that he can handle his boat as well as any man on the ship.
It is foolish to go far, and especially far to leeward, when there is every appearance of bad weather coming on, and a low glass. You may do it many times with impunity, but some day you are sure to get caught, and the consequences may be serious. Remember that you are always liable to meet with an amount of wind that your boat will not be able to bear under the shortest canvas that you can work her with. Many people do not realise this; and indeed it requires some powers of imagination, when a boat is standing stiffly up under her full canvas in a good breeze, to realise that in a few hours, or even minutes, there may come an amount of wind which will make it impossible to keep her lee-rail out of the water even with close-reefed sails and sheets flying loose. But a few rough and unpleasant experiences will soon convince the young boat-sailer of the fact, and teach him that a boat has no business to be out in a gale of wind, and that when he is caught in one the thing to do, if it is possible, is to gain shelter at once. If he sails much he will come across plenty of bad weather without courting it, and when he does he will probably meet it with more coolness and confidence if he is free from the depressing sensation that the scrape into which he has got himself, and perhaps others as well, is entirely due to his own wanton folly.
It is always best, if possible, to reef down and make everything snug before the squall or storm comes upon you; but you cannot be continually reefing down for every threatening cloud, so this is not always practicable. When the wind has become too strong for the sail you are carrying, you will have to act according to circumstances. It is not always wise to attempt to reef at once. There may not be sea-room enough to lower down the sails to reef them, and to attempt to reef a cutter's mainsail in a squall when she is nearly overpowered by wind is extremely dangerous. For the sheet must be hauled right in, and cannot be eased while the earing is being made fast. It is better under such circumstances to lower your peak altogether, taking up any slack in the topping-lift so as to support the boom. This will ease the boat immensely, and gives you a capital leg-of-mutton sail. Possibly this will be a sufficient reduction, and you may stand on under this canvas until you get shelter, or sea-room to reef in, or there comes a lull in the squall. If it is not, and the boat is still overpowered, haul down the foresail as well and double reef it, and when it is set again you can, if you have then got sea-room, take down the reefs in your mainsail, keeping the peak down all the time.
There are generally three reefs in a cutter's mainsail. If when these are taken down you have still too much canvas, let the throat run down, and lash the jaws of the gaff down to the boom. It is well to have a line of reef points running from the throat of the mainsail to the cringle of the third reef on the after-leach to make this arrangement snug. It is then called a balance reef.
Most boats will stand rather more wind when it is on the beam than they will when they are close hauled. For while they do not feel it quite so hard, it is easier to keep good way on, and you can spill the sails by slacking the sheets as much as you like without fear of losing it. So that in smooth water you will be as safe in a blow with the wind abeam as you are when sailing close to it and luffing up into the puffs. But a beam sea is the most dangerous sea of all, and when it is heavy you must always be ready either to luff up towards it, or to keep right away before it, as may be best. But if you do the former be careful not to have too much way on, or you will run your boat's nose right into the sea. If your course gives you a dangerous beam sea the best plan is to keep your luff until your port is well to leeward, and then up helm and run for it.
In running before a strong wind and a dangerous sea do not attempt to carry much sail. It is a common belief among the inexperienced, founded upon nautical literature absorbed in youth, and even amongst some who ought to know better, that you must carry plenty of sail in order to run away from the sea and avoid being pooped. But, in the first place, you cannot run away from the sea, which travels more than twice as fast as any boat can sail, and a press of canvas which buries the boat's stern as it drags her through the water increases the danger of being pooped. Moreover, it makes her harder to steer, and increases the much greater risks of broaching to or running the boat under water in those desperate rushes on the steep front of the big seas, which are at once the danger and the delight of running before a wind. So far from its being desirable to emulate the pace of the sea, the sooner the wave passes the boat, and the shorter, therefore, these rushes are, the less is the danger.
I learned this once by experience. Many years ago, on the coast of New Zealand, I was caught out at sea by a gale of wind in a 13-ft. sailing dinghy, and had to run home before it in a short, dangerous, rapidly rising sea. The little boat tore before the wind under a reefed mainsail and jib, running her nose and stern alternately level with the water, until it became evident that we should be swamped in a few minutes. I ordered the man who was with me to haul down the sail. The moment he did so the little boat, which was sharp at both ends and was steered with an oar, began to ride the seas like a duck, and we ran home before the gale with ease and safety under a bare stick and a fragment of head-sail.
A boat with a sharp stern, steered with an oar, has a great advantage under such circumstances. For the rudder is sometimes right out of the water and useless; and though the water of a great wave does not really move forward with the wave as it appears to do, the breaking top of it does, and when the rudder is in this water, which is going faster than the boat, it is useless for the moment. It is well to have a place for a crutch in the gunwale far aft, so that an oar can be used to steer with if necessary.
There is generally less wind under the shelter or lee of the land. But this is not always the case, and the most experienced seaman cannot always foretell whether this will be so or not. Sometimes the wind seems to belong to the land, and there may be little or none of it out at sea. Under high land—cliffs or mountains—you may lose the wind altogether; you may find it blowing in occasional baffling puffs of great violence and uncertain direction, or you may find it blowing much harder, not in puffs merely but altogether. It is not an uncommon experience, especially in the Mediterranean, to run down a coast before a fresh breeze, and to find a perfect tornado blowing when you turn a corner and luff up under the land. This is one of nature's paradoxes—one of the undoubted facts that one occasionally meets which seem opposed to all reason and probability. I do not know how far it has ever been scientifically explained.
Some places where there is high land seem to brew their own wind. Loch Scavaig, in Skye, under the Coolin hills, is an instance of this. It may be fine and almost calm outside, but as you sail into its gloomy waters you may find a perfect tempest blowing in or out. It staggers one to think what it must be like in a real gale of wind.
In Carlingford Lough, Ireland, last autumn, when there was but a fine-weather breeze blowing outside, the puffs off the mountain on the south of the lough took the form of a succession of regular waterspouts, any one of which would have twisted the mast out of the boat or capsized her if it had struck her. We kept as far to leeward as we could, and most of them died away before they crossed our track, but they felt very uncanny.
Speaking generally, high land is always dangerous for boat-sailing, as well as trying to the temper. On a day when there is nothing but a fine-weather breeze elsewhere, under high land you are liable to get puffs as violent while they last as a gale of wind. It is as though the hills bottled up and concentrated the wind, so that when it is let loose it comes with double force; and these puffs are specially dangerous to a boat apart from their force: first, because the angle at which they will strike is so uncertain, and secondly, because, coming from above and striking downwards, a boat does not relieve the pressure on her sails by heeling over as she does when the wind blows horizontally along the water. This is the reason why you will probably find that the squalls that go nearest capsizing your boat are not those that you have seen tearing towards you turning the water into smoke as they come, violent as these may be, but those which you have hardly seen a sign of on the water at all, and which strike the sails with a downward blow straight from the mountain side. The Sound of Raasay, outside Portree Harbour, when a westerly wind is blowing over the tremendous cliffs of Skye, is a fine place for the study of these phenomena.
When the wind is blowing up or down a channel with high land on either hand, the fiercest puffs will be near the sides which seem to concentrate the wind, and the safest place will be the middle of the channel. One day, in Loch Scavaig, beating out of that inferno of furious winds against the usual succession of tearing puffs, with double-reefed sails and all passengers down in the bottom of the boat, I stood rather far over one tack under the high mountain on the west side. Just as I was preparing to go about a furious blast struck the boat like a cannon-shot. I thrust the helm down, letting fly the mainsheet. The foresheet fortunately carried away of itself, but for a few seconds a volume of water poured over the rail, and I thought we should go over or fill. A minute later, as we were standing off on the other tack, setting things to rights and pruning our ruffled plumes, my coxswain, a most excellent boat-sailer but a man of a somewhat sardonic humour, remarked grimly, 'I should think that would be a lesson to you in future not to stand over too far under high land.' It has been.
Here follow a few of the things which it is well to remember when boat-sailing, whether you are acting as captain or crew, or both in one.
As soon as your sails are set and properly trimmed, coil away the ends of all your halliards, topping-lift, &c., in the bottom of the boat, capsizing the coil after you have made it so that the part of the rope that has to go up first becomes uppermost, and so will not get foul when the halliards are let go.
See that all your blocks are clear. A reef pendant (earing) getting drawn into the mainsheet block, or a bit of bunting or spunyarn into the block of the peak halliards, may easily cause an accident.
The squall in Loch Scavaig, Skye.
See that boathooks, oars, and crutches are all ready for use if required.
Never make fast your sheets in any way that can possibly jam, or that a single pull will not set free. The same is advisable with your halliards also.
Always see that your mainsheet is clear, and that it cannot get foul of anything in running out. The most favoured lady passenger should not be allowed to put her feet on it.
When you have passengers on board in dangerous, squally weather, try to get them to sit down in the bottom of the boat. It adds greatly to stability, besides getting them out of the way. But if there is much water in the boat already, they may require some persuasion.
Always carry an anchor or grapple and a line to attach to it, and see that both are ready for instant use if you are likely to want them. The anchor for a 25-ft. boat should weigh about 30 lbs. If it is heavier it will tax your wind severely to get it up quickly in deep water.
'Excuse me.'
Always carry a knife. A sheath-knife is best: there is no difficulty about opening it when fingers are cold, and it will not shut on them when you are using it.
Always carry a pocket-compass in case of fog.
In what is called a temperate climate always carry oilskins and a sou'wester.
Always carry some spare rope, particularly odds and ends of small rope; you may always want it for something. Your spinnaker gear will probably do at a pinch to replace a broken halliard or sheet.
When you are exploring and have ladies on board, do not forget to take a landing-board.
Always carry some water and biscuits when you may be out many hours.
Always have the centreboard down in coming alongside a ship. The boat will answer her helm better and steer more accurately with the centreboard down, as the wind and sea cannot push her about on the surface.
If it is ever necessary to leave your boat untended, take great care that she can neither damage herself nor get adrift when the tide rises. Nothing will make you feel so intolerably foolish as to come back and find your boat damaged or gone, perhaps still in sight bobbing away without you. The writer was once left stranded on a small island in the Hauraki Gulf, New Zealand, owing to his man having considered a round stone a suitable object to make a boat fast to.
Self-unmoored.
Keep out of the way of steamers and big ships when you can, even when by the rule of the road it is their business to keep out of yours. They will probably expect you to keep clear of them, and, when in narrow waters, are justified in doing so.
Never 'moon.'
Finally, never 'moon,' or think about such things as politics, philosophy, or people, when boat-sailing. Frivolous conversation on subjects unconnected with the boat or the weather should be sternly discouraged in any but the most familiar waters and the finest of weather. Distraction is a real danger in boat-sailing, and is probably the commonest cause of fatal accidents. The attention of the boat-sailer should always be concentrated on his business. He has plenty to attend to and think about. He must always have an eye on his sails, and at the same time must keep watching the wind on the water before it reaches him, and the general appearance of the weather. And in spite of these preoccupations he should be continually noting the features of the coast. If he is leaving a place to which he is going to return, he should be constantly taking note of the relative bearings of rocks and headlands by which to remember the proper channel when he comes back, not forgetting that the state of the tide will be different, and carefully observing, therefore, if the tide is low, the position of rocks and shoals that may be submerged on his return, or if it is near high water, the bearing of places which his chart tells him will have to be avoided when the tide is out. In short, it is an engrossing occupation, permitting of no distraction, except perhaps fish, and even then one man must continue to give his attention almost entirely to the boat. There is a time for all things, and the man who wants to talk or to read his book in the boat has no business there. Shelley used to read, it is true, and he was an ardent boat-sailer. But Shelley's case is a bad one to quote as an example, for his boat-sailing came to an unlucky end, and we shall never know now how much or how little that little volume of poetry had to do with it.
I have said a good deal in these pages of the dangers of boat-sailing. It has been necessary to insist upon them, because the price of safety in boat-sailing is eternal vigilance and a little knowledge. The careless man may drown himself any day, and there is no saying what mess the complete duffer may not get into. But given the habit of carefulness, which soon becomes instinctive and unconscious, together with a little experience, and a moderate amount of prudence as regards weather, and boat-sailing is certainly not a dangerous sport as sports go.
There is no place like home.
CHAPTER IX
SMALL YACHT RACING ON THE SOLENT
By 'Thalassa'
As Lord's is to the cricketer, St. Andrews to the golfer, Newmarket to the lover of the Turf, so is the Solent to the yachtsman—the Solent in its largest sense, not the West Channel only, but the whole of the waters inside the Wight, bounded by fifty miles of shore line, and covering an area of over fifty square sea miles. The West Channel, twelve miles long, is nearly twenty-four square miles; the East Channel, eight miles long, is equal in area; and Southampton Water, six miles long, covers three square miles. Nearly all of it is navigable to yachts, the Brambles being the only midwater shoal which interferes with small vessels of moderate draught.
The water of the Solent is clear as crystal, the air healthy as Switzerland, the scenery nearly as beautiful; here are watering places with mirth and music; cities with docks and shipping; men of war and men of peace; clubs and hotels; piers, slips, jetties, and hards; building and repairing sheds; yacht designers and agents; skippers and 'hands'; sail, flag, and rope makers; yachts' ironmongers and purveyors, &c. &c. &c., which etceteras include several snug anchorages and small harbours for those who wish to escape from the general hubbub during the yachting and excursion season. And the whole of this within a two hours' journey of London!
Curiously enough, the advantages of the Solent for yachting have only been fully appreciated during the past few years. It is true that the Royal Yacht Squadron was started early in the century, and the Royal Southern and Royal Victoria Yacht Clubs early in the forties; but yachting on the Solent as we know it now was not dreamt of, and the Thames held for many years the leading position as the centre of this essentially English sport.
Many things have combined to drive yachts from the Thames. Manure, marmalade, cement, gas, and other manufactories now line its banks; the Barking outfall fouls its waters, and an enormous steamer and barge traffic obstructs them. No wonder the yachtsmen deserted the Thames. But this is not all; a new sport has been born—the racing of small yachts, for which the Thames is peculiarly unsuited. Steam yachting has caused this development of small yacht racing. Men who would otherwise have built or purchased large sailing yachts now prefer steam, and, although they may themselves race but little in any craft, their action has destroyed our fleet of large sailing yachts, and with it the market for outclassed racers of any considerable size. Moreover, the very perfection to which racing has been brought tells in the same direction, because few men can afford to build large racers year by year to replace those which are outclassed. Yacht clubs have increased both in numbers and wealth, and the executives find that racing brings grist to the mill and repays the cost and the trouble. This especially applies to small yacht races, the prizes for which are not a severe tax on a club's exchequer, and can therefore be given more frequently.
Owners were not slow to avail themselves of the sport offered, which on trial proved to possess many advantages over large yacht racing.
In small craft an owner is more his own master, and frequently steers and sails his own boat. Corinthian hands can form all or a large portion of the crew; ladies can take an active part; the sport is less costly and better fun than with large craft; there are more races; fouls and accidents are less dangerous; and people can get home to dinner.
In short, the advantages are so numerous and real that one marvels at any men preferring to act as passengers on board their own yachts in the more ancient sport. Even this adjective belongs really to the boats, as prehistoric men no doubt owned and raced canoes for ages prior to the existence of larger vessels. But we as moderns are concerned with the nineteenth century, during which sailing boats have certainly raced frequently on the Solent. The square stem and stern boat used by the Itchen ferrymen for fishing in Southampton Water and the E. and W. channels is still a favourite type, and during the seventies became almost a class for small yacht racing, inside lead ballast, moulded, being first introduced, then lead keels, until in 1878 heavy lead keels, with fore and aft overhang, became the fashion with racing owners, and the Solent 'Length Classes' were introduced to the yachting world; 21 feet, 25 feet, and 30 feet L.W.L. being the top limits of each class.
A scale of time allowance for length was made by the Y.R.A., and the boats developed into great 'brutes' which were efficient sail-carriers if nothing else, the final outcome being over 70 square feet of canvas to each foot of L.W.L., whereas a modern rater in the small classes is driven almost as effectively with 20 square feet per foot of similar hull length.
There being no limit to sail in the length classes, it was not a difficult matter to outbuild the crack boat of the year every winter. Each succeeding boat had longer overhang, greater beam, draught, and displacement than her predecessor, and consequently won, being a larger boat and carrying more sail. The table of Solent racers prior to 1886, appended to this chapter, gives some details of interest.
A few races were given every year for what was termed the 27-ft. class ('Sorella,' 'Whimbrel,' &c.), also for Itchen punts and for fishermen's boats; and, early in the eighties, races under various conditions were provided for small yachts by the Royal Southampton and Royal Portsmouth Corinthian Yacht Clubs, under the energetic direction of their respective Honorary Secretaries, Mr. Wolff and the late Mr. McCheane. These clubs may fairly claim to have started that small yacht racing on the Solent which now employs so many hands in building boats in the winter and sailing them in the summer, and affords so many people a healthy pastime for their leisure hours. The rest of the Solent clubs were not long in following suit, first one then another giving races for small yachts, until in 1891 'The Squadron' so far forgot the distich:
Nothing less than 30 T
Must ever race with our Burgee,
as to permit two 'extra' races for 5- and 2½-raters, the prizes having been subscribed for 'privately' by some sporting members of this distinguished club. The same recurred in 1892 and 1893, but it is impossible to feel overwhelmed with gratitude, as the manner of granting the concession was too like that of an old lady introduced sorely against her will to people and things she deems infra dig.
On the other hand, the Royal Victoria, or the 'Red Squadron,' as its friends delight to call it, has since 1890 taken to the sport with becoming enthusiasm, the committee being said to possess more knowledge of the requirements of yacht racing than the Y.R.A. itself. This has produced some strange realities which the racing owner may see for himself at Ryde, in the shape of drums, time-post and semaphores galore, together with a 500-guinea cup and other remarkable 'Gold cups in waiting,' if he step ashore and can make friends with the good-natured secretary. The club gave several special days in 1892 and 1893 for matches in the Solent classes, and the Royal Albert did the same at Southsea, in addition to similar races at their annual regatta—a two days' affair. The Royal London and the Royal Southern Yacht Clubs followed suit. In short, these elderly dames of the Solent are acting in a very proper spirit by adopting and assisting to support the offspring of their younger relatives, requiring them simply to belong to something 'Royal or Recognised'—a peculiar distinction somewhat rough on the former word.
One caution to the unwary. Some of the senior clubs are very proud of their ordnance, but racing boats of modern construction should give them a clear berth, or the concussion may cause damage. One of the cracks had to proceed to the builder's for repair soon after a race at which that great artillerist the hall porter of the Royal London Yacht Club shook Cowes to its foundations. Certain it is that some racing boats are now built far too light for safety if caught in a gale on the open sea.
Returning to the clubs, the table at the end of the chapter gives some prominent facts at a glance, so it will not be necessary to repeat them.
An aspirant to fame in any of the small classes should belong to the Royal Southampton Yacht Club. It has plenty of members, of vitality, and 'go.' Its house is good and comfortable, with a fair cuisine and attendance, and its position is excellent for the racing sailor-man. The fees are not heavy,[7] and the sport is good.
The beginner will do well to make the acquaintance of the leading members of the committee, for their sound advice and local knowledge may be of service to him; but he may be cautioned not to disturb them after the racing with written memoranda about rounding buoys; the soul of man is not to be worried by such frivolities when absorbed in the worship of crab, tap, or Nap in the cosy cabin of the Committee-boat—and this applies with more or less force to all sailing committees and club secretaries. Some shrug the shoulder and vent an expletive, the more pious sigh deeply and glance to the zenith, while many impose a heavy fine on that enemy of peace and quiet who dares to protest against a breach of the regulations. An exception, however, is said to prove a rule; and the committee of the Castle Yacht Club administers the law with strictness, and perhaps severity. If this policy were general, many of the difficulties connected with yacht racing would disappear, as a large percentage is due to irregularities which sailing committees might easily correct, instead of scanning them with a blind eye at the telescope end. Real sportsmen like rules to be strictly observed and administered, and the discipline enforced at the Calshot racing has, if possible, increased the popularity of the club which was started in 1887 by some eccentric enthusiasts who considered that small yacht racing required further encouragement. At that date the idea was not so preposterous as it now appears; but whether this and other clubs assisted materially in the production of modern racing, or were themselves the products, is a problem for the Macaulay of sport to solve in the dim future, when he writes on the pursuit of pleasure in the nineteenth century.
The adoption of the present Y.R.A. rating rule in the winter of 1886 practically killed the 'Length' classes; for, although the Solent clubs continued to support them for another year, no more 'lengthers' were built, and, the existing boats gradually dropping out, the racing with 'footers' collapsed.
The year 1887 was a turning point in small yacht racing on the Solent, as elsewhere.
There was much diversity of opinion as to the suitability of the new rule for small yachts. Mr. Clayton declared in January that 2½-raters would soon be 29 or 30 feet long. Mr. Dixon Kemp, on the other hand, so late as 1881, when the sixth edition of his book was published, gave 'the lengths of water-line ... possible in the classes ... as follows':—
| 60.0 | raters, | 60 | to | 70 | feet, their 1892 developments being | 68 | feet |
| 40.0 | " | 50 | " | 60 | " " " | 59 | " |
| 20.0 | " | 40 | " | 50 | " " " | 46 | " |
| 10.0 | " | 30 | " | 40 | " " " | 38 | " |
| 5.0 | " | 20 | " | 30 | " " " | 34 | " |
| 2½ | " | 16 | " | 20 | " " " | 28 | " |
| 1.0 | " | 10 | " | 12 | " " " | 21 | " |
This forecast erred in the three smallest classes, where prophetic utterances, if only for six months, are extremely hazardous. The fact gives additional piquancy to small yacht racing.
The Solent clubs most interested in this racing began the year 1887 with a conference on January 28 at Southampton, and another on February 2 at Portsmouth, when it was finally agreed to recommend:—
I. The continuation of length class racing for the season of 1887.
II. The adoption of two new classes of square-sterned boats to race under the new rule, viz.—
(a) 2½-raters not exceeding 21 feet L.W.L.
(b) 1-¼ " " " 17 " "
In both classes an overhang limit of 1 foot and a mainsail limit of 55 per cent. of the total sail-area.