Still another type of flat-bottomed boat which is used all along the Atlantic coast is the sharpie. The sharpie is merely a modified skiff equipped with a centerboard, but when properly handled these boats will stand a great deal of rough weather and knocking about and, moreover, they sail remarkably well. One usually thinks of sharpies as small boats but they are often forty or fifty feet in length and are sometimes built as large as small schooners and of twenty to fifty tons capacity. The great objection to sharpies and other flat-bottomed boats is that they “pound” or slap the water when in a heavy sea or among choppy waves, and to overcome this a type of boat known as a skipjack was evolved. Skipjacks are a sort of connecting link between true flat-bottomed and round-bottomed boats, for the after part of the bottom is flat while the forward portion is V-shaped and thus they cut through the seas instead of pounding on them while at the same time they slip over the surface of the water rather than through it. Many of the fastest racing boats and the fastest motor speed boats are nothing more nor less than modified skipjacks, and for all-around use, especially in shallow waters, there are few better boats where roominess and sea-going qualities are not essential.
Just as the men whose living depends upon their boats have agreed upon the craft best suited to their needs, so the man or boy who is selecting a sailboat for pleasure should consider all the types and should choose that which best fulfills all of his requirements.
If you want a roomy boat or a boat on which to live or sleep you should choose a round-bottomed craft, for only in these can you obtain much depth or “head room” unless a very high cabin is built above the deck which always makes a boat top-heavy and unseaworthy. If the waters in which you are to use your boat are stormy, if heavy seas are common, or if you expect to make long trips out to sea or from place to place, select a boat which is noted for its seaworthy qualities, such as a whaleboat, seine boat, lifeboat or Block Island model.
If you are obliged to run ashore or to pull your boat upon a rocky or sandy beach select a flat-bottomed craft which can be hauled out readily without injury; while, if you want a boat for general utility, to use in bays and harbors and in sheltered waters and yet capable of standing any reasonable seas and ordinary storms, select a fairly deep, beamy, round-bottomed hull such as the Cape Cod or Block Island catboat, or a similar model.
If your boat is merely an open boat for day sailing and short trips almost any type will serve, such as a dory, a sharpie, a skipjack or a round-bottomed or yawl boat. As a rule, however, you should avoid the true “open” boat for sailing, for in a boat without any deck it only takes a slight puff of wind, an instant’s carelessness or a small sea to bring the rail under water and swamp the boat.
Even a very narrow deck is far better than none at all and if the deck has a good high “combing” or raised inner edge, the safety will be increased a hundredfold.
Very few boats will capsize if decently handled and not equipped with too much sail unless “tripped” by getting water over the side; but once the rail of an open boat is under water the boat will upset very quickly, for each pound of water taken in stays on the lowest side of the boat and has a tendency to carry the craft over still further.
A great deal depends upon the construction of the boat itself and still more depends upon the rig or sails to be used, and before selecting or using any boat you should be thoroughly familiar with the various parts of a boat, its construction, its fittings and its rig and should know what each and every part is for, as well as how to use, repair and care for it.