As, in order to turn a boat to the right, the tiller must be moved to the left, the terms used by sailors in steering boats are often confusing to landsmen. For example, if a sailor wants a boat turned to the left, or to port, as it’s called, he will say, “Starboard the helm,” or, in other words, push the tiller to the starboard or right-hand side, and vice versa. It is not so bad when steering with a tiller, but when steering with a wheel the beginner is very apt to do the wrong thing and turn the wheel to the right when he wants to go to the right and to the left, or port, when he wants to go to that direction, and to simplify matters many boats are now arranged so that the wheel is turned in the direction one really wants to go.
This makes it very easy when steering for oneself, but if someone is directing the course and sings out the orders in true sailor fashion the steersman has to remember and port his helm when he is told to starboard it and thus the confusion is just as bad as ever. For this reason the beginner should use a tiller if possible; for that matter, there is no advantage in a wheel in boats less than thirty or forty feet in length.
Boat Fittings and Parts of Boats
1—Eyebolt. 2—Block. 3—Hook block. 4—Ring block. 5—Sister or fiddle block. 6—Snatch block. 7—Cheek block. 8, 9—Fairleaders. 10—Whip purchase. 11—Whip and runner. 12—Long tackle. 13—Gun tackle. 14—Luff tackle. 15—Watch tackle. 16—Cleats. 17—Chocks. 18—Bitts. 19—Turnbuckles. 20—Travelers. 21—Dead eyes. 22—Section of boat to show parts (round bottom). 23—Section of boat to show parts (flat bottom). 24—External parts of boat. 25—Parts of boat (top view). 26—Carvel planking. 27—Clinker planking. 28—Strip planking. 29—Flat bottom planking. 30—V-bottom planking. 31—Diagonal planking.
On every sailboat there are a certain number of appliances which are unfamiliar to landsmen but which you should become accustomed to before attempting to handle a boat. There are blocks, tackle, chocks, fairleaders, cleats, turnbuckles, eyebolts and travelers among the deck fittings. Each of these has its use and one should be perfectly familiar with them. Blocks are wooden or metal objects containing rollers or wheels known as sheaves through which ropes are run to enable them to be hauled tight without great friction. Cheek-blocks are half blocks which bolt or attach to a mast, spar, or other object. Sister-blocks have two sheaves, one above the other, in a single shell. Tail-blocks are blocks with a rope or hook at one end by which they may be hung to spars, etc. Snatch-blocks are blocks arranged so that one side may be opened to allow a rope to be passed over the sheave without running it through and there are patent-blocks which will hold a rope securely in any position by means of a grip.
Blocks and ropes together are known as tackles and the blocks used may be single, double, triple or fourfold, according to the number of sheaves they contain. A luff-tackle has a single and a double block with one end of the rope fast to the single block and the hauling end leading from the double block.
A gun-tackle consists of two single blocks with one end of the rope fast to the upper block and the hauling part passing down from the upper block.
A watch-tackle is a tackle used to haul the rope which is rove through another tackle and a whip-purchase has a single block only.
The purpose of the tackle is to increase one’s power and the more sheaves there are and the more times the rope is passed through the blocks the more the power obtained; but as in every case where power is increased, speed is lost and to hoist a sail with a tackle with several sheaves requires more time than to do the same work with a single-sheave block. For this reason the simplest tackle which will enable you to perform the work without undue exertion is the one you should use.