Fig. 194. Jib-sail of Scooter Scow. attached to the boat and passed over a block in the mast. When raising the sail it was first partly hoisted, then the sprit was hooked in the loop and the snotter, after which the throat halyard was drawn taut. Then the snotter was pulled up the mast as far as it would go, flattening out the sail. The jib-sail was made out of the large corner piece left when cutting the mainsail. The dimensions of the jib-sail are given in Fig. 194. It was such a small sail that no boom was used with it. In place of a rudder the steering oar had to be used. This was made of a rake handle with a large trowel blade fastened to the end of it. The sharp blade cut into the ice, and so steered the scow when it was running as an ice boat, and in the water the blade offered sufficient resistance to act as a rudder.
Scooter Sailing.
But to return to our sail home to Lamington, we were not out on the open water long before the current carried us back to the ice ledge. Reddy jumped off and soon returned with the steering oar; then we proceeded on our way homeward, now in the water and now on ice. Once or twice the scow was unable to climb out of the water, because she had not sufficient headway, and was clumsy and heavy with four boys aboard. Then we had to push off until we could get a sufficient start. It struck me that while Dutchy was quite clever to think of such a rig, yet it was very clumsy and capable of much improvement. Bill wasn’t saying very much all this time, and I could see he was doing a lot of thinking. Evidently he was planning some improvement, but Bill was a very considerate fellow, and did not want to spoil Dutchy’s pleasure just then by telling him how much better a scooter he might have built. It wasn’t until after supper, when a meeting of the S. S. I. E. E. of W. C. I. was called, that Bill came out with his scheme.
A Meeting of the Society.
“Why not mount the sailing canoe on runners, instead of the scow? You would have a very light rig then, and it would sail like a streak.”
“Mr. President,” said Reddy, “your plan sounds first-rate, but how are you going to fasten runners onto the canoe?”
“I’ve thought all that out,” replied Bill. “If we can only get hold of a pair of sleigh runners it won’t take long to rig up the sled boat.”
Dutchy, who had looked rather crestfallen at a suggestion of an improvement on his pet invention, now suddenly brightened up.
“I know where we can get the sleigh runners!” he exclaimed. “Dad has an old ramshackle sleigh in the barn that is just falling to pieces with dry rot. I’ll ask him for it to-night.”