This is the most difficult steering of any; and in rough water it is very hard to keep the yacht upon her course, for the reason that the seas will lift the stern out of the water, thus at once neutralizing the use of the rudder for a moment, and causing the yacht to yaw. Besides this, the speed changes, this affecting the rudder also. When on top of a sea, and all the sails full, the yacht will go fast: when she attempts to bury her head, and kick up her heels, and becalms the jib and lower part of the mainsail, she will go slower. There is one thing to be guarded against in running before the wind, and that is the "jibing" of the main-boom; that is to say, the wind getting on the forward part of the sail, from any cause,—whether by change of wind, or on account of bad steering,—and carrying it violently over to the other side, endangering the yacht, and with a liability, in heavy weather, of carrying away the mast. This must be guarded against carefully; and if the sea is very bad, and the yacht steers very wild, it is better to tack down to leeward, as it is termed, that is to say, to haul up the yacht a little towards the wind on either tack, so as to bring it over the quarter, and then run before it for a distance, and then, by careful jibing, bring the wind over the other quarter, and then proceed on.
PILOT'S LUFF.
In harbor-sailing, a buoy or point often appears ahead, which, if passed, the yacht could be at once kept away free, being now close-hauled, thus saving the time and inconvenience of tacking, but, as she is going, will be right in the way, unless she is put about. To avoid tacking in such a case, where the yacht will almost stand by, a manœuvre is often executed (if the tide is favorable, and the wind brisk), to avoid tacking, called a "pilot's luff," and consists of—when quite near the object to be passed, and according to its position as right ahead or slightly to leeward—bringing the yacht quickly up into the wind, so that the sails shake, and by her own momentum shooting her dead to windward once or twice her length; and then, before her headway is lost, and the rudder, therefore, useless, keeping her off again till every thing draws, when the same manœuvre may be again executed, each time gaining a position farther to windward than could have been gained in any other way, except by going about on the other tack.
It takes a steady hand at the tiller, and a good calculation of the momentum of the yacht, to execute a pilot's luff well: but it is very useful often, if well performed, and very disastrous in a race; for instance, if the helmsman succeeds in getting the yacht "into irons," and with a stern-board on, as may be the case if he brings her up too high, or neglects to move the helm in time to get back upon his course before the momentum of the yacht is lost, or lets her go about on the other tack. A pilot's luff is a very pretty manœuvre when well executed; and you shall see many an old boatman squeezing his boat by a point, instead of taking the trouble of going about, knowing, that, the moment he has doubled it, his course will be such that the wind will be fair, and he can then ease off his sheets, and go on his way rejoicing.
CHAPTER IV.
Tacking.—Beating to Windward.—A Long and a Short Leg.—How to put a Yacht about.—How to distinguish the Starboard Tack from the Port Tack.—Jibing, or Wearing.—Dropping the Peak.—To beat to Windward in a Tide-Way.—To take in a Jib, and furl it.—To take in a Mainsail, and furl it.—To reef a Jib, or take off a Bonnet.—To clap one Reef in a Mainsail.—To cast out a Reef.
TACKING
