Sea-birds fly far out to sea in fine weather; but if they fly inland bad weather may be expected.
When porpoises come into shallow water and ascend the rivers, stormy weather is near.
In conclusion, we will remind the yachtsman that the Meteorological Office issues a daily forecast of the weather for different portions of the British Isles. This forecast is now published in nearly all the leading morning papers, and should always be studied, if possible, before one starts across a broad sea in a little yacht; for it warns us of the “Yankee gale” that is on its way across the Atlantic, and whose approach has been announced by cable long before the barometer or appearance of the sky has given us any sign.
CHAPTER XV.
YACHT RACING.
The new Y.R.A. rule of measurement—Sail area—Time allowance—Rules of racing—Methods of starting.
Other things being equal, the speed of a vessel increases with her size; so it has always been the custom to handicap yachts competing in a race by giving time allowance to smaller craft.
In order to carry out this handicapping, it is of course necessary to have some general rule of measurement by which the size—so far as racing is concerned—of any yacht can be determined with exactitude. It has taxed the brains of yachting men from the earliest days of the sport to discover some standard of measurement which will be fair to all, and which will tend to encourage the building of a class of seaworthy pleasure vessels, and not of mere racing machines.
Until within the last two years the Yacht Racing Association rule for measuring a yacht’s tonnage was as follows: “Add the yacht’s greatest breadth to her length along the load-line; multiply the sum thus obtained by itself, and by the breadth; then divide the product by 1730; and the quotient shall be the tonnage in tons and hundredths of a ton.”
Thus the length and beam were the only factors to be taken into consideration while calculating a yacht’s tonnage. The displacement, draught, and sail area counted for nothing. The natural result followed. As beam was discouraged, it became apparent that the fastest boat for her tonnage, according to this artificial rule, was a long narrow craft with great draught, large sail area, and a lead mine on her keel; consequently uncomfortable in a sea way, and affording, for her size, very cramped accommodation to her passengers; in short, a cup-winning machine unfit for anything but racing.
But now, at last, all this has been changed. The old Y.R.A. rule has been done away with, and a system of measurement on entirely new principles has been introduced which does not tax a vessel’s beam, and the sole factors in the calculation for which are length and sail area.