"Yes, she is on something: she is on the wind, and she falls off when she goes to leeward. As Ash says, he can feel the pressure as soon as the sails fill; and we sail a boat quite as much by the feeling as by the use of the eyes. Mr. Herschoff, who built the Sylph, is one of the best boatmen in the country, and he is totally blind. Of course, he has to work the boat entirely by the feeling; and those who have good eyes do it largely in the same way. Practice alone can give you this skill."
"Thad said the keel and the rudder balanced the sails, and kept up a sort of equilibrium," added Syl.
"That was quite right. When you see a fellow on a tight-rope in the circus, with a long pole in his hands, you may observe that he keeps lifting one end or the other. He throws the weight of the pole, the ends of which are loaded with lead, to one side or the other to preserve his balance. You shift the helm for the same reason. You can tell what the boat is doing with your eyes shut after you get used to her. When a flaw of wind comes, it throws a boat with a weather-helm up into the wind; and if you were blindfolded, the tiller or the wheel would tell you all about it."
"What do you do when the flaw comes?" asked Archie.
"Meet it with the helm if it is not too stiff for her."
"Suppose it is strong enough to capsize her if she keeps her course?" Hop inquired.
"Let her come up into the wind a little more than the course requires. If you let her up far enough, of course you will spill the sail, and the flaw can do her no harm. This is what sailors would call 'touching her up,' and that is just what we do when the wind comes too strong for the boat. You could keep her balanced, even in a hurricane, for a moment or two with the sails drawing just enough to give her steerage-way. Generally, flaws don't last more than a moment, and you fill away as soon as they pass. You may have to work sharp to keep her from filling on the other tack."
"A fellow has got to do it before he will know how," added Hop.
"Now, Con, I will station you at the port jib-sheet, and you, Hop, at the starboard," said the skipper.
"Why don't you say the weather and lee sheet?" asked Archie.