Boys' Book of Model Boats

by Raymond F. Yates

Some form of automatic rudder is therefore generally used to overcome this tendency of the yacht to "luff" in the wind. [Fig. 147] shows the course of a yacht reaching from A to B. The dotted lines show the course she should follow. The full line shows the effect of puffs of wind, which repeatedly take her out of her course. Many times she may completely turn around and make a similar course back to the starting-point, as in [Fig. 148]. There is also the danger of her being taken back when pointing directly against the wind—the wind will force her backward stern first for some distance, as illustrated in [Fig. 149]. She will do this until she manages to get around on one tack or the other.

The dotted line B illustrates the course in which she would be driven under these conditions. It is not practical to sail a model yacht dead before the wind without an automatic rudder. With the use of an automatic rudder the erratic movements shown in [Fig. 148] can be entirely overcome. The action of the rudder is such that every time the boat leans over to luff up into the wind, the weight of the rudder causes it to swing out, and thus prevents her from losing her course. As a different type of rudder is required, according to the course in which the yacht is sailing, the weight should be adjustable if the same rudder is used.

Let us consider scudding before the wind. For scudding the heaviest rudder should be used, or the weight on a loaded tiller should be in its position of maximum power. All the sails abaft the foremast should be slackened out as far as they will go, which will bring the booms almost at right angles with the center line of the boat. If the craft is a cutter or yawl with a light weight, the yachtsman should rig the spinnaker. The head-sails may be left slack or can be tightened. [Fig. 150] shows the position of the booms when scudding with a schooner and yawl. The yawl is shown scudding goose winged. The cutter is illustrated with the spinnaker set. The other craft is a two-mast lugger with balanced lugs.

Attention is now directed to "reaching." For this particular work the yachtsman should put on a medium rudder. When using a weighted tiller the weight should be put in a midway position. The head-sails should be pulled in fairly tight and the aft-sails made slack. The yachtsman, however, should not slacken them as for scudding. [Fig. 151] shows a schooner reaching. The thick black lines represent the booms of the sails. If the wind is very light a spinnaker-jib may be set or a jib-topsail in light or moderate breezes. In the case of a wind that comes over the stern quarter, as indicated by the arrow A, the next heavier rudder, or its equivalent in weighted tiller, should be put in operation, and the sails slackened out a little more than before. The boat is then said to be free and sailing on the starboard tack. If the wind is coming in the direction B the jib and foresail may require slackening and the aft sails pulled in more than when sailing with the wind in the direction C. A still lighter rudder can be used as the course gets near to beating windward, and the yacht is said to be close-hauled on the starboard tack.

In beating to windward, if a rudder is used at all, it should be as light as possible, just heavy enough to keep the boat steady. However, this is just the condition of sailing when a boat can dispense with a rudder. It depends entirely upon the characteristics of the particular yacht being sailed, and for this the yachtsman must depend upon his own experience. The jib-topsail should not be used in a case like this, and if the wind is fairly strong a smaller jib should be set than that used for reaching. It is advisable to slacken the jib and foresail out and pull the aft-sails in somewhat tightly. [Fig. 152] shows a cutter beating to windward on a port tack. In this case she will have to pay out to starboard a bit before her sails fill.

In sailing the weather must be watched very closely, and the amount of sail carried will depend entirely upon the weather conditions. A yacht should never be overloaded with sail. If she has more than she can comfortably carry she will heel over and drag her sails in the water. Not only this, but she will also drift to leeward when beating to windward. When sailing a new boat, her best trim for various points of sailing and force of wind must be found by painstaking experiments. The boat should always be sailed with her sails as slack as she will take them and keep in her course. In this way she will move faster than when the sails are pulled in close.