This is a bad accident, as you are liable to lose your mast. Get the mainsail off of her at once. If you have a crotch, put it under the boom so as to take the weight off the mast until you have it secured. Take your jib or staysail halyards or preventer backstays, hook them to the bits or around the bowsprit close to the cranze, and heave taut. Get the yacht before the wind, if possible. Then make the best job of the bobstay you can. A watch tackle makes the best temporary repair.
Want of speed, i:
The want of speed in sailing craft is due to many causes. The most frequent is the result of over-ballasting or to the ballast being in the wrong place. This is especially so in shoal, flat-floored models. Frequently, if a boat prove sluggish, a yachtsman will attempt to improve her speed by adding more sail, and then to carry this sail, will ship more weight. Consequently, the boat is slower and worse-acting than before. If your boat does not seem to be up to her speed, try first by removing a portion of the ballast, and by continually shifting the weights. To try her, sail alongside another boat, of whose comparative speed you are aware, and you will soon find out your boat can be improved in this way.
Want of speed, ii:
Sometimes the sails are to blame, usually through these not being properly set, owing to the blocks being placed in positions where they cannot properly hold up the spars; or, having too little draft. Want of draft will cause a boat to be sluggish in light airs.
Want of speed, iii:
If shifting ballast or getting better sails will not bring the boat to her form, try altering the position of the centerboard or mast. Much additional speed is frequently gained by moving the mast or board. You cannot discover the faults of a boat by analysing her design; you must work it out by sailing her, and studying her actions in all weights of wind.
Speed, to judge:
If you have no log, you can by practice get so that you can gauge a boat’s speed within a half knot by watching the water. When running along shore, make a practice of timing the boat between measured points. By doing this constantly you will get so experienced that you can judge by eye very close to the speed she is making. Another way is to time her as she passes floating objects, or while passing a stick dropped over from the bow, count the seconds one, two, three, and so on, until it passes the stern. Knowing the length of the boat by this means you can roughly estimate her speed through the water. If your boat is 25 feet long, and it takes her 5 seconds to pass an object, she is making about 3 knots.