On Yacht Sailing / A Simple Treatise for Beginners upon the Art of Handling Small Yachts and Boats

by Thomas Fleming Day

A boat or any vessel is steered by a contrivance called a rudder, which is hung like a door on hinges, and swings freely from side to side. This rudder is moved by a handle called a tiller, which is attached to the post and projects forward into the boat. The whole apparatus for steering the boat is called the helm, but in this chapter, when we speak of the helm, it must be understood to mean the tiller.

When the helm is put, i. e., pushed in one direction, the rudder moves in the other. For instance, if the helm is turned to the right the rudder moves to the left, and vice versa. The result of such a movement of the helm is to turn the boat’s bow in the direction the rudder points, so that the boat’s bow, or head as we say, turns the opposite way to the way the tiller is pushed. Remember, that if you put the helm to the left the boat’s head will turn to the right; if you put the helm to the right it will turn to the left.

SHOAL-DRAUGHT SLOOP.

The left side of the boat, as I have explained, is always called the port side; therefore, if I order you to put your helm to port you must push the tiller toward the left. This will move the rudder toward the starboard side, and as the boat’s bow moves the same way as the rudder it will also move to starboard.

But in a sailing vessel, when going under canvas, we do not usually order the helm to be put to starboard or port, but employ terms that derive their signification from the direction of the wind under whose influence the vessel is moving. These terms are up and down, and a-lee and a-weather.

To put the helm up you push the tiller toward the side of the boat on which the wind is blowing. This causes the vessel to move her head away from the wind—to fall off, as it is called.

To put the helm down you push the tiller toward the side on which the sail is. This causes the vessel to move her head toward the wind—to luff, as it is called.

The easiest way to fix these two actions in the wind is this: When a boat is heeled, i. e., tipped, as she usually is when sailing on the wind, the helm is put up by moving it toward the high or up side, and it is put down by moving it toward the low or down side.

To put the helm a-weather is the same as putting it up, or toward the weather side of the boat. To put the helm a-lee is the same as putting it down or toward the lee side of the boat.