On Yachts and Yacht Handling

by Thomas Fleming Day

Now to return to the subject of accommodations. A cruising boat should be of such shape as will give the largest interior possible in a given length. In this the older type of yacht was far superior to the modern. In the boats of to-day a man pays for a great deal of hull that is of no use to him, except for looks and speed. The long overhangs provide plenty of deck room, but they add nothing to the cabin and but little to the storage space. In an up-to-date boat all that is habitable is the middle third. In such a craft, 30 feet over all, you can get but 10 feet for cabin. I have seen a 40-foot boat, which was advertised as a good cruiser, in which there was sleeping room for two. Compare this with the accommodations furnished by an old-fashioned plumb-ender, or with a Cape cat. One of these latter of 20 feet has more room than a modern 30-footer of the up-to-date model.

The extreme overhangs are all right in racing craft, but they are a detriment and a danger in cruising craft. The same may be said of the extreme full bow. There never was, and probably never will be, a set of ends better adapted for all-around work than those carried by the boats of twenty years ago, as shown in Minerva and yachts of her day. This is what is known as the half-clipper or schooner bow.

In boats of this type there is sufficient overhang to prevent their diving and to give them sufficient buoyancy to lift easily over a sea, at the same time the ends are not long enough to trip the vessel if running in large water. Again, the entrance and run are sharp enough to fall without pounding—a disagreeable habit that full modern boats are possessed of. The most serious objection to the modern boat with full and long overhangs is that it will not lay-to in heavy water bow-on. Just as soon as you put it to the wind and check its headway it will fall off in a trough and work around stern to the sea, a very dangerous proceeding. It is a splendid runner, and remarkably dry when so engaged; in fact, it seldom ships solid water when going either on or off the wind, and is less liable to pooping than the older types, but when brought to face a sea it pounds and sags and is exceedingly uncomfortable. To one who has never experienced the sensation it is impossible to picture the punishment these full-bowed vessels receive when driven against a head sea. This pounding brings a terrible strain on the spars and rigging and is very wearying to the crew. I have known a sea striking under the stern of one of these boats to throw the crew off their feet, badly injuring one man. The mate of a large English yacht who had crossed the Bay of Biscay in her on the way to Gibraltar told me that he had never in all his sea experience had such a terrible knocking about. Every man on board was a mass of bruises when the vessel made port, and the copper was torn off her bows back for eight or ten feet. Yet this boat's bow was nothing like so full as that of many of our yachts of to-day.

Jib and Mainsail Cruising Boat

If you go to the other extreme, and cut all end off a boat, giving her a straight up and down stem, she is a bad runner and very, very wet. The cutters of this type were most uncomfortable sea boats, being constantly deluged, but they would eat out to windward in heavy weather and lie-to a sea like birds. Between these two there is the end which is the one for the cruiser to use.

The ideal end is one that will lift and lower slowly, allowing the vessel to fall and rise without jarring or jerking. This sort of end will, when falling, bring a vessel slowly to when the extreme point of the fall is reached. With the plumb stem a vessel is apt to go too far, deluging the decks, and in one with the full long bow, not far enough, jarring the whole fabric by suddenly checking the motion. It is of course impossible to have absolutely perfect ends on a vessel, as concessions have to be made to other purposes, but the ends of the majority of our modern yachts are decidedly bad for rough-water work.

Another serious defect in many cruising boats is want of freeboard. There is no excuse for this. A low-sided boat is wet and uncomfortable, both inside and out. You see many boats of this description with scant freeboard and excessively high houses. The only object to be gained by keeping the freeboard down is to reduce the windage and weight, important items in racing craft, but of little matter in a cruiser. Farther on, in speaking of handling in rough water, I shall explain the advantages of freeboard.