On Yachts and Yacht Handling

by Thomas Fleming Day

We all thought the boat must be badly damaged, but as she made no water, we turned round and worked her home. When she was hauled out, the only sign of the blow was a dent in the lead keel just deep and wide enough to hold a finger.

Another time I was in a bulb-fin boat, racing, when she struck a rock. She was close-hauled and going like a scared cat. It felt like banging up against a stone wall, the shock sending us all flying forward. The damage done amounted to a bruised bulb and a slightly bent fin; the hull was, so far as we could ascertain by superficial inspection, unhurt.

Metal-shod keels are undoubtedly a great protection, and a yacht that strikes fairly on her iron or lead will seldom be damaged to such an extent as to endanger her safety. I have known boats to be sunk by striking rocks, but they hit either the side of the bow or the bilge and stove in the plank. For this reason, if you find yourself going on a rock, always take it stem-to. By this means I jumped a rock in Wood's Hole that was six inches out of water, and landed all right on the other side.

The most dangerous thing to do, yet the thing that is most natural to do, is to put the helm up or down with the hopes of escaping; consequently your craft is carried on, and strikes broadside. This not only is liable to bilge her, but makes it far more difficult to get her off. It is especially dangerous if you go on with a weather wind or tide.

Always remember that wounds in a hull are least dangerous at the ends, and most dangerous in the middle body. If a boat is pierced in her head or tail you may be able to trim the leak out, or save her from sinking by stranding and jacking the leaky end up, but if she is pierced amidships you cannot get at the hole unless you haul completely out. I remember seeing a sandbagger that had torn the plank away from her stem saved from sinking by trimming, the crew raising her head by piling all the bags aft.

Luckily for the navigator, the sea by constant washing, and nature by a covering of seaweed and slime, prepares the majority of rocks for his reception, so that if he strikes the object fairly with sufficient way on, his craft will slide over. But sometimes he runs against a ragged reef, and then there is trouble. The reefs and lone rocks along our coast are generally worn smooth, and are not dangerous customers like the coral formations of warmer climes. One of the worst things to run on is a reef of small boulders, as you are liable to get one on either side just under the bilge. These places are the remains of a point or island, and are good places to fight shy of. The worst boats to take ground are flat-bottomed craft like sharpies; when they go on they generally make a perfect job of it. They are bad things to strand on a sand-bar or flat, the bottom of the boat sucking like a leech to a turtle's hindquarter. Unless you can get the tide to lift one of this kind off, it is either jettison the ballast or dig out. A man who knocks about a sandy land in a sharpie should always carry a shovel with him.

The first rule of action upon stranding is to at once lower all sail. There is but one exception to this; I will state it later. You cannot drive a vessel off ground with her sails (you may back her off); at least I never could. The reason of this is that a boat under sail pressure drives down, and draws more water the harder you force her. Again, if you drive her off, or over bottom, with the sails, you are likely to damage the hull or break the rudder.

After taking off sail run out a kedge against the wind or current, unless both are ahead; then take it out the way you came in. Give it all the line you can; the straighter the pull the less likely that your anchor will come home. As soon as it is down, heave taut, and keep the vessel's stern to the sea, current or wind, whichever is most powerful. This done, if on a rock, go below and see if she is making water. While you are doing this let the other hands sound round the craft to find how she lies.