On Yachts and Yacht Handling

by Thomas Fleming Day

If the shore under your lee is rock I can do nothing for you. Your only chance is to pick out an opening or cleft and drive her in, and the minute she strikes jump for hard land. Such places are usually to be found on the rocky shores of our coast, but if the land is steep-to and sheer-faced, there is little hope for the boat or her people.

There are two kinds of sandy shores on which you may have to strand your vessel—the gradual slope and the steep slope. The former is by far the more dangerous, as the broken water extends some distance from the beach.

In running in breaking water—in fact, in running in all heavy seas—the rule for safety is this: Let the wave-crest pass you, not carry you. If you can hold the boat back, so that the wave-crest will split at her stern and rush by on each side, the boat will travel in safety. This is why it is dangerous in heavy water to carry sail when running. Many men do it for fear of pooping, but there is far less danger of pooping than there is tripping or being brought by-the-lee. Fore-and-aft canvas, particularly sails laced to booms, are bad things to run under; anything in the shape of a square sail is much better. Hundreds of vessels have been lost by running under a press of sail—probably ten times as many as have been destroyed by pooping.

Now if you are obliged to strand on a flat beach, keep your vessel's stern to the swell and moving as slowly as possible. The best thing to do is to tow a hawser astern, or a small sail. This will check her way, and also prevent the sea swinging her stern round. Watch her closely as the sea strikes under the stern, and check the desire to broach with the helm. She can also be aided by having hands on a small jib or staysail sheet, and backing this sail either on one side or the other, as the threatened sheer requires. Get your weights out of the bow and keep her trimmed a bit by the stern. The idea is to have her strike bottom on her whole keel-length, and not on the forefoot.

Here is where the luck comes in. If she strikes with her heel first and her head raised on a sea, you will probably land well up on the beach, but if she strikes with her forefoot first and her stern up in the air you will land—well, only good fortune can save you.

I have seen fishing boats beached in this way in heavy surf, the crews dropping an anchor and checking the craft until the right moment, and then slacking away smartly. In this way they rode the boat in on the back of successive seas. With sharp-stern craft this can be done with safety, but I would not care to try it with a square stern or long after-overhang craft.

I would advise the young seaman to take a small skiff or dingey to a beach where there is a small sea breaking and practice making-off and landing through the surf. He had better dress in a bathing suit, and try the game when the water is warm. In a day or two of this work you will learn more than I could teach you in seventy volumes.

If the beach is steep-to, the sea breaking but a few rods from the strand, you can stand in under good way, keeping her end-on until close to. The instant you feel that she is going to strike put your helm over and bring her almost broadside to the sea. The wave rising under her weather bilge will throw her sideways on the beach, and each succeeding sea will drive her higher up.

In running at any time in heavy water use oil, letting it drip from either bow. With a good thick slick in your wake you will be less likely to be washed by the crests.

But better than all these directions is the advice to keep off rocks, shoals and shores. Don't go into places unknown to you unless you have a good chart or your lead going; especially keep away from dangerous places when the wind is brisk, the sea heavy or the tide strong. An ounce of precaution in this matter is worth tons of cure.