How can I with my poor pen do justice to all the delights of yachting as practised on the Solent? We need a nautical Whyte Melville to describe the joys of yacht-racing, and the real good sport which is its chief characteristic.
What an exciting game it is, how enthralling, how interesting, and more important still, how wholesome. What a benefit for city men to get right away to the sea, and enjoy such a complete change and relaxation as this racing affords. And how much they do appreciate it is shown by the number of little boats owned by stockbrokers and others who can only get down occasionally, but, nevertheless, keep their boats out the whole season through, so as not to lose the chance of a sail when their opportunity comes. Not on the principle that race-horses are kept, either, as every one knows there is no chance of a racing boat doing more than pay her own way at best, for the prizes are barely adequate to meet the expenses.
Yacht-racing makes quite a new interest in life. The clever mathematician can find a large field for his energies in the designing line, and the keen sailor a never-wearying delight in developing to the utmost the powers of the boat confided to him.
How much better than the London drawing-room's close atmosphere is the fresh sea air, and the delightful freedom of bounding over the waves in a well-equipped craft, with the additional pinch of excitement afforded by racing. Let me assure you no fear of sea-sickness need deter any. Many of us would not be proof against a long Channel swell in a large steamer, but the motion of our little boats over the diminished waves inside the Wight, is not likely to upset any but the most pronounced bad sailor.
Besides, the excitement of racing drives away all qualms of that sort, sea-sickness being, I believe, in most cases the result of boredom and nervous anticipation as much as anything else. No one could hate "yachting" as generally accepted more than I do. Anything so boring as a long sea voyage in a great lumbering schooner, I cannot imagine. The fact of "being taken," in nine cases out of ten, "where one would not," without having a hand in the matter, with a large crew of slow men to do all the work and take all the fun off one's hands, is to me nothing but an aggravation. The deliberate "cut and dried" way in which everything is done, the foresail being lowered and the peak eased when about two miles from the moorings, and such cautious measures, fidget me to death. There is this about racing, that one can never enjoy cruising in the same way after one has experienced its far superior joys. I must say, however, it is rather nice after the scrimmage of a long day's racing, to get on board a solid old cruiser and bundle peacefully home. But woe betide you if the wind is ahead, for you won't get home that night. No, you must be of a very leisurely disposition, and a great lover of Nature, for you to appreciate stereotyped cruising. This kind of thing is about as different from our Solent yachting, as the Derby is from a Margate donkey ride.
Of course I can understand the pleasure of cruising if the owner is also master of his vessel, but such a state of things is the exception, the owners mostly passing their time in standing about deck, or having large meals below, utterly oblivious of their course, their compass, or anything else. This must be a very stagnant amusement at the best, impossible to an energetic disposition, and only suited to an invalid, or man in his declining years. To people who lack any sporting instincts, racing, I suppose, seems ridiculous, but if they love the sea let them learn all about it, and navigate their own vessels like men, instead of being mere passengers on board their own craft, while their skipper is getting all the fun. Some women have taken their own line in this matter, and having mastered the science of navigation, are most enthusiastic on the subject, realising how it enhances a hundred-fold the pleasures of a sea voyage.
The news of a large schooner being on the stocks now-a-days comes as a surprise, as this type of vessel has almost entirely gone out of fashion in this country. That is to say, though there are still several to be seen about, the old ones being used because they are too good to throw away, so to speak, no new ones have been built for years. The advantages of steam are so great for cruising and travel, that they outweigh the more pleasant sensation of sailing, which is the schooner's only claim to superiority. The difference in the expense is not very great after all, as you require double the crew in a sailing craft, and at least double the time to accomplish your distance. So if you want to get—say to Gibraltar—the chances are, that the extra time for which you are paying your crew, would easily cover your coal bill on the steamer. The auxiliary in nine cases out of ten proves a simple farce. Many, I know, have never once set their sails. It requires all the crew of an "out-and-out" sailing boat, and also the great unwieldly spars, which make it a bad sea boat when not under canvas. I would only recommend an auxiliary to a real wanderer, a born "man of the sea" like Lord Brassey, for whom of course there is nothing like it. The variety afforded in sailing and steaming on a lengthened sea trip, must be attractive and resting, and when both courses are open, you would not need to carry so much coal as in a steamer, or endure the wearisome hours becalmed in a heavy swell, which are such a drawback to sailing.