Hints on boat sailing and racing by Charles Cooper Penrose Fitz-Gerald

Author:Charles Cooper Penrose Fitz-Gerald
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 1882-03-25T05:00:00+00:00

The mast, which steps somewhat abaft the centre of the boat, rakes foxwaid a great deal, it

is very stout as it is unsupported by aaything except the halyards which lead aft as shown in the sketch ; the yard also is a very heavy spar in the larger boats, being always considerably longer than the boat herself; there is no " traveller " or *'parrel," and the yard hoists right up to the sheeve hole in the mast head.

The deck view of these boats is very like that of the famous " America " schooner, long sharp bow, beam carried well aft, round stem, and altogether like an elongated pear; but the greatest peculiarity consists in their under water profile, as shown in the sketch by the dotted lines, it is exactly the reverse of the usual plan, which is to have the greatest draught of water aft, and to have the keel convex, or " camber " as it is called, whereas these boats have the greatest draught of water forward, at a peculiar looking sharp point, where the long, straight, raking stem joins on to the arched keel, which it will be seen is concave instead of being convex. Now the reason of all this is obvious, these boats cannot tack, they never attempt it, it would be impossible to swing that great yard and sail round the mast with the boat head to wind, and the sail would be useless if it lay aback or to windward of the mast as some latteens do; so the result is, that they always " wear," instead of " tacking," and this they do with great facility. That peculiar looking forefoot is all " deadwood," it makes the boat very weathecly ^ and it sie^ma tA

act as a pivot upon which she turns when the hehn is put up for wearing. It should be remembered that it is always the stem of the boat which moves, more than the bow (in all boats) when the hehn is put over, and in these boats this movement of the stem is still more increased by their peculiar form, and when the helm is put up, the stem of the boat appears to fly up in the wind, and the bow to remain stiationary, and she wears round in a wonderfully small space, and very quickly; the foremost yard aim is brought in to the mast, and the wind takes the sail round "before aU," the sheet is hauled aft on the other side, and the foremost yard arm taken forward again to the bow, and the whole operation appears to be performed with very little trouble.

There was one of these boats at Bombay some years ago, whose yard was said to be 90 feet long, the boat herself looked as if she were about 40 or 50 tons, and it was said that she could beat any English yacht going to windward, notwithstanding that she had to " wear" every time instead

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