All lifeboats are thus constructed. The author was caught in a north-west gale in the Gulf of Heligoland last summer, and had to sail sixty miles before a high and dangerous sea. He was in a little yacht of three tons, which had a pointed stern. She showed no tendency to broach to, but rushed straight ahead across the steep sea in a fashion that gave us confidence and astonished us. Had she had the ordinary yacht's stern to present to those following masses of water instead of a graceful wedge offering little resistance, we should have had a very uncomfortable time of it.
Many men dislike a pointed stern, and consider it ugly.
However that may be, it behaves handsomely, and we should certainly recommend any amateur building a sailing-boat for coasting purposes to give her the lifeboat stern. Battens of pine tapering at the ends, are sometimes fastened to the reef bands of balance lugs and other sails in use on small boats. The object of battens is to make a sail stand very flat. Another advantage gained by the use of these is that if one is sailing a boat alone, a reef can be taken down in a moment with one hand while the halyard is being slacked off a sufficient length with the other. This is done by means of a line which, when hauled taut, draws the boom and batten close together.