Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-08-27
nIspl rAsuars % YAoArMa.
Experiences Ihas Possess None OF the
Charms That People Imagine

I X
| rh,r,,, That People Imagine
One commouly thinks OF yachting as the
most deliphtful Of summer pAstimes, and
| ne very word calls up visions OF wet
sheef. and a flowing SEA, and wind that
fellows fast smells OF salt things, aud
whlstlings through tho rigging, blue sky,
white caps. driving clouds and all that sort
OF thing to say nothing Of the possibilities
! Of delightful companionship and the de
/ lielons uncouyentionality Of meeting ones
fellow men and women with all the for
! nality AID restraints OF on shore life thrown
of: no making talk or anything OF that
/ Kind. but knocking about carelessly and
easily In flannel suits aud having "a real
good time Or. again. racing, with its ex-
elements, and cruising, with all its posi-
bilities Of adventure las, for example,
cruising 10 Bar Harbor, where, 1t is well
known. Americas fairest daughters gather
yearly, decked in their best, for the sole
purpose OF making Bar Harbor a utopia
and haven Of rest for those who have plenty
Of money and go down to the sea in eApen-
siye yachts.
Such Ia the popular and accepted view Of
yachting. but there IS another and gloomy
side to the picture which the writer, who
is sometimes inclined to growl, can set
forth clearly in three distinct statements,
with an open challenge 10 contradiction
first, that TO ''go and take a sail" in O small
boat belonging TO some one else and TO sail
aimlcssly about on the open sea Is IAN awful
bore" secondly, that to 20 "a amateur
crew. on n rowing yacht under 90 feet long
Is not only bore, but hardship, and on
yachts over 60 feet in length 1t is not Gus
tomary to have an amateur crew." unless
". - u
passenger can be considered such; and Inst
ly, that cruising Is lottery absolutely de
pendent on the weather Fogs, calms,
storms and head winds are quite as usual
US free winds and sunshine.
Observe that nothing has been said about
seasiekness, which makes yachting impos-
sible 10 so many.
There is no place on earth where the sun
eau strike down out Of tho sky and bleach
and blister and sizzle as 1t can upon u
yachts deck. There is no place that can
be hotter or more stufTy or more uncom-
Portable than a yachts cabin on hot day,
when there Is no wind or when the wind IL
dead aft, and when 1t is rough, and the
water is driving across the yachts deck in
IA sheet Of white foam, and the crew are all
huddled behind the shrouds, into which
old oilsklns have been stuffed to make
screen, and the man at the wheel has life
lines running from the main sheet TO tho
main shrouds ON either side Of him to keep
him from being washed overheard, and the
Oilbngs are hung to wiudward to keep tho
water from breaking, and the fire is ont In
the galley, and the cook has been scalded
by the soup stock jumping out Of the
boiler, and the barometer is dropping lika
mad, and the skylight leaks so that every
wave which comes aboard sends bucketfuls
Of swash down Into tho cabin, and when
every now and then a wave comes aboard
and pounds down on her deck like a load
Of pig iron. and those below are shaken
about like corn in u pepper, and those on
deck simply hold on and duck their heads
when such is the condition Of affairs
yachting would not DO considered a pas.
time
The delights OF being amateur crew"
can be briefly summed up. They consist In
lying Fat on your face either In hot sun
or pouring rain, and II you turn over
having the owner shout at you; Keep
still DO you think that you're a wild Gle.
phanti You Jared her ali over that time. -
Furthermore, all yachts are not rugged
alike, and II the nmat~u. crew Is told at
critical point in the race--say Just before
rounding the leeward mark-to let 10 tho
spinnnker halyards and let the balloon lib
halyards go instead, so that the whole sail
goes over TO Toward, tho remarks which
will be made TO him will be unfit for pub.
lieation.n
No. yachting is not all beer and skit.
ties. "-BostomT Transcript.