Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1893-08-28
DlsPLEASuRES OF YACHTING.
Experiences That Possess None Of Il
Charm. That People Imagine.

Charms That People Imagine.
One commonly thinks Of yachting as ths
most delightful Of summer pastime,, and
| the very word calls up visions of wet
sheet, and a flowing sea, and II wind that
follows fast" smells OF salt things, and
whistlings through the 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
licious unconventionality of meeting ones
fellow men and women with all the for
mality and restraints Of on shore life thrown
off; no making talk or anything Of that
kind, but knocking about carelessly and
easily in flannel suits and having "a real
good time" Or, again. racing, with its ex-
citemaiits, and cruising. with all its posi-
bilities of adventure as, for example,
cruising to Bar Harbor. where it is we'll
known, Americas fairest daughters gather
yearly, decked in their best, for the sole
purpose Of making Bar Harbor Utopia
and haven of rest for those who have plenty
of money and go down to the sea in expen-
sive yachts.
Such is the popular and accepted view OF
yachting. but there is another and gloomy
side to the picture which the writer. who
forth clearly in three distinct statements
with an open challenge to contradiction
first, that to go and take a sail" in small
boat belonging to some one else and to sail
amlessly about on the open sea is ian awful
bore" secondly, that TO 70 as amateur
crew" on a rowing yacht under 90 feet long
is not only bore, but a hardship, and Oh
yachts over 60 feet in length it is not Gus
otatrr uy,te
an occasional and almost always useless
passenger can be considered such; and last.
ly, that cruising is lottery absolutely de
pendent on the weather. Fogs, Gains
storms and head winds are quite as usual
as free winds and sunshine.
Observe that nothing has been said about
seasiekDess, which makes yachting impos
sible to so many.
There Is no place on earth where the sun
can strike down out Of the sky and bleach
and blister and sizzle as it can upon a
yachts deck There is no place that can
be hotter or more stuffy or more uncom
Portable than yachts cabin on a hot day
when there is no wind or when the wind Is
dead aft, and when it is rough, and the
water is driving across the yachts deck in
a sheet of white foam, and the crew are all
nuuuitu Denlttl Lut suTOuds, lito WHiti
old oilskins have been stuffed to make a
SCREEN and the man at the wheel has life
lines running from the main sheet to the
main shrouds on either side of him to keet
him from being washed overheard, and the
oilbags are hung to windward to keep the
water from breaking. and the fire is out in
the galley. and the cook has been scalded
by the soup stock jumping out of the
boiler, and the barometer is dropping like
mad, and the SIX Wight leaks so that every
wave which comes aboard sends bucketfuls
of swash down into the cabin, and wher
every now ami then wave comes aboard
and pounds own on her deck like Load
Of pig iron. and those below are shaken
about like corn In pepper, and those on
deck simply hold on and duck their head.
when such is the condition of affairs
Yachting would not be considered a pas
time
The delights of being amateur crew
can he briefly summed up. They consist in
living fat on you: face either in hot sur
or IA pouring rain, and if you turn ovei
having the owner shout at you; "keeT
still Do you think that you re a wild ele
! phantg You Jared her all over that time. ,
Furthermore, all yachts are not rugged
alike. and if the amateur crew is told at q
critical point in the race-say just befor.
rounding the leeward mark--to let go tbs
spinnaker halyards and let the balloon jill
halyards 20 instead, so that the whole sal
goes over to leeward, the remarks which
| will be maic to him will be unfit for pub
iicatioh."
No, yachting is not all beer and skit
| ties - Boston Transcript.