Los Angeles herald., 1906-06-27
B0ATMAN HIKES
OVER MUD FLATS
WoULB.BE YACHTER's HOPES
ARE RUDELY DASHED
In New Suit He Sailed Forth, but
Shamefacedly He Returned to
TerminaI-Not Sure About
Joining Club
snecial to The Herald.

special to The Herald
SAN PEDRO, June 26.-An overpow-
ering ambition to become an amateur
yachtsman came near being the undo
ing of young Terminal man today
Covered with Wilmington mud, his
lower limbs looking like a caisson un-
der the Long Beach pier with barna-
cles and toredos clinging to them, Eu-
gene Denham, a local reporter, came
wearly into his home at Terminal late
this evening, having walked around
the inner harbor from Wilmington by
way of Long Beach.
The reporter has been living at q
hostelry in Terminal which is the hot
bed of yachting, and there became
imbued with the idea that one must
be a yachtsman to be in the swim.
To that end he made application to
become a member of the South Coast
Yacht club, but was told that in or
der to become member of that So
ciety he must first be able to tell a
taffrail from a spinnaker, a weather
gasket from a cardboard stroke and
such other nautical knowledge as is
needed in sailing boat round the
breakwater.
Gene" was also informed he must
deposit a goodly sized number of
dollars as an evidence of good faith
and to help purchase good things for
the club.
Has Lovely Yachting Suit
While waiting for his monthly check
to come to hand he concluded to prac-
tice little on the use of a sail. and
therefore hired small sailboat and
undertook to fathom the mysteries of
navigation alone in the inner harbor.
The man from whom he had secured
4. .,s-. IL, III \. 70 IL
sail and got him away all right and
he thought it was going to be very
easy.
He had previously purchased a beau
tiful yachting suit with a white cap,
and looked the personification of an old
salt to several young ladies' who stood
on the wharf and watched him sail
away although none of them could
be induced to go with him.
The young yachtsman had no trou-
BILE for about a qaurter of a mile but
at that point he had to pass another
yacht coming in, and he forgot to give
his craft straight into the side of the
larger one.
Right there he received some free
instructions in regard to the handling
of sailboat which were in such strong
terms that he thought he never should
forget theim. With boathooks and
pixies he was finally gotten off and
again sailed away toward Wilmington
or Goosetown.
Would Turn Back
Another half mile passed in safety,
when the young yachtsman concluded
he would turn back, but forgot just
how some way and gave the sail or
the tiller the wrong twist with the
result that his rudder snapped short
off and he was left on the treacher-
Gus deep without stick to guide him
self by. He first thought he would
swim out. but happened to remember
that he could not swim a stroke, SO
concluded to stay in the boat, come
what would.
The wind and tide happened to be
right to take him toward the mud
flats of Wilmington, instead of the
open sea, so that it was not long until
he was aground in the slime and mud
mile from nowhere and unable to get
his craft in either direction.
After trying all Of his skill as nav
igator and using some of the terms
which he had heard older salts work
in, as they talked of past races, for
several minutes, he concluded that the
only thing to do was to walk out,
which he did although the mud often
came up to his waist and made navi-
CATION i'm that manner very difficult.
At the end of two hours he finally
reached Terminal, a sight to behold,
but with his mind fully made up TO
withdraw his application for member
ship in the yacht club, Gene" was
much pleased to find that the young
ladies' we're not in sight when he re-
turned