Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1909-02-03
ter than the coarse manila rope for

ter than the coarse manila rope for
merly in use.
1t is now the custom of many clubs
to have about one day every week up
on which women steer the yachts in a
race, and it is by far the most fasci-
mating part Of sailing to hold the tiller
that controls every movement, for ac-
cording to their skill at this fine part
of the game the yacht is brought home
to victory or defeat. There are several
women III every club who can handle
boat quite as well as the average
yachtsman and in light breezes they
are especially proficient, because then
it requires delicate touch rather than
strength to sail a MODERN finely bal
anced racing yacht. All the brute
force has been eliminated and for hours
one can get better results out of the
boat by merely touching the tiller
with the finger tips, especially when
it is sailing up close to the wind or
beating to windWard, as this going up
against the wind is termed.
There are three ways of sailing
running along, with the wind behind
the boat; reaching, when the wind is
off the side of the boat and beating
when the wind is blowing from the
place to which you want the boat to
go, and to get to which it is necessary
to zigzag up toward the wind, head
ing as close as the boat will go when
her sails are trimmed in quite fiat,
but not SO close as to make the sails
shake. 1t is this kind of sailing that
seems to puzzle women most. They
have difficulty in judging whether they
are sailing close enough or not. But
if they move the helm SO that the bow
of the boat turns up toward the wind
they can soon find out for themselves,
by observing how soon the sails COM
mence to shake along the mast or the
jib on the stay. If they are already
sailing the boat as close as she will 60
the sails will begin to f1utter immedi-
ately. II. as is often the case, the
boat is nowhere near the wind, she
will turn UP toward the wind quite a
good deal before the sails SILVER What
confuses most women is their lack of
confidence in themselves. Anything is
hard at first-even learning to balance
ones self on a bicycle-yet small boat
sailing is no more difficult than that.
Sail the boat SO that the wind comes
over the bows as much as possible
without the sails t1uttering. BY tack
ing Cunning the boat by pushing the
tiller over so that it swings up into
the wind with all her sails shaking
and then so that the wind hits them
on the opposite side) the boat is made
to zig-zag up toward the wind, act
ually working her way up against it.
ha &c. hn eli ha
you can reach your destination with
out having to point up against it the
boat is said to be reaching If the
wind is square across the boats course
she is said to have beam wind" be-
cause the wind is directly "abeam"
If it IS little ahead the wind is over
the weather bow; if aft it is over the
weather quarter-the word weather be-
ing applied to that side of the boat the
wind blows on. the opposite side being
called the lee side, and the one gen.
eral term Ito leeward" meaning any
thing farther away from the direction
the wind Is blowing from than the
boat. The lee bow and lee quarter,
accordingly, are the opposite side of
the boat to the weather bow and quar-
ter
What mystifies many women is the
TACT that first one side and then the
other is called the weather side as the
boat is beating to windward. They
forget that whichever side the wind
blows on is called the weather side.
When the wind is right behind the
boat she Is said to be running. In
sailing boat this way one must re-
member to keep the wind directly aft,
not to let it get around so that it
blows on the same side the sail is out
on IT 1t does this it may get SO far
as to hit the sail on it's forward side
ana cause the boom, sail and all. sud
IDENTIFY to change sides with a flap and
a bang that tips the boat and general
~ causes a panic among the timid
ones. In light winds there is no
danger in this gybing if one sees that
the sheet is not caught by anything as
II drags across the deck, but in a
strong wind it is an extremely delicate
operation and one not to be advised
for an amateur. One should turn the
boat up into the wind instead. and let
her come about and pay off on the
other tack-a slower but far safer wav
of going about.
The one point to be remembered
above all others is that while boat
sailing is neither difficult nor dan
gerous, it Is sport that requires con-
slant attention and will admit of no
chances -Vop,,o