The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-08-20

By JACK Densham.

Lots of people-and [ was always
/ told at school that "lots" referred to
bargain sale and not to people. but
+ the expression is too handy to discard
seem to think that the sailing Of a
/ yacht is the easiest thing in the word
and that there is no exercise about II.
/ They have been out for yachting
trips. during which the skipper sat at
/ the helm and gave desultory orders to
/ a crew of white-ducked amateurs who.
I the breeze being light, Stacked sheets
or hauled them in with a quiet and
Iackadaisical air as who would say Oh,
what care we.
Then, when the wind did come up
and blow freshly enough to put some
rail under the drink, these same peo-
pie were all to the non compos foo-foo
and paid all their attention to decid-
ing whether the fish preferred the last
part of breakfast or the entree of the
big lunch
But that is where they make the big
| mistake. Yachting is of all the sports
! the one that calls for fit body, a
steady nerve and quick action, and it
provides a finer alI-round exercise for
the body and brain than any other
sport that I can think of with the
exception OF polo. 1t has large bulge
over the latter sport, however, on ae-
count of the environment Of sea air
and the possibility for every young
enthusiast, no matter how small his
salary, to get place as a member of
yacht s amateur crew. Polo takes
money.
Here in Honolulu, where conditions
are simply ideal for yachting, there is
far too little attention paid to the
sport The members of the Hawaii
Yacht Club who take an active part in
yachting are all Corinthians. A Corin-
THAN is one of those good ones that
st. Paul wrote his finest letters to. You
have probably never read them, but it
might do you some good to get out
that dusty book about once year and
take a glance at what the veteran
traveller said to the Corinthians
He did not tell them to haul their
yachts out of the water two days be-
fore a race and scrub like all the Dick
ems on her bilge. To mix pot-lead with
the top oil off a ten-gollon can of rae
ing compound, paint it on and then
polish for all they were worth. But
he did tell them the same kind of thing
in reference to other work and that is
why there are so many Corinthian yacht
clubs all over the world. A Corinthian
is man who owns his own boat, has
probably built his own boat, looks af-
ter his own boat and sails his own boat.
/ overheard little conversation on
the car the other day, which same
made a loud hit with me. A pr0mi-
nent church worker was talking to
young and very clean yachtsman. The
former started that he did not approve
of the yacht club as it took young
men away from church on Sunday. The
reply was something like this: "And
yet on Sunday when I do GO out sail
ing. it has always seemed to me that
the unvaulted arch of the sky, the
fresh, shimmering aisles made by the
wind on the floor of the ocean and the
rolling pews of the kindly waves, made
a much filter sanctuary in which to
worship than the stuffy interior Of
some miserably architectural building
where the women remove their hats and
gossip until the organ starts to play"
The attack i'll tierce was "But do
YOU think of God and his works when
you sail on Sunday?' Back came the
disarming riposte, Never so much
as when the clean air and the spark
ling sea call to me of how well he
has done everything - Then the ear
left the switch and I lost the last
of it.
But this is about the rigor of the
game and not a justification of sailing
on Sunday When the wind sweeps over
the hill, as it does here nearly every
day, the sun shines, the sea sparkles
and YOU start to get under way out
of the harbor, then it is that all OF
Champagne and the Rheln districts
might go out of business.
This YOU find when You first go out
SaH1ng. AS YOU bGCUttiE NhLLId5Cl anu
learn something about sailing YOU find
that there is man s work to be done
on any kind of craft. Also you must
have that think-tank working. The
captain at the wheel cannot tell you
Just when to let go sheets nor when
to haul in. You learn how to do that
properly.
Then YOU take the tiller as a treat
and gradually realize that the more
YOU learn, the less you know about it.
Finally comes the gladstone day when,
after serving manfully before the mast
as one of the crew, YOU sail d yacht
III a race.
Knowing exactly just what to do
on paper-how to get the better of the
other fellows on a weather start, how
to trim our mainsail and how to work
the box to windward. Won fail. Surely
You fail the first time and learn what
knowledge, nerve and a trained crew
can do.
Finally Won win pace. You take
the weather berth AT the start. The
breeze is light, but you nose swayingly
past the most dangerous rival, eat him
out and get a clear lead. Then YOU
round the first mark and your crew
sets light sails within fifteen seconds
af the order to g Freak out Off the