Page:The American Boy's Handy Book edition 1.djvu/162

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
How to Rig and Sail Small Boats.
129

the spread of sail when the wind becomes too fresh. If you will look at Fig. 95 you will see rows of short marks on the sail above the boom. These are 'reef-points'—bits of line about a foot long passing through holes in the sail, and knotted so that they will not slip. In reefing, the sail is lowered and that portion of it between the boom and the reef-points is gathered together, and the points are tied around both it and the boom. When the lower row of points is used it is a single reef. Both rows together are a double reef.

"Make your first practical experiment with a small sail and with the wind blowing toward the shore. Row out a little way, and then sail in any direction in which you can make the boat go, straight back to shore if you can, with the sail out nearly at right angles with the boat. Then try running along shore with the sheet hauled in a little, and the sail on the side nearest the shore. You will soon learn what your craft can do, and will probably find that she will make very little, if any, headway to windward. This is partly because she slides sidewise over the water. To prevent it you may use a 'lee-board'—namely, a broad board hung over the side of the boat (G, Fig. 92). This must be held by stout lines, as the strain upon it is very heavy. It should be placed a little forward of the middle of the boat. It must be on the side away from the wind—the lee side—and must be shifted when you go about. Keels and centre-boards are permanent contrivances for the same purpose, but a leeboard answers very well as a makeshift, and is even used habitually by some canoeists and other boatmen.

"In small boats it is sometimes desirable to sit amidships, because sitting in the stern raises the bow too high out of water; steering may be done with an oar over the lee side, or with 'yoke-lines' attached to a cross piece on the rudderhead, or even to the tiller. In this last case, the lines must be rove through rings or pulleys at the sides of the boat opposite

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.