The rigging, blocks, and sails will of course require an overhauling. The standing rigging is now generally made of galvanised iron wire or steel wire ; if it has seen much service, rust from the inner strands will show itself, and the " lay " of the strands will have been stretched nearly straight. Hemp and manilla rope, if much worn, with a washed-out appearance, should be in certain places unlayed, or untwisted, and if there be any signs of stranding, or if the tar is dried up, the rope will have seen its best day. The shells of the block will require examination for splits, and the hooks, eyes, sheave, and pin for flaws of whatever description. The sails should be laid out and examined; if the stitching in the seams or roping be worn and ragged, if the canvas be black looking, very soft and thin, admitting a great deal of daylight through the woof, then the sails will be only fit for a fisherman or coaster. As a rule, a suit of sails will last through four or five summer cruises ; but three months' knocking about, winter cruising in the Mediterranean or elsewhere, will do as much harm as two summer cruises, and it will never be prudent to start on a long winter cruise with sails that have seen more than three seasons' wear. Of course sails may have been exceptionally well cared for— never rolled up wet or unfairly stretched—and the vessel may have been in the happy condition of never having been under way in much of a breeze. Then if they are six or seven years old, and an expert
pronounces them fit for a winter's cruise, they can be depended upon ; but to be caught in a breeze is bad enough, and it is a great deal worse if when so caught some of the spars, rigging, blocks, or sails give out. A mainsail is most likely to go at the clew or to split from foot to head, but occasionally they split right across from leech to lull. A jib will go all ways; its head will come off, tack or clew will come off, and sometimes they will split or burst out of the stay rope. For racing, a mainsail is of little use after the second year, and even with the greatest possible care they will hardly do the third, as they get thin and soft and fly right away from the spars into bags with the least weight in the wind. The owners of some small yachts have a new mainsail every season, and this is quite necessary if the yacht is sailed in as many as thirty or forty matches, and if the sail has been frequently reefed.
Lastly, the ground tackle or holding gear must be examined. The anchors and chains should be galvanised, and be of the weight and size sset forth in the tables for yachts of different tonnages, which will he found farther on.