SAILING BY TEE WIND.—Sailing a vessel successfully on a wind is quite an art, and no amount of tuition will make a man a -good helmsman if he be not " to the manner born." However, there is scarcely a yacht sailor who does not think he can steer a boat on a wind better than any other man. Still the fact remains, that some men cannot sail a vessel on a wind, and no amount of instruction will teach them to know for themselves when a vessel's sails are full or when they are " near." Some vessels are so beautifully balanced—that is, their centre of effort and centre of lateral resistance are nearly in the same vertical—that in moderate breezes they will "sail themselves" on a wind and only require a little weather helm now and again as the wind heads them. Yet a bad helmsman will find more difficulty or do worse in steering one of these vessels than he would in steering a very hard mouthed vessel—one that carries a lot of weather helm, for we never suppose that a vessel carries lee helm. The well-balanced vessel is what may be called sensitive to her helm, or " tender mouthed," and the least touch of her helm will bring her to, and the gentlest pull on the weather tiller lines will take her off ; such a vessel steered by a man with a " coarse hand " will be always " off " or " near," and never really " full and bye ;" one minute he will slam the helm down to bring her to the wind, and the next haul it savagely to windward to keep her off the wind ; whereas, if the vessel had been left alone with a free tiller, or with only the very slightest strain on the weather tiller lines, she would keep herself full and at the same time eat to windward as she lulled to every free puff. A vessel that carries a lot of weather helm does not require such delicate handling, and a man may tear away at the weather tiller lines until he is black in the face and he cannot do much harm; he will be delighted to find he has got hold of something to " hold on by," and all the strength in his arms will no more than keep the vessel out of the wind. But, although a good helmsman cannot be made out of a naturally bad one, it does not follow that a few hints would not be of service to the inexperienced who may have the light hand, quick eye, and sensitive skin of a perfect timoneer.
In the first place the sails should be as nicely balanced as possible, so that in a topsail breeze, when the channels are barely awash, the weather tiller lines only require to be kept just taut, with the rudder turned no more than six or seven degrees off the keel line. We are, of course, assuming that the sail plan has been so judiciously arranged that the effort of the sails when effectively trimmed, will be balanded by the lateral pressure on the hull. If the sails are so well balanced then the weather helm will about equal five or six degrees in a moderate breeze, and it should not much exceed this nor be much less ; if it is much in excess the vessel will be what is called ardent, and her constant effort to fly to will necessitate the helm being kept " right across her keel," which will very much interfere with her speed. On the other hand, if much less than
six degrees of weather helm is carried in such a breeze the vessel will be what is called " slack," and will require constant doses of lee helm, and the result will be that the vessel will crab to leeward, and in tacking will be so slow in coming to that she will probably lose all her way before she gets head to wind, and then will require helping round by the foresail.
If the vessel in a nice breeze does not seem to gripe as she ought— that is, does not make much effort to fly to, and so cause a good strain on the weather tiller lines to keep her off the wind—first see what the effect of drawing in the main sheet a trifle will do ; if this only improves matters a trifle, and the boat seems dead in the water or does not pass through it with any life, go forward or to leeward, under the foot of the mainsail near the mast, and have a look at the jib sheets and foresheet. See that the jib sheets are not pinned in, and that they are rove through the right holes. If the first jib be set and the sheets rove through the second jib holes, the foot will be in a curve and the sail more or less in a bag ; the effect will be to drag the vessel's head off the wind, and not assist in driving her ahead an inch. If the sheets be rightly rove, but hauled in too flat, the foot of the jib will be straight enough, and the sail generally be flat enough ; but the effect will be that the sail, being trimmed too flat, will, as in the other case, press the vessel's head off the wind, and be of little service towards driving her ahead. It requires some experience of jibs and the way of trimming their sheets to know when they are trimmed so as to be most effective, and it would be difficult to frame advice on the point ; but the leech should be straight, the foot gently curved or " flowing " with the sheet, and the luff should not lift i. shake. If the luff lifts it will be a sign, as a rule, that the sail is not sheeted flat enough. On the other hand, the clew should be well off the lee rail, and the. sheet and the foot should make a gentle flowing curve from bowsprit end to sheet hole ; if the sheet and the foot, when the sails are full, make a " straight line," it will be a pretty sure sign that the sheet is too flat. It is a good plan to have the jib sheets marked at the sheet holes by a piece of yarn, for sailing by the wind. But of course it must always be remembered that a jib must be sheeted to suit the strength of the wind.