Sailing for the young Englishman who has a true love of the sea, and who, though unable to undertake long cruises on a smart schooner, or to race his cutter against the crack ships of the season, is yet ambitious to own and to sail singlehanded his small craft, ready to rough it in the pursuit of his favourite pastime. Without doubt, he who sails his own little vessel appreciates best all pleasures of yachting. ‘The smaller the vessel, the better the sport’ has long been a maxim of mine. I have sailed my own vessels, from the tiniest craft up to seventy-tonners, upon many seas; but I think that in this particular sport I have got the most unadulterated delight out of the open boats visiting out of the way creeks, remote islets, fishing havens, shallow estuaries and straits, and winding fiords, inaccessible to larger yachts, which have to make their passages from one well-known great seaport to another, missing the most interesting features of the coasts by which they sail.

A small boat that can be sailed singlehanded without difficulty, and which is easy to row — so that, if the wind fails, one can put out the sculls and pull her along at a fair pace — is the best sort of craft on which the novice can pass his early apprenticeship. That he can lower his canvas if he finds himself in a difficulty, and take to his oars, considerably lessens the risk consequent on his inexperience.

The ballast of a small boat, more especially if she has to be frequently drawn up on a beach, should be so arranged that it can be readily removed. Iron or lead blocks, of half a hundredweight each, with handles to them, are a very convenient form of ballast for a small boat; for they can be easily lifted out. Battens should be fastened to the floor of the boat to keep the ballast in its place; as otherwise, when the boat has listed in a squall, the ballast might fall to leeward, and so cause a capsize. As metal ballast is heavier than any other, it can be stowed low, more especially if it is moulded to fit into the flooring; and consequently the boat ballasted with it will be stiffer under canvas, and will sail faster than one ballasted with a more bulky material, such as stones or sand.

The risks of sailing are much reduced for the novice if his craft is unsinkable. If a boat will float though full of water, her owner, in the event of a capsize, can hold on to her side until someone comes to his rescue; and in most cases his craft also will be recovered undamaged, whereas a boat of higher specific gravity, sinking in deep water, will in all probability be lost. Water, therefore, though somewhat bulky, is the safest form of ballast that can be used, and is strongly recommended to the tyro. Iron or zinc water-tanks should be constructed to fit closely into the bottom of the boat amidships. A boat thus ballasted is practically no heavier when filled with water after a capsize than if she had no ballast at all in her; for the weight of the tanks themselves is inconsiderable. By means of a small pump, the tanks can be readily filled or emptied at will — a great advantage; for, by discharging the water ballast, one can materially lighten the boat when one lowers the sail to take to the oars, or when one is about to run her on the beach and haul her up. If lead or iron ballast be employed, the boat should be made unsinkable by placing in her watertight compartments, which thus convert her into a lifeboat. One compartment in the bows and another in the stern-sheets will suffice, and, if made to fit closely, they occupy but little room.

Bags of sand are sometimes used for ballasting small boats; but these are clumsy to handle, occupy a lot of room, and greatly increase in weight when the sand gets wet.

After the novice has selected his open boat, it remains for him to decide how he shall rig her. The following are the more usual methods of rigging small open sailing boats of the class dealt with in this chapter. The rigs I am about to describe require no booms, and are therefore the safest for the novice. A sail that has no boom — a lug, for example — when the sheet is let go in a squall, blows away before the wind like a flag, and cannot capsize the boat. This is not the case with a sail stretched out on a boom, which always offers some resistance to the wind, even when the sheet is let go. With the boomsail a jibe in a strong wind is a risky proceeding. On the other hand, a boat cannot sail her best without a boom; when running before the wind the sail forms a bag, and does not hold so much wind as it would if its foot were extended on a boom. It is only when the boat is on a wind that the boomless sail can be got to stand flat, and then only if the sheet is led well aft and made fast to a place exactly in the line of the foot of the sail.

But the standing lug is a very convenient sail for the amateur boat-sailor. The tack is made fast to the mast, or to the thwart through which the mast passes, and the sail does not require to be dipped when the boat jibes or goes about. The yard is hooked to a traveller — an iron ring working on the mast, to which the end of the halyard is fastened. A lugsail, in order to stand well, should have a high peak. The smartest lug-sailed open pleasure boats are to be found on the Clyde, and among them are some very fast racers. In these boats the main sheet works on an iron horse, and the halyard is provided with a luff-tackle purchase, so that the sail can be swigged up taut.