SINCE I first took to sailing, many have been the
inventions that simplify the handling of a boat for the amateur sailor.
Thus, he can now provide himself with a roller jib and a roller
mainsail, which enable him quickly and easily to reduce his canvas by
rolling his sails up (somewhat as one does with a window blind) instead
of having to shift one jib for another according to the strength of the
wind, and perform the various operations needed for the reefing down of
a mainsail. Then there is the useful auxiliary motor engine which is
now carried by so many cruising yachts. The motor enables the owner of
a small craft to venture on more extended voyages than would be prudent
or even possible with a boat not provided with auxiliary power.
Thus, for example, if he purposes to make a passage across
the North Sea from Harwich to Rotterdam, he awaits a 'slant'
--conditions that favour the continuation of fine weather and fair
winds until he has got to the other side. I have already explained that
if one awaits the right moment one can practically insure fine weather
for at least twenty-four hours. But fine weather often brings calms;
when the small yacht is half way across the sea, the wind may fail her
and leave her motionless, until a rapidly falling glass shows that the
fine spell is nearing its end, and that she is likely to be 'caught
out' and have a bad time of it. With an auxiliary motor to come to the
rescue there is no such risk.
But if a novice wishes to make himself a sailor he should
dispense with the auxiliary motor until he has mastered certain
problems-for example, the way to come up to his moorings under canvas.
Some young men make a practice, when entering their port, of lowering
their sails, to approach their moorings under motor power. For such a
one, who has not learnt his job properly, the day is sure to come when
his motor will suddenly break down, as motors will; he will then have
his canvas only to rely upon, and he is likely to make a pretty mess of
things in his attempts to pick up his mooring buoy, possibly in a
crowded anchorage with a strong tide running.
Valuable to all yachtsmen as are the modern inventions of
which I have spoken, still more so are they to those who have lost arms
or have been otherwise crippled in the Great War. I lost my right arm
in the Boer War, so have had ample time to try experiments, and I have
come to the conclusion that, with the aid of the devices which I have
adopted, it is practically as easy for me now to sail a boat with the
left hand only as it was in the old days when I had two arms but had
not the benefit of these modern inventions. As many a man who has lost
an arm in the war wishes to resume his boat sailing I think it may be
of some service to such a one if I now convey the results of my
experience as exemplified in my half-decked boat the Ripple, with which
I am able to cruise alone, sometimes for a week or so at a stretch,
living on board-for with her awning up one can make oneself quite
comfortable in her when anchored for the night.
I bought the Ripple about twelve years ago from John
Pickett, yacht builder of West Quay, Southampton. My first sailing boat
was built for me by Pickett in the middle seventies, and in his yard I
had fitted out for all my long voyages. But the yard is no more. My old
friend Pickett died during the war, and the yard was commandeered and
swept away by the Government -- an ancient landmark familiar to
generations of yachtsmen that has disappeared never to return.
For a man who would handle a boat with one hand it is
essential that the boat should be able to heave-to well and so enable
him to leave his craft to look after herself while he reefs down her
sails, or undertakes any other operation that must take him away from
the tiller. 'Skimming dishes' and most of the small raters are not
suitable for him, for they refuse to heave-to. What he needs is a boat
with a good body to her; one that has a good hold of the water, and is
therefore not too quick in her action and gives the owner time to carry
on the necessary manoeuvres. The Ripple is a Bembridge lug-boat of the
old racing class, nearly seventeen feet in length, with a good body,
displacing, I think, over a ton, and drawing about two feet with her
centre board up.
She was just the boat for me, save for her rig, which was
the worst possible rig for a man with one arm. For she was rigged after
the fashion of these craft with a mainsail that had a sprit or batten
fitted across it. While retaining the old spars and fittings I did away
with the batten, and the sail became practically a sliding gunter. The
Ripple has a rolling jib, and a Turner's reefing gear is fitted to her
boom, which enables the mainsail to be rolled up. The mast can be
lowered easily by means of a tabernacle. The Ripple is provided with a
motor engine, a Lozier, which is not in the way and can drive her at a
speed exceeding six miles an hour. I use no patent cleats for main or
jib sheets; for a wooden cleat of a size that fits the rope, in my
opinion, is as handy as any patent contrivance. One turn will secure
the sheet, and it can be belayed or cast off in the fraction of a
second.
There is a socket on the transom, into which a crutch can be
inserted for the purpose of sculling with a single oar over the stern -
a useful method if one has to move one's craft for but a short
distance. The one-armed mariner, if he has not acquired this art of
sculling over the stern, should promptly learn it, in order that he may
be able to use a dinghy.
Though the conversion of my mainsail from a Bembridge lug to
a sliding gunter made it easier to hoist, it was still a very awkward
sail to handle for a one-armed man. The sail (see Fig. 70) is bent on
to a yard (A, B). At the foot of this yard are leather-covered iron
jaws (B) to keep the yard in its place on the mast. Nearly in the
centre of the yard is an iron eye (C) to receive the hook of the iron
traveller on the mast (D).
