BOAT SAILS 71
The knack of sailing a boat can only be acquired from experience and
no opportunity should be withheld from, or rejected by, responsible
members of a ship's crew of getting practice whenever possible.
The crew of the ss Trevessa got two hours' notice to prepare for a
trip of 1700 miles in open boats when their ship suddenly and myster-
iously foundered in the middle of the Indian Ocean in 1923. It was
fortunate for the crew that the captain and the chief officer had
previous experience in handling a boat under sail.
BOAT SAILS.
1. What materials are boat sails made of?
The cloth should be of best quality duck. The sail should be
fitted with reef points sewn into the bottom of the holes, reef cringles
should also be worked on the lufE rope and leech.
The roping should be of good quality manila or boltrope sewn on
with roping twine.
Galvanised iron or gunmetal thimbles are used at the throat, peak,
tack, and clew, also in the reef cringles.
2. Describe how a boat's sails should be trimmed when she is under
way.
When the wind is right aft the sheet should be eased off far enough
to allow the sail to be practically at right angles to the keel of the boat.
As the wind hauls out on the side, or as the course is altered bringing
the wind out on the side, the sheet should be hauled in a little to enable
the sail to draw properly and to take full advantage of the breeze
then blowing. If the boat carries a jib it should be set, the sheet being
eased well ofi.
As the wind hauls further out on the side, both the main and jib
sheets should be taken in a little more, until, when the boat is on the
wind (close-hauled), the sheets are flat aft.
As the wind frees again, the sheets must be correspondingly eased
off.
Never, under any conditions, sho?ild the sheet be made fast in an
open boat. It should be taken round a cleat, belaying pin, or thwart,
and held in the hand.
When the boat is upright, properly ballasted, and the sails well
trimmed she should carry the helm nearly amidships, but when she
Jtxas the wind on the side and is laying over she will require a little
weather helm to keep her going straight.