CHAPTER XXIII. CLYDE SAILING BOATS. WITHIN the last three or four years, open boat sailing has become wonderfully popular on the Clyde, and this is hardly to be wondered at, as the Firth offers special opportunities for this capital sport. Snug anchorages, fairly smooth water, little or no run of tide, and the facilities given by the railway and steamboat companies for readily getting from the city to the coast, induce most young fellows who are in the least degree nautically inclined to keep a boat of some sort; and during the summer months, in the bright northern evenings, from every coast village may be seen a fleet of little vessels flitting along the shore in the smooth water, and lying over to the land wind, which in good weather, rises as the sun sets. Many of these boats are racing craft, and as each principal waterplace has its local lugsail club, there is no lack of sport on the Saturday afternoons, there being always one, and sometimes two or three events for the little ships. As the prizes are of considerable value, and quite worth winning,* the class of boat has been gradually improved, and while three years ago they were simply ordinary fishing skiffs, ballasted with stone or sand bags, these have given place to such powerful craft as shown in the drawing, with lead keels, spinnakers, and all the modern racing paraphernalia. The boats are divided for racing purposes into three classes, 17ft., 19ft., and 22ft. The drawing shows a 19ft. boat on a scale of in.=1ft., but tables of offsets and proportional scales are given, so that it can be used for all three sizes; there are also a few 15ft. boats, but the principal racing is among the larger ones. Prior to 1878 the only dimension taken into account was length, that being measured over all, but as this * The prizes of one 19ft. boat, the Vanguard, amounted in 1877 to £35, while the 22ft. boat, Thisbe, netted over £45. was thought likely to produce a fleet of "Popophgas," the ordinary Y.R.A. rule was adopted by the Western and Royal Aquatic Clubs, the classes being now fixed at 1, 2, and 3 tons, so as not to disclass existing boats. As far as possible time allowances are discouraged, and no new boats are given time, but those built prior to 1878 get time from their larger rivals according to the following scale, which has worked fairly well in practice: Excepting one or two of the earlier boats, all are built with square sterns, the increased power got by this form apparently making up for the unavoidable drag aft, while the over-all measurement, which prevails in most of the clubs, precludes a counter. It is questionable, however, whether a short neat counter could not be made "to pay," at least in heavy weather, and when the boats are necessarily travelling at a high speed; though at small inclinations, and speeds up to three or four miles an hour, this form of after end leaves the water smoothly enough, the stern board being then fairly out of water. An idea of the advance made in the building of these craft may be gleaned from the following table of particulars of the best boats of their day: The steady increase of displacement is the most remarkable feature in this table, it presenting indeed but a microcosmic history of yachtbuilding from the time of "America" to "Vanessa." The boats are generally entirely open, but the Largs and Western Clubs intend allowing a deck in future, while one or two clubs even now permit the boat to be covered from the mast forward, the space below forming what is called "the den," where provisions, &c., may be kept dry, and where the luxurious owner and friends sleep when away on a cruise, covering the other four feet of their bodies with a tarpaulin. There being no inducement (as in the case of the New Brighton boats) to cut down free board, they are given plenty of it, some as much as 24in. the average, as may be seen from the table, being about 22in. for a 19ft. boat, which is not found too much for the heavy sea which a sou'-wester tumbles up between Cumbrae and Porten Cross. Even with this a quantity of water gets aboard, and employs any spare hand baling besides the man at the pump. All the best boats are fitted with large pumps, 2 in. and 3in. in the barrel; they are generally on the aft thwart with discharge to both sides, or through the bottom. An ingenious, albeit expensive kind of pump has been adopted in one or two instances; this is shown in the mid section and general plan (Fig. 101, and Plate XXV.)—the barrel is pivoted at the foot so as to cant over to either side of the boat, the pumper being thus able to sit up in the weather bilge while at work. The discharge of this pump was through the lower part of the stern board, possibly after the idea of Ruthven's jet propeller. Another pump, made, and we believe patented, by Messrs M'Conechy and Co., Glasgow, attains a like object in a simpler way. It is a lever pump, and by a very simple but effective arrangement, the lever can be shifted to either side, thus securing all the advantages of the other, and being much more easily worked. The general construction and arrangement of these boats is shown in the drawings (Plate XXV.), and the scantlings are in pretty close accordance with the following tables, but some of the fittings, being as far as we know, peculiar to these boats, deserve particular mention, such as the ballast shelf, mainsheet horse, &c. These are illustrated in the cuts, and their uses further explained by the text. In the larger boats, and where there is an extra heavy lead keel, a keelson may be advantageously adopted. The weight of a 17ft. boat built to these scantlings would be about 5cwt., hulls, spars, sails, &c., complete, of a 19ft. boat 7cwt. to 8cwt., while a 22ft. boat would weigh 15cwt. to 18cwt. The displacements, if built to this drawing, being 22cwt., 31 cwt., and 49cwt., would leave 17cwt., 23cwt., and 31cwt. for ballast and crew. Of this ballast, one-fourth might advantageously be put on the keel, but, unless lead were used, this amount could not be got in the space at disposal. The usual rig for boats 19ft. and under is a single standing lug, as shown in the plan (Plate XXIV.), but for cruising, and for racing in some of the clubs, a standing lug, with boom on foot, and short bowsprit with jib, are used; these are shown in the plan by dotted lines. For the single lug the mast is stepped about one-seventh of the boat's length from the stem, for the lug and jib, about 18in. further aft. Most of the boats are fitted for both rigs, and, farther, have several mast steps, so that the rake of the mast may be altered. One of the mast beams is generally bolted to the gunwale, this being strengthened at the part by a heavy clamp piece running two to three feet fore and aft. The mast is further supported by a wire shroud on each side, and a forestay (1 steel). These are shackled to the cranse at the masthead, made as shown in Fig. 100, and have a large thimble spliced in at the other end to take the lanyard. Many of the boats are fitted with "channels," to give more spread to the rigging, the mast being so far forward, so lofty, and the boats so fine in the nose, that without these the shrouds would |