at first; if he has a companion, a 17ft. boat will be best. As he gains experience and goes in for longer cruises and camping out or sleeping on board, a boat of 20ft. keel and 7ft. 6in. beam might be advisable, but such a large boat is needless unless used as a yacht, when a cabin 6ft. or 7ft. long may be added, and plenty of accommodation for sleeping on board secured.

Now for a sail. Here is the 15ft. boat afloat, moored to the bank. We step in, see that the oars are on board and that the rowlocks are handy, see that there is a baler in case we ship some water, and a mop or sponge to clear away the dirt. Note that the

FIG. 16. HALYARD PURCHASE.

ballast (of which she has some four hundredweight, either in the form of iron or lead pigs, or bags full of shot) is stowed in equal portions on each side of the centre-board case. Lower the centreboard to its full depth; and now for the sail. The mast is stepped in the foremost thwart, and is 15ft. long. The sail is a single balance lug, called by that name because it is balanced on the mast, part of the sail being in front and part behind. The boom and yard are of equal length, say, 14ft. The halyard is bent or fastened to the

yard at the point shown in the diagram, then passes through a sheave hole in the masthead. In small boats the sail can be hoisted well enough by this simple contrivance, but in boats over 15ft. in length it is well to have a purchase, and the most simple and effective is that shown in Fig. 16. The end of the halyard after passing through the sheave hole is spliced to a block. Through this block another rope is rove, one end fast to the deck or thwart, the other belayed, or made fast to a cleat, placed somewhere near the foot of the mast. When the fall or free part of this rope is hauled upon it pulls the block down, and of course the sail goes up. By the use of blocks the

power applicable to hauling is greatly increased, and if the reason of this should not be apparent, a handbook on mechanics should be consulted. The tack of a lugsail is generally a loop bent on to the boom, and hooked to a hook on the mast. Make this fast before hauling on the halyard. Now a long pull and a strong pull, and the sail is up. Take a turn of the halyard once around the cleat, and swig the halyard, that is, pull it with a jerk away from the mast. This will take in any slackness aloft, and the slackness below will be promptly taken in by hauling in the part just passing round the cleat. Now belay, with three or four turns, in a figure of eight fashion, round the ends of the cleat. There the sail is set as taut as a drum. There are several contrivances for keeping the yard close to the mast, and from being blown away from it when the sail is lowered. The most common is the mast iron, which is a

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FIG. 17. YARD GUIDE.

hoop of iron travelling up and down the mast, with two hooks or eyes upon it, one to hook on to the yard and the other to the halyard. The objection to this is that it frequently jams, and if the yard is a long one, and with a high peak, it is almost impossible to lower the sail without unhooking the yard from the traveller when it is half way down. This is at all times troublesome, and in the case of a squall, when sail has to be lowered in a hurry, it is highly dangerous. The best plan is one we invented and adopted, and which answers perfectly. It is shown in Fig. 17. A is the yard, B is a wire guide, fixed at the extreme end of the yard, and at the point where the halyard would be when the sail is hoisted; C is a ring, travelling freely on the guide. C is hooked on to the mast traveller. As the sail is hoisted C slips up the guide

as far as the wire will allow.

As the sail is lowered the yard

slips forward, and no jam can occur. At no time can the sail

blow away from the mast.

We can confidently recommend this

plan as the best we have seen.

The sail is hoisted and the halyard neatly coiled up at the foot of the mast. Now overhaul the sheet. There are many ways of fitting this important rope. The simplest is to have one end fast to the stern close by the rudder head, then it leads through a block stropped to the boom, and the fall leads down to the hand of the helmsman or his companion. In a small open boat this sheet should never be made fast; and it is a good plan not to have any cleats handy, as the temptation to belay it is almost irresistible when the breeze is light and steady, and there seems no cause for alarm, but swish comes a blast round that clump of trees, and, perhaps, follows the boat round as you luff up, and, before you can loose the sheet, the water is pouring in over the gunwale, and you have to swim for it. That is how accidents happen.

Now there is a side wind blowing across the river, so that you can sail either way. It blows from the left, or port side. You cast off the painter by which she was moored and hold the boom over with your hand to the weather side, that is the side next to wind, or to windward. This is to make a back sail and cant the boat's head from the shore. and loose out the sheet until right angles to the boat, It will be just full of wind, with every inch of it drawing, but will not be too full, as that would be force wasted. Grasp the tiller and press it towards you as you sit on the windward side of the boat. She is under way and is slipping along up the river at a fine rate, and you begin to feel the exquisite charm of controlling her movements by your light, yet, firm, touch upon the tiller.

As she pays off let the boom go off the sail is nearly, but not quite, at

Now you approach a bend in the river; it turns to the left or to windward, and as you come round it you must rally in the mainsheet, for in order to sail up this reach without tacking you will have to sail as close to the wind as ever you can. Now the sheet is well in and the boom hauled in just over the lee quarter. She will lie her course if you are careful. The wind is puffy, and as the gusts strike you you can luff up; that is, let the wind press the boat a little round so as to shoot her up a little closer to the wind. You will find that she will do this herself if you just give way a little to the pressure of the tiller against your hand. You must not luff up too much, as it takes the wind out of the sails, and the way, or momentum of the boat, is lost. Ah, here comes a heavy gust. You have already got so close to the weather shore that you cannot luff up without running into the bank; so ease the sheet off and let the wind out of the sail in this way, and do not leave it so long next time, for the lee gunwale was pressed down to the water's edge. Haul in the sheet again directly the gust has passed.

Now the river bends off to the right, which is, as the wind blows, the leeward (pronounced loo'ard) side. So bear away and sail her free, that is, the contrary to close hauled. To do this you put the helm up a little. To put it down is to push the tiller over to leeward so as to make the boat run up into the wind. To put it up is to make the boat run away from or down with the wind. Now there is a sharp turn to the left, and you cannot get up the next reach without tacking. Do not sail the boat too close, but keep her well full, so that she may keep up her speed. As you near the bank go about. Put the helm down gently, and the boat will run head to wind with her sail flapping. If she seems losing her way put the helm sharply hard over, and she will turn away from the wind, which will take her on the other side, and fill the sail on the opposite

tack. Let her get a good start away, with the sheet eased a little, and as soon as she is well off, haul it in and sail closer. Repeat the manoeuvre when you reach the opposite side, and you will now be tacking or beating to windward, your track being like that described in Fig. 9. Ah, you have put the tiller down too sharply when going about, and it has stopped her way. She has, in fact, missed stays, and will not go about. Push the boom over to windward with your hands. This will box her head off, just as you did at starting.

Of course, as there is a good breeze, you have tried to give the boat greater stability by sitting on the weather side, and changing over on each tack. This is a great help in sailing shallow wide boats, as the weight so placed is most effective in resisting the heeling power of the wind. If you have a particularly stout and heavy friend who likes sailing, cultivate his acquaintance by all means, as he will be more than worth his weight in ballast. The dead ballast may not be shifted to windward in racing, but live ballast may.

The wind is freshening, and although it may be very exciting to be sailing on the borderland of an upset, it is not a very wise thing to do, and we will take in a reef. On this river we can easily run her head into the bank while we do so, but if we were on larger waters or on the sea we must run her head to wind, and try, if possible, to keep her so during the operation. But of this afterwards. Our present task is easier. On the luff and the leech of the sail are the reef cringles, with rows of reef points across the sail to correspond. We lash the weather cringle (on the luff) first to the boom by means of a line called a reef earing, then the earing on the leech, stretching the foot of the sail as taut as possible. The earings secured, roll up the folds of the sail and tie the reef points all along, or if there are eyelet holes instead of points, pass a lacing through them and lace them