CHAPTER IV
THE SMALL OPEN SAILING-BOAT
Clinker and carvel build—Construction of a boat—Ballasting—False
keels—Bilge keels—The coble—Centre-boards—Lee-boards—Sailing-punts—An
adventure in the Gulf Stream—Dipping and
standing lugs—Leg-of-mutton rig.
A small boat that can be sailed single-handed 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.
This chapter will be confined to the description of open boats only, of various sorts; for a boat so small that she can be easily rowed should not be covered in, nor be half-decked. A half-decked boat—that is, one decked in the bows and stern, and having a narrow deck with coamings on either side—is in some respects safer than an open boat; if struck by a squall she can heel over to a much greater angle without shipping water than would be possible were she open. But when a small boat
