I remember reading somewhere about a yacht skipper of experience who fooled a younger rival and caused him much unhappiness during a hotly contested race on the Solent. It was blowing a piping breeze, and Sally, the rival craft, had one reef in her mainsail and the topmast struck. Bantam, on the other hand, was the stiffer of the two, and held on to the whole mainsail, but also dowsed topmast. Sally had passed Bantam, and was leading her some fifty yards. Both yachts were at that time sheltered by the land, but a few hundred yards ahead a big sea was running in the West Channel.
It was at this moment that the sly old sea dog played his low-down trick on the green young skipper, who was watching his every action.
"Up with the topmast, lads!" yelled Captain Sly of the Bantam.
His crew made a great pretense of swaying away on the heel rope, but somehow or other it got jammed and stayed jammed, in spite of the apparent efforts made to clear it.
Captain Green thought he would be smart. He sent up his topmast in seamanlike style. The topsail was set just as the Sally encountered the heavy sea in the channel. She made one dive and buried herself up to the skylight. The pressure was too much for her. In an instant Bantam's topmast was housed, and all the gear fast again, and while Sally was pitching and 'scending in the
