GROUNDING AND FLOATING.

If the yacht takes the ground on any shoal, and is left by the tide, it is always proper to get out an anchor in the direction of the wind, before the tide returns; then, when the water begins to make, the yacht will not be blown higher and higher upon the shoal as she commences to float, but will be held by her anchor, and soon ride head to wind or tide.

WARPING BY MEANS OF AN ANCHOR.

There are times when it is desirable to get a yacht into a certain position, and there is no wind. To do this, run out a light anchor to the spot you desire to reach, by means of a small tender; cast it overboard; and warp the yacht up to it: repeat this till the desired position is reached.

A RUNNING MOOR

is sometimes made by casting an anchor, with plenty of scope of cable, whilst a yacht is running free, or before the wind, and bringing her with a long sweep, up to and heading the wind, when another anchor is let go also, and part of the cable of the first anchor hauled in so that she will lie to one anchor on the flood-tide, and the other on the ebb-tide.

CHAPTER III.

The Helm and Rudder.- Sheets. - The Topping-Lift. -Springing a Leak and the Use of the Pump. - Sailing "close-hauled," "by the wind," or "full and by."— To know when a Yacht is as near the Wind as she will lie. — Running free. - Before the Wind, or Scudding. To execute a Pilot's Luff.

THE HELM AND RUDDER

control the movement of the yacht through the - water, and serve to direct her course.

The rudder may be described as pieces of boards or planks, in a line with the keel, hung upon pivots at the stern of a vessel, in an upright position, and extending from the keel to the rail, and having an attachment, called a tiller or wheel, to move it in either direction, to the right or left, across the line of the keel of the yacht. The tiller, which passes through the rudder-head, is moved to the right or left; and this is termed "moving the helm." For instance, "Move the helm over to starboard," "Put the helm to star

Rudder & Tiller

(See diagram.)

board," that is to say, push the tiller over towards the starboard side of the yacht, which will carry the rudder to the port side of the yacht, and, if under way, the bow will change direction towards the left. In other words, when a vessel is under way, and going ahead by her own momentum, or anchored in a tide-way, the following rule always holds good:

To starboard the helm carries the head to port. To port the helm carries the head to starboard. See diagrams, Figs. 1 and 2, page 37.

This is all reversed at a critical point in seamanship, which should be carefully remembered; and that is when a yacht has what is called a stern-board, i.e., has received some force which is making her. go through the water stern first. This often happens when an attempt has been made to tack, and the execution of the manoeuvre has seemed to fail: it is then for a moment or two that the yacht will often drift astern, keeping in the wind's eye, making it uncertain whether or not she will yet "go about." It is at this moment, whilst she is making this stern-board, that a knowledge of the helm will yet put her about by shifting the helm hard over to the opposite side from where it was when the attempt was made to go about. Remember not to move the helm till the yacht has commenced making stern-way, then this law applies:

To starboard the helm carries the head to starboard.

To port the helm carries the head to port.

For instance, if it were desired to go about by bringing the helm over to the starboard side of the

it formerly had when the yacht was advancing, and the helm hard a starboard.

A yacht should be perfectly enough balanced with sails and ballast to carry a nearly even helm when on the wind: but it is often the case that they carry what is called a lee-helm; that is to say, when the yacht is on a wind, the tiller is continually poked down to leeward, or the opposite side of the yacht from the wind, to keep her up to her course, from which a tendency to fall off is shown this is usually caused by too much headsail, and may be remedied by a shorter bowsprit, a smaller jib, or another cloth on the after-leach of the mainsail.

To carry a lee-helm is a "beastly thing," as an Englishman would say, and something that cannot long be endured by those who truly like yachting.

If the yacht is free from the odious lee-helm, she may carry a weather-helm, which is not as bad as a lee-helm, but is troublesome. This causes the yacht to have a tendency to "luff up into the wind," and causes the tiller to be carried hard over on the weather-side of the yacht, and is usually occasioned by too much after-sail, or bad storage of ballast. Both these habits of carrying a lee, or weather helm, are detrimental to speed, as in both positions the rudder is often held at nearly a right angle to the keel, decreasing the speed materially. A yacht that is well balanced in sails and ballast will, on a wind, habitually carry the tiller a point or two to windward of the line of the keel, and it will need but little movement in any direction to keep her on her course. Sometimes, in sudden squalls, a yacht that carries a weather-helm will luff up into the wind in spite of the helm, so as not to be stopped except by slacking off the main-sheet. The same may occur in yawing with a yacht that carries a lee-helm. The helm may be put hard down, and sometimes the jib-sheet will have to be eased off, before the yacht will come to the wind. A weatherhelm is endurable, but a lee-helm never, "Well, hardly ever."

SHEETS.

Sheets are the ropes that confine the mainsail and jib in place, and are most important in their The jib-sheets lead along the deck, aft, to

uses.