CHEAP YACHTING. 



W. S. QUIGLEY. 



To the average mind yachting suggests 

 abundance of leisure, an excess of wealth, 

 great cargoes of wines and other beverages, 

 a retinue of servants and much knowledge 

 of things nautical. As a matter of fact, the 

 only essential, besides a boat of moderate 

 cost, is the luxury of leisure. With these 

 twin necessities it is possible for anyone to 

 provide himself with a floating summer 

 home to be moved about at will, at a com- 

 paratively small cost ; and the explorer 

 does not have to dig into the mysteries of 

 yachting designs, either. It may be a 

 democratic gasoline launch, a stately old 

 windjammer, whose lee rail is never wet 

 from one season to another, or even the 

 promising auxiliary, without too much bush 



no ruffling of temper, no disputes as to 

 where to locate, forever free from dust, 

 smells, noise, stray dogs, tramps, bad sew- 

 age and from intrusion of all objectionable 

 kinds, is the height of happiness. In cheap 

 yachting alone is such a blessing possible, 

 for in expensive yachting there is the end- 

 less social function and the omnipresent 

 gratuity. The cheap yacht, unlike the leop- 

 ard, can change its spots by moving about 

 when the joyous explorers so decide. 



I once stood on the wharf of the Pequot 

 House, at New London, watching the fleet 

 of the New York Yacht Club preparing to 

 move off to Newport on its annual cruise 

 to the Eastward. The kingly Nourmahal, 

 the queenly Corsair, the princely Varuna 





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ON A COUNTRY WATER WAY. 



for crowding on canvas and just enough 

 gasoline power to move around to a desired 

 destination when the winds are asleep. 



An endless variety of location is afforded 

 in the wanderings of a boat whose designer 

 is noted for not straining after the produc- 

 tion of the lightest shell. From a well 

 timbered and stoutly planked craft, with 

 promises of many years of useful service, 

 more healthful recreation and genuine fun 

 may be had in one week than from a whole 

 season of that odd product of misdirected 

 ingenuity, the fragile racing shell, whose 

 life is one, or, at most, 2 brief racing years. 

 The cost of a cruise in a comfortable boat 

 need be no greater than that of board at 

 the ordinary watering places. Then there 

 is the advantage of going where one 

 pleases, returning when one chooses and 

 changing around as mood or necessity dic- 

 tates. To start with a fair wind when you 

 please, not knowing how far you will go, 

 making harbor only when weather or ca- 

 prices decide, no dressing for meals at a 

 fashionable hotel, no conflict of authority, 



and all the other royal steam yachts of the 

 country were there, getting their anchors 

 to move onward in the majestic fleet. 

 Visions of Moorish chandeliers, Turkish 

 rugs, hard wood, highly polished, silken 

 plush furniture, old gold passementeries, 

 bevel edged mirrors, grand pianos, velour 

 portieres, priceless tapestries, silver lamps, 

 a regiment of valets, champagne as plenti- 

 ful as water and edibles to satisfy the de- 

 sires of the most exacting king, rose before 

 me ; but I was not envious. Near the pier 

 and apart from the aristocratic fleet was a 

 broad beamed cabin catboat, her only sail 

 as yellow and time stained as aged khaki. 

 Clustered in the cockpit of the catboat 

 was a merry party of college boys with 

 their banjoes and their glee songs. They, 

 too, were preparing to get under way, but 

 their preparations were in marked contrast 

 to the formality that attended the departure 

 of the fleet of the multimillionaires. A 

 man on the pier sang out to one of the 

 brawny youths who was lifting the catboat's 

 anchor : 



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