Oct. II, too2,] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
^93 
a yacht whose gkaming topsides and dazzling canvas 
offered a striking contrast to the weather-wOrn carriers 
of trade. Indeed, the Innoceht herself, with her enamel 
topsides, burnished mahogany cabin and new yellow 
cross-cut sails, Igoked as dainty a little lady as any one 
could wish. The Skipper noticed here the coolness and 
nonchalance of the captains of two schooners, the bow- 
sprit of the one almost across the little after cabin of the 
other. But there was no excitement or vituperation, 
such as the Skipper has sometimes noticed among ama- 
teurs. The crews of the schooners lay around the deck 
looking on indifferently; perhaps constant occurrences 
of a -like nature makes one indifferent. While thus 
communing, the Owner and Skipper had not noticed a 
dark streak away aft along the surface of the water 
which meant wind. With a slap and a bang a good 15- 
knot breeze came out of the southwest. Such a scurry- 
ing. It is a pretty good working schooner that can 
outfoot a smart little boat like the Innocent, and the 
way we held those big schooners was a caution. The 
conditions were quite to the Innocent's liking, a strong 
sailing breeze and a fairly smooth sea. We gradually 
picked up a Knickerbocker Y. C. sloop about our class, 
and went by a j-awl flying the New Rochelle Y. C. 
burgee, as though they were anchored. The wind 
gradually strengthened and our lee rail was buried with 
the puffs, but as we had decided to give up the idea of 
Port Jefferson and to make Oyster Bay for the night, 
we lugged our large sail spread, about 900 sq. ft, trust- 
ing to our stick and rigging, which was the best money 
could buy. The patent log showed we were making 
about 8 knots, quite nice going for a boat 21 on the 
waterline; of course, we had wind and tide with us. 
But we still held all the working schooners. Flatten- 
ing in sheets a trifle in rounding at Center Island, we 
stood in toward the Seawanhaka's club house in company 
with a score or more yachts. The Innocent managed 
to hold her own with any thing her size, but we had 
the pleasure of seeing two or three yachts give us a 
fine view of their transoms. But the wind beginning 
to lighten and softening out altogether in spots, we soon 
picked them up again. The Innocent is probably one 
of the fastest light weather boats for her displacement 
the Skipper has ever sailed on. When other boats are 
becalmed she moves along as though she had a "kicker" 
in her — which remark from the Skipper elicited the re- 
tort from the Owner — "She has" — but the Skipper only 
smiled at the Owner's little joke. The wind held long 
enough to talce us off the town dock, and we dropped 
the hook in 8ft. of water on the edge of the steamboat 
channel at 7.30 o'clock. After the Cook had prepared 
a bountiful and tasty supper, the Owner and the Skip- 
per went ashore and played a few games of pool, in which 
game the Owner, out of brotherly love for the Skip- 
per, played as badly as he knew how, but the Skipper — 
well, he would sooner have been picking up the light 
on Port Jefferson breakwater, and thinking of this, he 
did not play up to his regular form — the Owner's kindly 
excuse. We mooched about the village for a while, and 
growing tired of the Saturday night attractions of Oyster 
Bay, decided to go aboard and sleep, in time for an early 
start next morning. On arriving at dock the Crew was 
not there, and we had to hire a friendlj' boatman to 
lake us out to the Innocent for the modest ferriage of 
a quarter. The crew was aboard enjoying his beauty 
sleep. With a few earnest remarks from the Skipper as 
to what was required of the Crew and as to the use and 
abuse of the new dinghy, we turned in, beautifully tired, 
and as our weary heads touched our pillows, we prom- 
ised ourselves a fine day on the coming morrow. 
Sunday, July 28. — Good breeze from sovitheast; cloudy, 
rain promising. The Owner and Crew up at 7, go ashore 
for fresh meats and ice, leaving the Skipper to enjoy 
another forty winks. In what seemed an incredibly short 
space of time the drowsy Skipper heard a lOO-pound 
chunk of ice go scraping over the polished rail and 
niahogany seats of the cockpit, and he at once knew 
the Crew was getting in his fine work. Rolling out of 
his bunk, with all the soothing language he could com- 
mand, he called the Crew's attention to a much better 
way of polishing mahogany — with a file, or brogans, 
or as a match lighter, etc. The Crew seemed doubtful 
whether he would have to swim for it or not, but on 
his explaining that it was the Owner who had been 
juggling with the ice, to paraphrase the song, "What 
could a poor Skipper do?" Just about this time we 
discovered that the Vim, a 30ft. sloop, cruising east, had 
not received her stores. In our hurry to get away, the 
Owner had "couped" everything in sight, as we had 
left a large order with the grocer. The Vim also had 
left an order, and the fool grocer had packed them all 
together. Ow'ng to a very tliorough system of check- 
ing our stuff, the Owner was able to restore to the Vim 
her full consignment of provisions, for which the Cook 
on board the Vim said, "For what we have received, 
the Lord make us truly thankful" — and the rest of them 
said "Amen." After breakfast we turned out, and put- 
ting in two reefs in our 700ft, mainsail, we got under 
way for Port Jefferson. The wind was strong and 
puffy, and as we lay over to the puff's the Innocent's 
fin was near the surface of the water. We were doing 
6 knots easily. We went by Lloyd's Neck like a steam 
boat, and feehng it would be a crime to throw away 
such a breeze, the Skipper proposed running across to 
New Haven. The Owner consenting, sheets were 
eased off a trifle, and, whewl we began to boil a'ong. 
The Skipper's proposals were, it must be confessed, 
backed up by an argumentative spirit, but this time 
there was no kick coming, and the Owner piped all 
hands to grog. It, -by the way, was the first t me he 
1 "piped" that morning, and we needed it. As we 
had started with the intention of running into Port 
Jeft'erson, we had hugged the Long Island shore. We 
now lay our course E. by N. 54 N. The day was cer- 
tainly a fine one for logging, otherwise it was unpleas- 
ant, damp, the wind chill and mo'st; seas short and 
vicious. That old bete noir of all yachtsmen, the dinghj', 
began to give us the usual trouble. Davits are out of 
the question in a small yacht, and are a source of danger 
in any but vessels with good freeboard, the Skipper 
knowing of a case were the deck had been badly 
wrenched and sprung by a sea which had smashed over 
the cabin top of a yacht just after receiving a knock 
down in a squall. After two or three frantic attempts 
to overtake tis, our dinghy managed to drive her fender- 
lackitlg nose into our mahogany taffrail, chipping off a piece 
of the wood, leaving an unsightly scar. Giving all the 
scope we could she behaved a little better. The OWner 
made a vow he would investigate the qualities ot some 
folding or sectional dinghy which could be folded Hp 
and carried in the cockpit. 
We were now racing across the sound with the wind 
slightly forward of the quarter, and the patent log showed 
7 knots. This allowing i knot for drift, would take us 
behind the breakwater in good .season, and we thought 
we would be able to go ashore and stretch our limbs 
that evening. The gray, oily sky line to the east'ard 
seemed to be breaking, and aft, massed against the Long 
Island shore, huge masses of blue-gray clouds were 
breaking away from the leaden pall that a few minutes 
ago enwrapped the Long Island hills. On our port bow 
Stratford Point Light stood out suddenly. The wind 
had perceptibly lightened, but the seas were still steep, 
choppy, and seemed to want to come aboard by way of 
our stern. We evidently were not sailing fast enough 
for absolute comfort, and as the Skipper did not want 
a sea to poop him he decided to shake out the reefs in 
the mainsail. Therefore, wearing ship, the Crew at the 
mainsheet, Owner at the stick, we lay her up in the 
wind, when — crack 1 — away went the gooseneck pin, and 
the boom slipped 3 or 4 feet forward of the mast. To 
make matters worse, the halliards had jammed aloft, 
and we could not take the peak off her. Now, there we 
were, a mile and a half from Stratford Point; crippled 
and on a Ice shore. The Innocent was jumpmg about 
V 
/ 
doing her best to throw us all oft", and in one of the 
jumps her port backstay carried away. The mast now 
whipped forward and aft with every plunge, and it was 
plain that to save the stick we must get way on her 
somehow. The Skipper asked for volunteers to go up 
the mast and clear the halliards, but the shaking up 
and excitement had done neither the Crew nor the 
Owner any good, and the Skipper decided to go up him- 
self. This, however, the Owner insisted he should not 
do, and with wisdom, for a few minutes after the 
Owner succeeded in getting the peak down. Then we 
put on a double tackle to get boom back into place 
and fit a new pin, but no use. The strain simply bent 
our traveler. We then desisted. The sea was pitching 
us about to beat the band, and we decided to try and 
weather the Point with our jib, and, with the wind 
slightly forward of the quarter, we managed to do it. 
Drawing 6ft. of water, the Skipper hesitated about run- 
ning into the Housatonic with only jib hoisted, and de- 
cided to run behind Charles Island. Gradually we 
brought the Island abeam, and, turning in, left the bell 
buoy off on our port hand, and, as night settled, dropped 
the hook in isft. of water. After supper — of which the 
Skipper consumed the most — we turned in and enjoyed 
a good night's rest, to the lullaby of a summer night's 
gale, which blew up from the southard, and rocked us 
—sometimes gently, sometimes not so gently. And thus 
ended the second day! 
July 29. — ^And the morning of the third day rose fresh 
and clear, with a wind that promised much. We cleared 
up ship, had a swim, enjoyed a hearty breakfast, and 
after enjoying a cigar, repaired the gooseneck — an easy 
matter with a' calm sea and plenty of time. We pur- 
posed sailing into New Haven, a short spin only, and 
we could afford to take our time. On our port beam lay 
the summer resort of Beach Meadows. The Skipper 
thought it out himself without connnunicating his thought 
to the Owner, and decided that if one were to run into 
every place of interest, it would take a year instead of 
twenty days. Consequently, when the Owner suggested 
that sail be made, no kick was coming. Generally it was 
really astonishing the dift'erence of opinion that prevailed 
among the Owner and Skipper. The Skipper insisted on 
.smoking countless cigars in a seaway — the Owner didn't ; 
the Skipper liked black coft'ee as a stimulant after a hard 
tussle with wind and sea, the Owner preferred whisky; 
the Ow-ner wanted to put in a reef, the Skipper didn't, and 
so on. But the Owner won one well-contested opinion 
from the Skipper before the trip was over, the desirabil ty 
of tne auxiliary motcr. Withoitt doubt, a good motor is 
a necessity in these times. The old dread of lee shores, 
mak ng strange harbors in a gale, carrying aw^ay spars, 
Paddy's hurricane, all dispelled W-th the "ker-chug" from 
under your cockpit, which space is generally wasted, either 
transformed into a cramped and leaking ice box or a place 
that is allowed to become the receptacle of all kinds of 
trash which should be sent overboard. This is not the 
Owner's argument, but the Skipper's, and this after twen- 
ty 5'ears' experience of sailing craft of all descriptions, 
and a prejudice against smoke and tea kettle boats of any 
description. The old familiar argument that a man is not 
a true sailor when he has the "Little Joker" under his 
lazaretto is all rot— and it is ftol sihoeffei' five miles from 
port and the wind up and down the mast. Guests want td 
catch a train; pleasure party nnmediately turned into a 
querulous, impatient never-go-out-again crowd. Tug 
steams in sight. "Yes, $15 ; no, make it .$10; all right, 
Give me your tow line," and away you go. Accepting the 
Robber of the Sea's extortion because you wish to be a 
real sailor, and will not carry a little power of your own, 
Fudge ! 
The breeze was now pretty fresh from the S.E., and 
seemed to be easting more ; but the morning was fair and 
propitious. As the Owner was after a comfortable spin, 
the Skipper had no objection to turning in a reef, and we 
beat over to the fish weirs at Pine Point on the starboard 
tack. We were quite hilarious this morning, and "Good 
morning, Carrie," was done with great effect on the f'csle 
head by the Crew-, much tO' the indignation of a canine on 
a neighboring schooner, who barked vociferously at this 
outburst on our part. We made good time of it this 
morning, and were in Morris Cove in a jiffy. It had 
been clouding up, the southeasterly breeze liringing rain, 
and it rained quite some, but comfortably esconced in an 
easy chair at the Pequot House with his customary cigar, 
the Skipper looked with equanimity on the rain, the flesh 
and the devil — which last was the Crew vainly trying to 
carry a hundred pounds of iec and countless other bundles 
to the yacht's tender. On ordinary occasions the Skipper 
would have helped the Crew, but as he had slept an aver- 
age of thirty-three hours out of the last thirty-six, the 
Skipper thought a little exercise would do the Crew good. 
The Owner had gone to town to look up some of his 
business acquaintances, whom he was going to take out 
sailing the following day. It was now evening ; the 
Crew had the stores aboard ; the rain had stopped ; the 
Owner was back, and his friends were to come and have a 
little game of draw aboard that evening. Perhaps it was 
the generally warped condition of the Skipper's credulity, 
but he was willing to bet that either the trolley system 
would be out of order, or an earthquake or something 
would happen, and — but, no, there were the Owner's 
friends, and the Skipper felt quite relieved that for once 
his judgment had gone astray. So we all ambled oS to 
the float stage, and the Owner pulled out his whistle, pur- 
poseli' bought for this purpose, and sent a delicately modu- 
lated squeak across the waters. It was here that the 
Skipper did a little swearing himself- — under his breath, 
for, of course, the Crew was taking one of those little 
naps. Megaphone, cat calls, whistles, all thrown away on 
the Crew. There was the dinghy floating peacefully be- 
hind the Innocent, as far from us as heaven from the 
Skipper. To make matters worse, there was not a tender 
in sight ; the dockman at the Pequot had gone off for the 
night, all the oars were locked up^ — and the Crew slept on. 
The Owner's guests liked the yacht very much, admired 
her graceful 1 nes, etc. — they seemed to keep looking at a 
well-illuminated 200ft. steamer — and then decided that, as 
they had waited seven hours, and sleep was one of their 
necessities, they trusted the owner would not be offended 
if they went home. Home they went. And the Skipper 
said, "Oh, joy!" This is not the exact language, but it 
looks and sounds better than the original. And thus we 
dawdled about for an hour, when a welcome yachtsman 
off a steam yacht took us aboard in his gig. Remarks to 
the Crew were rapidly assuming the characteristic of a 
formula, and it was dawning on the Skipper that some 
other persuasion than that of argument would soon prove 
necessary, and talking the matter over, the Owner and 
Skipper fell asleep. 
[to be continued.] 
Stttyvesant Y. C, 
PORT MORRIS. 
Sunday, Sept. 28. 
The thirteenth annual open regatta of the Stuyvesant 
Y. C. was sailed on Sunday, Sept. 28, in a puffy southeast 
wind, with frequent rain squalls. 
The course was from a stakeboat anchored off the club 
house at Port Morris to Gangway buoy for classes A, B 
and E, and around Stepping Stones Light for the other 
classes, except class H, which turned at College Point 
Buoy. 
In class H Edna mistook the course, and Sea Gull un- 
fortunately started in the division ahead, which disquali- 
fied her. 
W. H. Gill, which boat made the best time among the 
open cats, was not eligible for a prize, as the club had no 
class for her, she being 6in. longer than the limit allowed 
in class G. 
Zetes, the old reliable Stuyvesant flver, got away over 
iim. behind her field on account of delay in the arrival 
of part of her crew, but picked up her boats in good 
style, fin'shing second in her class. 
Zaza, which made the fastest time in her class, will sail 
a match with Pinochle Sunday, Oct. 5. 
The club will close the most successful season in its 
career on Saturday, Oct. 25. The summaries follow : 
Class A— Cabin Sloops, CuUers and Yawls Over 30£t.— Start, 12:10. 
Finish. 
Yarkee, W, Stfotig. 3 40 06 
Mascolte, G. Schultz — .„ Withdrew. 
Class B— Cabin Sloops, Etc,— Ovef 25 and Under 30ft.— Start, 12:10. 
Zaza, E. P. Cranberry 3 28 57 
riride, VV. Dent Withdrew. 
Aller, R. Nafis 3 43 26 
Class C— Cabin Sloops, Etc,, Under 25£t.— Start, 12:15, 
Pearl, W. E. Long 3 07 55 
I;ick Rabbit, M. T. Vehsbedt 3 09-55 
Bacchante, G. Wagner , 3 17 53 
Volunteer, A. Rae 3 22 IS 
Gertrude, J. H. Curtis..,. 3 37 18 
Class D— Open Sloops 20ft. and Over— Start, 12:15. 
Eleanor, J. McGregor '. 3 15 25 
Zetes, C. H. Ten Eyck 3 33 40 
Maybe, M. Velsen 3 33 50 
Pirate, C. Klug ...3 34 20 
Class E— Cabin Cats 25ft. and Over— Start, 12:10. 
Whileawav, W. C. Cartwright ..3 46 37 
Class F— Cabin Cats Under 25ft. and Over 20ft.— Start 12:15. 
Little Chief, A. Rae i; 3 38 58 
Annie C, T- Custance Withdrew 
Class G— Open Cats 2.3ft. and Under— Start, 12:15. 
Ping Pong, V. E, Bauer 3 17 13 
Venus, W. Jacoby.. , 3 28 01 
Punch, J. Lynch , Withdrew. 
VV. H. Gill, C. Hagan 8 10 30 
Class PI— Open Sloops Under 20ft.— Start, 12:20. 
Buzzard, A. Weiss 1 45 30 
Edna, C. Burgland 
Sea Gull, G. Grasselly [ 
The winners were Yankee, Zaza, Pearl, Eleanor, While- 
away, Little Chief, Ping Pong and Buzzard,. 
