14 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
Uak. a, 1904. 
Hull to Bristol. 
BY WILLIAM LAMBERT BARNARD, BOSTON, MASS. 
The Story which won the First Prize of $75 in "Forest 
and Stream " Cruising Cum petition. 
When a fellow has a decided fondness for cruising, 
and no boat of his own with which to gratify his love of 
the_sea, he cannot be particular in regard to such cruising 
invitations as are extended to him. Accordingly I ac- 
cepted with alacrity the chance offered me to take the 
l8ft. knockabout, Ayaya, from Hull to Bristol. 
I was thoroughly familiar with th^ boat, having seen 
her designed and built, having helped to launch and rig 
her and having not only been on her first sail, but having 
frequently raced on her in every capacity from that of 
helmsman to that of spinnaker mail. : T could not have 
been much better acquainted with a boat of my own. 
She was designed by F. H. Keyes (an amateur) for the 
use of himself and his brother, W. P. Keyes, and was 
built by "Ed" Knights at Hull, Massachusetts, in the early 
part of 1901, in conformity with the restriction of the 
Eighteen Foot Knockabout Association. Her principal 
dimensions were as follows: : . 
Length— . 
Over all 30ft. i lin. 
On waterline 17ft. loin. 
Breadth — - 
On deck 6ft. 11 in. 
At waterline 6ft. 6in. 
Draft— 
(Board up) 3ft. oin. 
Freeboard — 
At bow '. 2 ft. 3in. 
Least freeboard ift. 6in. 
Area — ' 
Of mainsail , 354 sq. ft. 
Of jib 90 sq. ft. 
Total sail area 444 sq. it. 
Displacement 4,196 lbs. 
Outside ballast 1,300 lbs. 
She was of the strictly knockabout rig, having no bow- 
sprit. Her centerboard box was not in sight, the board 
being inside the iron keel and the deadwood — entirely be- 
low the hull. Her beam was the minimum allowed by the 
restrictions, and, incidentally, it was not enough. In 
form she was a decided scow with very full sections, a 
long straight side and a flat floor; she was very flat under 
her ends and had a deep, wide transom. 
She had water-tight bulkheads forward and aft, and 
when built had a large, deep cockpit, but in 1902 this was 
changed to one of the bath tub variety, and the deck car- 
ried in to form seats. At the same time the skeg, on 
which her rudder had been hung, was removed and the 
deadwood filled in aft to allow of giving her a stern post 
rudder. She had no cabin house — only a mahogany slide 
and companionway hatch opening into a low space under 
(he deck. This cuddy was not floored, save for two 
spaces, each six by two feet, one one each side, with an 
open space between. There was not sufficient room to sit 
upright beneath the deck. There were absolutely no cabin 
fittings and no lockers, save for two "wing" lockers 
formed by the sides of the boat, the walls, or staving of 
"Made a long starboard tack." 
the cockpit and the cockpit floor beams which were car- 
ried clean across her. Although built a shade heavier 
than the restrictions demanded, she had no truss beams 
at the mast — now considered a necessary adjunct to every 
boat in the class. 
She was intended for racing and afternoon sailing, and 
not for cruising, but I figured that with a little luck I 
should be able to get to Bristol without any trouble. I 
did not have the luck, as will be seen. 
Monday, July 13, was rainy and calm'. My friend 
Albert and I went down to Hull on the late afternoon 
boat, and, immediately after dinner, went aboard the 
Ayaya at her moorings in Hog Hole. Both the Keyes 
brothers went aboard with us to assist in the stowage of 
our duffle and to bid a fond farewell to their old boat. 
The sky had cleiared and a light west wind ruffled the 
waters of Hull Ba^, iVVe tied down oa^ reef in the main- 
sail as I looked for more wind before day break and did 
not care to reef during the night. 
At 9 :25 P. M. we cast off the moorings, and with Pres- 
cott Keyes at the stick beat slowly out of Hog Hole and 
down to the Hull station of the Boston Y. C, where 
Keyes jumped into his skiff and left us. It was a slow 
pull through Hull Gut, close around Windmill Point and 
cut the ship channel against a strong flood tide. On the 
way out we passed a mud-dredger hard at work, although 
it was then 10:30. 
We slowly reached out of the channel, and just as we 
passed Harding's Ledge gas buoy at 11 :40 we set the log 
and made our course S. E. by E. for the whistler on 
Peaked Hill bar. Albert turned in at 12:05 A. M. on 
"She staggered even under double-reefed mainsail." 
Tuesday, July 14, but was out again half an hour later, 
just before we brought Minot's Light abeam at 12:40. 
The log then read 3.2 knots. By this time we were fairly 
well out of the Boston tide. The wind was still west, the 
sea was smooth and the moon shone through the clouds. 
At 1 :40 A. M. the log read 8.2 knots— five knots for 
the hour. I was still steering and sat on the floor of the 
cockpit to leeward, my back against the staving and my 
legs crossed under me Turkish fashion. This was a 
splendid seat, as I could see ahead under the boom and 
jib as well as over the weather side. The lighted binnacle, 
placed against the companionway threshold, was close at 
hand, and a slight weather helm kept the tiller to star- 
board of the center line of the boat, giving me plenty of 
room, which would not have been the case had I tried to 
sit on the weather side of the cockpit floor. (The cockpit 
is 5ft. gin. long by 2ft. 3in. wide by I5in. deep.) A lighted 
lantern (not our regulation fresnol lens anchor light) was 
carried in a bucket on the stern overhang, where it was 
ready to be displayed to any approaching vessel or for use 
in reading the log. The latter at 2 :40 showed 13.4 knots, 
or 5.2 for the last hour. By this time the wind had 
pricked on a bit, so that our single reef was very com- 
fortable. The sea was very smooth, but there were no 
stars or moon to be seen. The first streak of the ap- 
proaching daylight was visible upon a cloud high in 
the eastern sky. 
During the next hour the wind, while remaining true 
in its direction, increased steadily, and the sea began to 
get up. At this reading the log showed 17.9 knots. At 
five minutes after four o'clock we sighted Race Point's 
white light with its white flash one point on our weather 
bow. We counted eighteen fishermen, all schooners, 
bound in and showing only lower sails. The wind and 
the sea now arose rapidly until we were staggering along 
from one wave to another. I did not like that, nor did 
1 like the look of the sky, so gave the stick to Albert, 
after having had it for four hours, and set about shorten- 
ing sail. 
I lowered the mainsail with some difficulty, and put the 
boom in the crotch. And then my troubles began. 
The sails (cross-cut of 4^2 ounce duck) were an old 
suit, cut down to a total area of 400 sq. ft. for use in 
the early spring and late fall, and had become so soft thai 
although still setting perfectly they were almost worn out, 
and were beginning to go in several places Before reef- 
ing I had to get out my palm, needle, thread and wax and 
darn a rip at the upper batten pocket and two reef points 
in the mainsail. This done, I found that the mast hoop 
seizings were all on the point of dissolution, so I cut them 
adrift and seized the hoops on again with some stout 
marlin, greased with lard oil to make it pliable. This 
done, I bent on a stout vang, or downhaul, to the out- 
board end of the gaff, and having put in the third (and 
last) reef, hoisted sail. Gare had to be taken in tying 
the knittles not to get them too tight or they might h^ve 
torn the mainsaii 
We had been running along under the jib all this time, 
but when I hoisted away, Albert luffed her so that I might 
peak up the mainsail. When he did this she drove righr 
through several seas, taking solid water over her bows 
and putting me through them knee deep. The Ayaya's 
halliards do not lead aft, but are made fast to belaying 
pins in galvanized iron arms that are jiart of the goose- 
neck casting. ■ None of this water that came aboard found 
its way into the cockpit. 
. By the time I had reset the mainsail it was 5 :o5 A. M. 
Under shortened sail we tore down the wind, now jump- 
ing from wave crest to wave crest, now coasting down a 
long roller with a furrow of foam swirling high above 
each bow, only to pause and then with bow lifted high 
above the sky-line soar over the next sea. 
We passed close aboard of several big fishermen, who, 
on being hailed, predicted much more wind, and each of 
them advised us to get into Provincetown. As this was 
all in accord with my own opinion of the weather, we 
hauled more nearly abeam of the wind so as to leave 
Wood End to port. By this time we were quite close to 
the beach — close enough to see it with the utmost dis- 
tinctness. The sea here ran very high (we were prac- 
tically in the Race) but the Ayaya took it nicely and ran 
along like a frightened deer. The mainboom buckled 
until it resembled a scythe, which was not to be wondered 
at, for with three reefs tied down the mainsheet bridle 
was well aft of the jeach of the sail. 
Just before reaching Long Point I went forward and 
substituted the storm jib for our big one. We then tacked 
ship and passed the Long Point buoy at 6:55, when we 
took in our log, reading 33.61 knots. 
We beat up the harbor through some heavy gusts and 
anchored S. W. of the railroad wharf at 7 :20 — ten hours 
out. We had quite a circus when anchoring, as Albert 
neglected to cast off a runner and the mainsail filled 
against it, causing us to overrun our anchor, so that T 
weighed and cast it again to be sure that it was not 
fouled. As Albert had never before sailed in a boat with 
backstays he was not to be blamed for forgetting them. 
After cleaning up our ship we were glad to have a hot 
breakfast, and our Primus stove accomplished wonders. 
Anchored in the harbor were the auxiliary brigantine 
Aloha, the 25ft. sloop Golden Rod and nearly all the fish- 
ing schooners we had seen off Race Point. 
The wind blew hard all day and a severe squall passed 
down the back of the Cape during the afternoon, so that 
we were well satisfied to be inside of Provincetown 
harbor. 
Wednesday, July 15, we were up early and ate a hearty 
hot breakfast before getting under way. There was a 
nice whole sail west wind and a beautiful clear sky. We 
broke out the anchor at 5:15 A. M., and twelve minutes 
later passed out by Long Point Light, and, pinning in our 
sheets, made a long starboard tack out into Cape Cod 
Bay. There was quite a bobble to the sea, but she 
slammed through it at a good rate, passing all the small 
fishermen with ease. We held this tack until 5 :58, when 
we saw that we could fetch by Race Point, so flung her 
about. The fair tide now struck us square on the lee 
quarter and helped us along in gallant style. When pass- 
ing the black spar buoy N. W. off Wood End Light at 
6 :i7 we set the log. 
We were off Race Point Light at 6:42, wind still west 
Off Race Point, July 14. 
and whole 'sail. The sun was shining brightly, but there 
were dark clouds in the south. 
After passing Race Point our course became N. E, 
by E. for two miles, and as this brought the wind well 
aft we winged out the jib to port with the aid of the 
spinnaker boom. Soon after this we had to gybe the 
mainsail as we were constantly holding more and more 
to the eastward, following the curve of the beach until 
our course became E. by S., when we set the spinnaker. 
To do this we h^d to dowse the jib and use its halliard, 
as the spinnaker halliards were not rove (in fact, the spin- 
naker halliard block was not aloft). The wind was now 
very light and the sea smooth. 
We passed well inside of the Peaked Hill bar whistler 
at 7:47, and began to edge out from the beach so as not 
to be too close in the lee of the land when reaqhed 
the bluffs. 
