548 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Sailing For Ladies. 
By W. R. Gilbert. 
The “Girl at the Helm” is a growing phase of 
woman’s sport. At present it is confined to small 
raters and dinghys; and in these it is rarely more 
than steering or helping at the sheets. What we 
have yet to see is the sportswoman sailing her 
craft alone, single handed, and the sailing-canoe 
is out and away the craft in which to do it. 
The canoe is preferable for many reasons. A 
woman’s clothes are dangerous in the water; a 
woman’s physique is not usually strong and hard 
enough for working heavy gear and spars; and 
to work a heavy boat in a rough sea entails an 
exhausting struggle to which the majority of 
women should not be exposed. The risk of going 
overboard is not so great in a heavy keeled rater; 
THE REAL THING, AND THE IMITATION. 
These are two sides to camp life. Forest and 
Stream tells about the outdoor part of it mostly, 
but some of the larger clubs have another and 
very pleasant side to their organization, as exem¬ 
plified above. The picture is a flashlight taken at 
the annual dinner of the Megantic Club, held re¬ 
cently at the Hotel Biltmore, New York. Observe 
that the large banquet hall has been most appro¬ 
priately decorated to represent mountains and 
lakes and scenery of the woods. The tables, al¬ 
though the picture does not give a fair idea of 
the scene, are laid out to show portions of land¬ 
scape and fishing resorts embraced within the ter¬ 
ritory controlled by the Megantic Club. Also, 
that the members and their guests are wearing 
the correct appointment of evening dress. There 
is nothing unusual in this, but probably nine- 
tenths of those present would prefer to have had 
the paint and canvas mountains and water turned 
into the real thing, and the stiff habiliments of 
but accident may arise, such as dismasting, or 
man overboard, and a woman’s pair of hands 
must do their share of the work. It may easily 
be that hers are the only hands and head left on 
board in a 6-metre or 5-metre racer; the “crew,” 
two or one respectively, may have been carried 
overboard by the fallen mast or gear. 
In dinghy sailing, which is now very fashion¬ 
able among women, the risk of having to swim 
is greater than with any other type of boat. 
There is no sailing craft more easily upset or 
swamped. Yet, even on the open coast, dinghies 
are the craft sought after by ladies for sailing, 
especially for racing. 
An open dinghy is usually partly ballasted with 
civilization transformed into the comfortable 
flannel shirt and the old reliable fishing coat, with 
its pockets full of odds and ends, and the whole¬ 
some flavor of the woods permeating the atmos¬ 
phere. Nevertheless, the dinner was a magnifi¬ 
cent success and represented a gathering of peo¬ 
ple typifying the highest standard of sports¬ 
manship. 
Unbiased News from Newfoundland. 
St. John's, N. F., March 10, 1914. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I will send you from time to time some “Newfound¬ 
land Notes." I have not sent them as often lately, be¬ 
cause it is like reiteration of the abundance of fish and 
game and it looks like an advertisement, when reaily 
I have no connection whatever with any hotel, guides, 
railway company, or any concern interested financially. 
In 1898 I sent .the first “notes” to Forest and Stream, 
and have continued them since. I claim that the first 
knowledge American hunters ever got they got from 
Forest and Stream through the agency of my notes. 
W. J. CARROLL. 
lead, or has a heavy metal center plate. She is 
short and tricky, and even with the best of hand¬ 
ling, a squall can, and frequently does, put her lee 
gunwale under, and then ten to one she fills, 
swamps, and very possibly sinks. Such little 
things happen frequently every summer, but un¬ 
less they end fatally they are too insignificant to 
be noticed in the press. But they happen. 
A short dinghy, with the mast right forward, 
and all the gear belayed at or about the mast 
housing, may be caught running with too much 
sail on; then the “girl alone” is in a very tight 
place unless there is shelter to run to, close at 
hand. The short boat is likely to run her bows 
under and turn end over, or too suddenly broach- 
to, and capsize. These are no mere fancy pic¬ 
tures, but are of frequent occurrence, and a near 
touch of any one of them may, and frequently 
does, drive a girl out of sailing to the lesser risks 
of golf. 
The sailing canoe can be made absolutely safe 
against capsizing and filling; and all the gear is 
now so perfectly arranged that the lady skipper 
can command the craft, instead of, as in the 
dinghy, the craft commanding her. If a knock¬ 
down squall strikes, she has only to sit still, and 
the boat will right herself again as the squall 
passes off, or as perhaps she is luffed up. The 
canoe does not fill on being knocked down, her 
side decks will not let the water in, and her bulk¬ 
heads would prevent her from sinking if she 
did fill. 
In running before a squall, with too much sail 
on, the canoe is very different from the dinghy. 
Most canoes positively lift their bows and “plane" 
like a hydroplane, and provided they are not of 
a bad, cranky model, they can be let-drive until 
something carries away, shelter reached, or a 
change of course has to be made. Then, the 
gear all being at hand, sail can be shortened, or 
all taken in, without leaving one’s seat or helm. 
All the gear in a sailing canoe is so light that 
any girl can handle it. There is nothing in or¬ 
dinary work to fatigue a lady, and canoe races 
are nearly always in sheltered waters where 
plenty of other boats are nearby. In the actual 
handling, except as to attaining delicate perfec¬ 
tion, there is nothing beyond the abilities of any 
girl who can sail a dinghy or a rater. The only 
real difference is that in the canoe she must be 
skipper and crew, all alone; whereas in the rater 
she may be a mere automaton, directed by a 
friend or a paid hand. It is unnecessary to sug¬ 
gest which is the higher quality to attain. 
Possibly a new class of “boating girl” is com¬ 
ing forward from the “girl guides”; these are 
taught all the elements of boat work short of 
going afloat. They learn all the bends and 
hitches, knots and splices, the compass, the 
weather, sails, flags, cooking, camping, and all 
kinds of work useful about boats, to say nothing 
of their training in swimming while clothed and 
in rescuing people from drowning, and, in a gen¬ 
eral way, especally in their dress, fitting them¬ 
selves for boat work and camping. 
The boy scouts have in immense numbers taken 
up sea scouting, itself a fine training for small 
boat and canoe sailing. And it is no far cry to 
see the girl guides take up river canoeing and 
camping; for they would have nothing to learn 
for a camping canoe tour except the actual hand- 
Annual Dinner of the Megantic Club, Hotel Biltmore, New York. 
