1022 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[June 29, 1907- 
How Main Sheets are Rove. 
Every sport has its own peculiar expressions 
and terms. A baseball fiend will tell how “Jones 
knocked a three-bagger,” and that “Smith got 
knocked out of the box” is plain as the nose on 
your face to the “fan” the baseball fiend. ‘ borty 
love!” is all you hear watching that lovely game 
of tennis, so you • must not be surprised when 
sailing on a yacht if the skipper he is the one 
supposed to be in charge shouts, ^ Come down 
on that main sheet. Sweat him in.” 
I remember having some ladies out once 111 a 
race, and after a few such expressions one of 
them turned to me and said: “Why don’t you 
talk plain English?” 
“Isn’t that .plain enough? I asked. 
“It may be to you, but I don’t understand a 
word of what you have said. 
And there are a great many persons who do 
not understand the slang terms used on yachts 
any more than a man who never played cams 
knows when a man playing them says, I melt 
150.” He might ask why do you melt? What 
does melt mean? It is slang. 
But to come back to the mam sheet. We were 
passing another yacht and she asked: "Is that 
the main sheet on that yacht, too?” 
“Yes,” I replied. „ ■ 
“Well, it is not the same as on this boat. 
I had to admit that it was not, but to explain 
—I lacked the time j ust then. 
But now let us look into it a little . more. 
There are so many ropes on a vessel it is evi¬ 
dent they cannot all be called ropes, so some 
are called stays, because' they hold the mast m 
place; make it stay there. Backstays are those 
carried away back to the stern of the yacht, 
headstays those carried away forward to the 
bow, or as it used to- be called, the head of 
the ship. Brails are ropes that roll the sail up. 
Those that haul the sails up and down are hal¬ 
liards. They used to haul yards up and down 
on ships’ masts. Those that let the foot of the 
sail in or out are sheets, and whichever sail it 
is attached to,- it is the sheet of that sail. Ca l 
it sheet-rope if you like, but sailors have to work 
quick, and as they know it is a rope, they leave 
off the unnecessary word. If it is the rope that 
lets the jib, the front sail, in and out, it is called 
the jib sheet; if it controls the large sail, the 
mainsail, it is called the main sheet. 
Now, as to why you see it arranged so- differ¬ 
ently in various boats, there are two reasons. 
One is because it is necessary, as’the sails in¬ 
crease in size, to have more power by which to 
haul it in, and this is obtained by having more 
parts and more blocks, (some call them pulleys). 
The other reason is because, as in everything m 
this life, no two see things through the same 
pair of eyes and each man has his own ways ot 
accomplishing the same result, some succeeding 
better than others. , 
A small rowboat with only about fifty square 
feet of sail on it can be handled with a single 
rope to the sail, but as the size of the sail in¬ 
creases the number of parts to- the' sheet increase 
also. To tell about how many parts are required 
on a main sheet, assume each man can pull 100 
pounds. Then on a small boat, where only one 
man is supposed to trim sail, divide the pressure 
on the sail by 100 and you have the number of 
times the sheet is to be rove. . 
The pressure on the sail can be approximated 
by allowing .one pound pressure to each square 
foot of sail carried, this is about the. pressure 
of a twelve mile breeze; for a good stiff bieeze 
allow two pounds pressure. As an example take 
a boat in the Class Q of to-day with, we will 
s.ay, 700 feet in the mainsail. At two pounds 
per' foot the pressure is 1,400 pounds. Half of 
this on the mast and half on the main sheet gives 
each 700 pounds. They nearly all have four 
parts to the sheet, so. 7 °° 4 = x 75 pounds pull 
in a hard breeze, which means two men. 
On racing boats, where the mam sheet some¬ 
times has to be trimmed in very flat, such as 
when two boats get into a luffing match in fight¬ 
ing for leadership, it is a good plan to have one 
end of the main sheet with a small tackle 1 lgged 
to it so as to get power enough to trim the sail 
in even against a. great wind pressure. Such a 
rig is shown on the Q boats Marblehead and 
Spokane II. Now, as to why all these different 
ways of reeving off sheet ropes. Some men be¬ 
lieve in letting their spars bend; others-do not. 
Some want to- hold the end of the main boom 
down; some let it go up. No arbitrary law can 
be cited. The rig that makes the. sail set best 
is the best rig. So take your pick from the 
many ways illustrated. 
The points to be covered are these: 1 o so 
rig the main sheet that it will not bend the 
boom. If it does bend, the blocks can be so dis¬ 
tributed as to stop it. That is one reason why 
there are so many different ways of rigging the 
sheet. Another point is to- have the blocks stand 
so the rope runs fair over the sheaves (the 
wheel in the blocks) and does not chafe on the 
edge of the block. Such a rig as shown, marked 
Chicadee will do this, the sheet leading two 
ways from the block on the boom cannot help 
but bind. The bridles (that look like loops of 
rope) are merely a means of attaching the blocks 
to the boom so as to distribute the pull. 
Another point is to have the main sheet come 
to a handy place where more than one man can 
reach it.. On racing boats the jig—the small 
tackle shown on deck as in Marblehead, Spokane 
III. and Sumatra—is the most serviceable. 
There you have the hauling end to rally in the 
sheet quickly and then the jig giving much 
greater power to trim it flat by. 
Indian Harbor Y. C. 
The races for motor boats, to be held July 
4, are open to boats owned by members of recog- 
nized yacht clubs and will be sailed under the 
rules of the American Power Boat Association 
except as otherwise stated in this circular. En¬ 
tries should be received by the regatta commit¬ 
tee, at the club house, on or before July 3 ' _ The 
cotamitte will classify the boats in its . discre¬ 
tion, and announcement of such classification will 
be made previous to the start. 1 he start and 
finish line will be in the harbor, one-quarter mile 
southeast of the club pier, and will be across an 
imaginary line drawn from the committee boat 
to a stake boat. 
The starting signals will be as follows: 
At 2:00 P. M.—Warning. A white flag. 
At 2 x>5 P. M.—Preparatory. The blue peter. 
At 2:10 P. M.—Start for all boats over 70ft. 
rating. A red ball. 
At 2.:i5 P. M.—Start for all boats 50ft. to 70ft. 
rating. A white ball. 
At 2:20 P. M — Start for all boats 32ft. to 50ft. 
rating. A blue ball. 
Courses.—The courses will be as follows: 
Course No. 1. For all boats over 50ft. rating. 
From the starting line to and around the bell 
buoy off Lloyd’s Point, turning same on star¬ 
board hand; thence back to the starting line, 
turning the stake boat on starboard hand. Course 
to be sailed over twice. Distance, 28 nautical 
miles or 32.24 statute miles. The red spar buoy, 
southwest of Greenwich Point, must be passed 
on the port hand going out and on the starboard 
hand returning. Course No. 2. For boats 01 
32ft. to soft, rating. From the starting lme tc 
the Cows gas buoy off Shippan Point, turning 
same on starboard hand; thence back to the 
starting line, turning the stake -on sta.rboarc 
hand. Course to be sailed over twice. Distance 
i 8)4 nautical miles or 21.30 statute miles. The 
red spar buoy off Greenwich Point and the rcc 
spar buoy off WYolsey’s Rock must be passec 
on the port hand going out and on the starboaro 
hand returning. . _ 
Prizes will be awarded in eaph class in wnicl 
two or more boats start. Second prizes will b< 
awarded in each class in which five or more boat, 
start. A special prize is also offered to the boa 
of any class making the best average time ove 
a measured nautical mile, the trials to be run 
immediately after the finish of the regular races 
Code Signals.—Flag. G. Start postponed b; 
15 minute intervals. • 
" Flag H. Race postponed for the day. 
Flag J. Race is declared off. . 1 
Flag M. Courses shortened. Race will finis! 
on first round. , 
A white ball with horizontal red band. Reca! 
signal- ^ T 
Regatta Committee: Frank Bowne Jonei 
Chairman, 29 Broadway, New York; Frank t 
Henderson, Richard A. Monks, C. Andrade, Jo 
(Acting)._ 
A sad accident happened in the vicinity oj 
New York recently. A yachtsman in attemptin' 
to get his son out of the dinghy towing astern 
where child-like he was having a delightful rub 
made the fatal error of attempting to get mtj 
the dinghy’s bow and lift the boy out. But off 
thing could happen, the dinghy turned over thl 
moment the rope tightened. Many and many 
man has been capsized out of dinghies by thi 
same act. It is bad enough to get into the bo' 
of a small boat when the water is smooth an| 
she is lying still, but never attempt it when tr 
boat is being towed. i 
The man made a brave effort to save his soij 
which he did, but lost his own life in doing s>i 
