











































FOREST AND STREAM. 

[Sepr. 28, 1907. 







































SAIL 
AND DECK 
Thursday and again on Friday, thereby winning 
the cup. 
The boats’ standing figured on the point sys- 
tem is as follows: Eleanor, 12 points; Dorothy 
Q, 11; Dorothy, 9; Capsicum, 9. 

Naiad. 
THE accompanying sail and deck plans show 
what the little sloop Naiad, owned by Dr. J. B. 
Palmer, looks like on paper. She is a well 
known craft in the first division of the handi- 
cap class and is from the design of Mr. H. J. 
Gielow. T. R. Webber, of New Rochelle, built 
her in 1903, and she has taken part in nearly 
every race since then. 
She flies the commodore’s flag of the Knick- 
erbocker Y. C. 

PLAN OF NAIAD. 
Reminiscences of a Yachtsman. 
THERE has to be a beginning to everything. 
We are taught very early in life that in the 
beginning the Lord made Heaven and earth, the 
sea and all that therein is. Incidently that in- 
cludes Long Island Sound which, to my way of 
thinking, is the finest sheet of water for yacht- 
ing on this planet. As most of my early ex- 
periences were on Long Island Sound and 
vicinity I suppose that is one of the reasons I 
am so fond of it. As kids my brother and I 
spent every summer at Old Ferry Point, our 
grandfather's place, which, by the way, is an 
island, so it is not surprising that we took to 
water like young ducks; in fact, I cannot re- 
member the time when we could not row or 
swim, 
The first sail I ever took by myself as cap- 
tain, and my younger brother as crew, is still 
‘haste to get awav we had forgotten our oars 


very fresh in my memory, for more reasons than 
one. I will not go back to dates, as that would| 
make me too old a bird. However, it was one’ 
summer, quite a while ago, when I was a boy| 
of eight, and my brother about six, that father’ 
presented us with a skiff to go rowing, crabbing| 
and fishing in, She was about r4ft. long, very| 
beamy and built as heavy as a battle ship. Well, 
to get down to my yarn. We decided one day 
that rowing was rather a tiresome job and not 
enough excitement in it, so resolved to, break 
the parental rule and put sail on her. This we 
had to do secretly, which, of course, made it 
more exciting. We had been discovered one 
day sailing before the wind with a horse blanket 
lashed to two oars, and were then and there 
forbiden ever to do that again. This time we 
were going to have a real sail, but how to get 
it without discovery was the question. Our first 
trouble was a mast, and after a search around 
the place we solved that problem by taking a 
lima bean pole from the garden. This we man- 
aged to get down to the dock and concealed 
under the bath house without discovery. After 
much discussion as to the merits of sheets or 
horse blankets for the sail we finally decided 
on a sheet, for the reason that it would be the 
easier to obtain. We removed one from our 
bed next morning after it had been made up 
for the day, got hold of a pair of scissors and| 
carried both down to the bath house. Spread- | 
ing the sheet on the floor we cut out a fairly: 
good leg of mutton sail, although the leech | 
showed that we were novices with scissors, The 
way to make a hole through the thwart so as to| 
step our mast came very near spoiling all our 
plans. We had to ring in as an accomplice one 
of the farm hands, who cut it out for us with | 
a chisel. It was square, or rather oblong in 
shape, but that did not bother us a bit. Blocks | 
or halliards we had none, and in fact, do not 
think we would have known what to do with| 
them if we did. Some carpet tacks served our? 
purpose. The luff of the sail we tacked to the| 
lima bean pole over all the bumps, notches, ete. j 
For a boom we found an extra sprit that be-! 
longed to a sprit and boom sail of a Hell Gate| 
pilot boat, the property of some of our older| 
cousins. It was much too long, but we tacked- 
the foot of the sail to it and let it extend for- 
ward of the mast, somewhat on the order of| 
the small craft around Atlantic City. A piece 
of wire caught over one of the notches on the) 
mast served to hold the boom in place. To step | 
our mast was the next thing on the programme, | 
and we had to beach the old hooker before we | 
could do a thing. Somehow after quite a | 
struggle we got the mast upright with all sail | 
set, and I can remember how proud we were of | 
the way our sail flapped in the breeze. Such al 
thing as having a step for the heel of the mast | 
had never occurred to either of us. In fact, we f 
came near putting to sea without a main sheet. | 
If I remember rightly I gave the order to pull} 
in the sail, and my crew remarked that there 
was nothing to pull it in with. That meant more 
trouble and nearly caused a mutiny, my crew 
absolutely refusing to go up to the bleach green 
and cut away a clothes line until I bribed him 
by giving him my knife for keeps, which in 
those days was one of my most precious posses- 
sions. 
It seemed hours to me before he returned, 
and I had almost begun to think he had } 
been “caught with the goods” when he appeared 
with about three fathoms of line. He casually | 
mentioned that there had been lots of clothes on 
the line, but that he had thrown them down into 
the ice house, so that no one would know he 
had taken the clothes line. At the time I} 
thought that a very brilliant idea, and compli- 
mented him on his smartness. A little later in 
the day I changed my views on that subject. 
If there was any smartness in anything I had 
it. We tied our main sheet on the end of the 
boom and gave her a shove off the beach. After 
going about fifteen feet a puff hit us and we 
luffed plumb into the ladder at the end of the 
dock. Rather a lucky thing for us, as in our 






















1 





and rowlocks. Having no rudder there was 
nothing to steer with. We had cut out a 
rounded place in the transom so as to learn to 





