Part 10 (1/2)

”I believe that. A boat ought to carry a weather helm. I think the legislature ought to make a law that a boat should carry a weather helm, and make it a state-prison offence to carry a lee helm, which is very bad,” said Corny Minkfield.

”If you are going to do all the talking, I haven't any thing more to say,” replied Dory with dignity.

”Don't get mad, Dory. We don't know what a weather helm is any better than we do what a lee helm is,” added Corny, as an apology for the interruption.

”I was going to tell you what a weather helm is; for, when you know what one is, you will understand the other: but you keep putting your oars in, fellows, so that I don't get a chance.”

”We won't say another word until we know what a weather helm is, and what a lee helm is,” said Thad. ”Dry up, fellows! not another word.”

”A boat ought to carry a weather helm,” Dory began again; and then he paused to give his companions a chance to interrupt him.

Corny was just going to remind him that he had said this before, when Thad put his finger on his lips, and the remark was suppressed. Dory looked at them all, and found that they intended to ”give him the floor;” and then he proceeded with his explanation.

”The wind don't always blow just the same,” Dory proceeded; and Corny could hardly help making a comment on this sage remark. ”I don't mean on different days, but within the same hour. In other words, the wind don't come steady. To-day it comes down in heavy flaws. You can see the effect of the puffs on the top of the water. A vessel keeps tipping a little in almost any breeze.”

The members of the Goldwing Club nodded all around to indicate that they understood the matter so far.

”When a flaw or puff comes,” Dory continued, ”it changes the course of the boat. The helm has to be s.h.i.+fted to meet this change. Almost always the tiller has to be carried to the weather side of the boat. Do you know which the weather side of the boat is, fellows?” asked the expounder of nautical matters.

”It is the side the weather is on, of course,” replied Corny.

”It is the side from which the wind comes,” added Thad, who thought it was not quite fair to make fun of the remarks of the skipper when he was doing his best to have them understand the difficulty with the Goldwing.

”And what do you call the other side?” asked Dory.

”The lee side, I think,” answered Thad.

”Right, Thad; and Corny was not so far out of the way as he meant to be, for to a sailor the wind is about all there is of the weather. When a flaw comes, and you have to carry the tiller to the weather side of the boat to keep her on her course, that is a weather helm,” Dory proceeded.

”I see it!” exclaimed Nat Long, as though he had made a great discovery.

”I don't believe you do, Nat,” interposed the skipper. ”Suppose you don't carry the tiller to the weather side, what will happen then?”

”I don't know that any thing will happen,” answered Nat, rather abashed at his own ignorance.

”That's the point of all that has been said,” added Dory.

”Well, what will happen? Will she tip over?” asked Nat.

”That is the very thing she won't do; and that's the reason why a boat ought to carry a weather helm, so that she won't tip over if the helmsman don't happen to have his eyes wide open tight. If you don't put the helm to the weather side, the head of the boat will come up to the wind. As she comes up into the wind, it spills the sail.”

”Spills the sail!” exclaimed Corny, who could hold in no longer. ”I have heard of spilling the milk, but not of spilling a sail.”

”It means to spill the wind out of the sail,” added Dory. ”In other words, it takes the wind out of the sail, and it don't press against the sail any longer. And, if the wind don't press against the sail, of course it won't tip the boat over.”

”That's plain enough. I understand that first-rate,” said Thad. ”If a puff brings the boat up into the wind, then the wind don't bear hard on the sail, and it won't upset the boat.”

”Now let us see how it works when a boat carries a lee helm. Instead of coming up into the wind when a flaw strikes the sail, some boats go the other way. The flaw crowds them off from the wind. The more she falls off, the harder the wind presses against the sail. If the puff throws the head of the boat far enough from the wind, it will blow square against it; and, if there is enough of it, it will upset any boat. Then, if you have to put the helm away from the wind in order to keep the course, that's a lee helm; and it's a dangerous thing in any boat, though it can generally be easily corrected if the skipper understands the matter.”