Chapter V: How to Make the Sails and Set Them

The speed and precision in the sailing of a model yacht, depend much more upon the sails than the hull, and the greatest care must be taken in making them.

If pains are taken to carry out the following directions, an excellent suit of self-acting sails will be the result.

The best material is either bleached or unbleached calico, 1 yd. wide, at 8_d._ per yd., and for a 2 ft. yacht 10_d._ per yd.; 3 yds. are sufficient for a 3 ft. boat. Steep the calico in clean water, and dry it across a line before using it. It is always better to cut the patterns of the sails out in paper, and try them in their places, before cutting the stuff.

On the next page are given diagrams of the four sails for a cutter, and as all are cut on the cross, care must be taken when hemming them not to pucker or stretch the material; the after leach, _i.e._ the behind edge of all the sails, must be the selvedge, and must not be hemmed. In cutting out, allowance must be made for the hems, the measurements given being the actual sizes required.

The bottoms of the sails must be slightly rounded, as shown above, and a narrow tape must be sewn across, as shown by the dotted lines, to keep the sails from stretching.

All the sewing for these sails can be done perfectly and expeditiously with any lock-stitch machine; it will sew them exactly even without puckering, and all that has to be done by hand is to fasten off the corners. I make all my own sails, and can, without hurry, make a full large suit for a 3 ft. boat in an evening.

The selvedges are not to be hemmed, because the after leaches of all the sails should allow the wind to pass freely off. The sizes of the sails are marked on the diagrams distinctly; allow ½ in. extra on the outer leach of the mainsail, from _c_ to _d_ in diagram below, so that it may be slightly loose; this helps to steer materially, as the leach will shake before the body of the sail, if the vessel comes too much up in the wind, and so losing its power allow the ship to fall off and sail steadily.

This diagram shows how to cut the head of the mainsail; the dotted line shows how the sail would be if cut straight, therefore cut straight from _a_ to _b_, then slant off to _d_ at rather more than midway from _a_ to _c_. Make eight or ten eyelet holes at equal distances in the hoist of the mainsail, and fix a ring or grummet of twine in each hole to fit loosely round the mainmast; these are better than brass rings or wooden hoops, and weigh nothing.

The lower outer corner of the mainsail should be double for 2 or 3 in. (see diagram, p. 76), to strengthen it; in fact, the corners of all the sails are none the worse for being so doubled.

Now fix the sail to the mainboom and gaff; with a needle and strong thread is best: do not pull the sail too tight. The boom will then be 2 in. or so too long; do not cut that off, it is useful to turn the ship with; leave also the extra length of the gaff, it looks better. The head of the sail must be laced or tied to the gaff at intervals of 1 in., but on no account lace the foot of the sails to the booms; (for reason why see p. 29) the sail is then ready.

In setting, _i.e._ putting on, the mainsail, when you have passed the foot of the mainmast through the jaws of the gaff and all the grummets, then before passing it through the jaws of the mainboom, put on an India-rubber ring, and then the mainboom; the ring must be pretty tight to the mast, and is very useful to keep the mainboom from slipping up. For position of this ring, see _k_ in diagram, p. 50.

To hold the mainsail up, the inner ring on the gaff and lower after-ring on the mainmast head, must have stout twine passed through and made fast. This is called the throat-halyards.

The gaff must be kept at its proper angle by means of twine made fast to the next ring on the gaff, passed through a hook, which hook into the upper after-ring at the mainmast head, and fasten off at the third ring on the gaff. This is called the peak-halyards. With these two, peak- and throat-halyards, you can easily fix the mainsail, so that when the mainboom _is half an inch above the deck at the mast_, and about an inch or so clear of the mainsheet horse at the stern, the sail shall set perfectly flat.

The annexed arrangement of the topmast stay is excellent; it keeps tight the luff of the jib, slightly slacks up the after leach, and is no trouble whatever to fix or unfix. It simply consists of putting a large ring (so that the hook can pass through) at the top point of the jib, pass the topmast stay-hook through, and hook it into a ring sewn on to the luff any distance down you think sufficient, as in diagram at side, _a_ topmast, _b_ topmast stay, _c_ mainsail, _d_ jib.

The jib must have a piece of tape stitched from _a_ to _b_ on the double, ½ in. each side (see p. 76), and a ring sewn on at _b_. A hem only in the luff would be useless on account of the strain. The same must be done to the foresail; hem the bottoms, and leave the selvedges as they are.

Lash them to their respective yards or booms (see diagram, pp. 69 and 70). Of course the sail must be on the top of the boom, and the rings and sheets underneath; try them in their places; now lash on the hooks to the bowsprit (see p. 61), and you will see exactly where to put them; mind, the jib must swing just clear of both bowsprit and foresail (see frontispiece), and the foresail just clear of the mast and stem. Fit both these sails at the head with a hook and slide, the end of the line to be fast to the head of the sail, and the hook is to hook into the rings (respectively) at the mainmast head (see frontispiece), which shows exactly how all the sails set. The booms for these sails (jib and foresail) must be cut close, as there is no room to spare.

The topsail is 28 in. high, and reaches from the large ring in the jaws of the gaff (_a_, p. 66) to the topmast head, and before cutting it out the mainsail must be tried and set. The shape of this sail depends on the peak or angle of the gaff; and having made a pattern in paper to fit thus, make eyelet holes equidistant from _b_ to head of the mainmast, and put in rings of twine to fit the topmast loosely, as was done before with mainsail; fasten a hook to each of the corners, _a_, _b_, _c_, to hook into the respective rings already placed for them;--if the hooks are too short, use a piece of twine sewn to the sail, at _b_ and _c_ only, to lengthen them;--now sew a button at the edge of the curved bottom of the sail at _d_, and a loop to button on it on the head of the mainsail at _e_; this keeps the rounded foot always flat.

The masts, sails, and gear being now all complete, try them on, and make any little alterations that may be necessary. If my directions have been intelligently followed, the sails will be exactly the sizes and shape of those in the lateral diagram, frontispiece.

A strong, fine piece of line, fitted with a slide and hook, in the usual way, the end made fast to the topmast head ring forward, and the hook to be hooked into the ring at the jib head or top corner (see the diagram p. 80, and also frontispiece). This is to raise the foot of the jib, if required, and also to steady the topmast; this is a simple though not so effectual a topmast stay as that given, p. 80.

The sails must be as tight and flat as possible when set, and the mast must be kept exactly upright by the backstays aft, and by the jib and foresail forward, the tape on the jib and foresail taking the place of stays or ropes used for that purpose in ordinary yachts, which are by this means dispensed with in models.

Sail and mast-making is not yet done. Another suit of masts, spars, and sails, of exactly two-thirds the length, breadth, and height of these, must be made. It is called the _storm suit_, and is used when the wind is too strong for the first suit. Reefing is not practicable in a cutter.

Some model yachtsmen have three or four suits of sails, &c.; I find two sufficient, because I don’t sail a yacht when there is scarcely a breath, and I don’t sail one when it blows a hurricane, and so I find two suits enough. Still if you race in matches, and mean winning, you must have both a larger and smaller suit, for you can never tell what the wind will be on the race day, and must be prepared.

Now that all your sails are complete, paint the hull, and varnish the deck again; tip the end of the masts and booms the colour of your yacht, it looks ship-shape.

A pole of pine or deal, 6 ft. long, with a double hook at one end, is required to handle and turn the ship. Herewith drawing of the hook. One side is to push the ship out, and the other to pull it in or turn it.

Lastly, two bags are needed, each to contain 1 lb. of shot, for shifting ballast to trim the ship, if you require her deeper aft or forward.