This classic guide for the first-time sailor centers on the small sailboat. The author, who assumes no prior knowledge on the part of the reader, begins with the selection of a first boat and conveys enough information to enable anyone to take out a small boat and bring her in safely. 111 black-and-white figures.

Table of Contents for Learning to Sail

FOREWORD
I. WHAT IT'S ALL ABOUT
II. THE SELECTION OF A BOAT
Type of boat for beginner
About the cat-boat; the racing cat
The small sloop; gaff and Marconi rigs ; shoal and deep draft
The boat best suited to local conditions
III. THE MOORING
The spot for the anchorage ; shelter from prevailing storms ; outside radius of other boats ; out of dragging danger zone
The anchor ; not too light ; suitable to bottom ; get local advice; the mushroom anchor; freedom from fouling ; why double fluke anchor should not be used
Shackles and pins ; use not copper or brass
Heavy chain ; a weight fifteen feet from anchor ; proper scope
Two methods of buoying
The pennant ; renewing
Chafing gear
Making fast to the boat
IV. ACQUIRING A VOCABULARY
Necessity for calling things by correct names and pronouncing as a seaman does
Parts of the hull
Names of directions
Sails ; parts of gaff-headed sail ; arts of jib-headed sail ; spinnaker
Standing and running rigging
V. LOOKING HER OVER-PRELIMINARY WARNINGS
Necessity for getting acquainted with your boat
"Study out each line, cleat, block"
Examine ballast
Pump her dry
A place for everything and everything in its place
Recognize every line by appearance and feeling
Is inventory complete?
Are lines cow-tailed?
Do not put a strain on any line until you understand its function
VI. THREE USEFUL KNOTS
Will do nine-tenths of the work
Why knots must be properly tied
Parts of a knot
Reef knot ; uses ; granny ; correct tying
A square knot which is not a reef knot
When reef knot should not be used
Clove hitch ; virtues ; how to tie ; when to tie ; how not to tie ; clove hitch about its own standing part
The bowline ; uses ; clumsy method ; sailor's method
VII. BENDING AND HOISTING SAIL
Gaff rig mainsail ; how to bend sail to gaff ; how to bend to boom ; the outhaul on the foot ; how to bend sail to hoops; patent hoop fastenings
The Marconi mainsail ; how to bend halliard to head-board ; how to keep slides on mast track ; slides on the boom
The outhaul
Battens
Leech line
Jib ; snap fastenings on stay ; lead of halliard ; bending jib to club ; battens ; leech line ; reeving sheet
Hoisting sails ; how each should be hoisted ; how each should be set
Right and wrong wrinkles
Fullness at luff
Flat leech
Roach and nigger heel
Backwinding the mainsail
Coiling and capsizing hall
Topping lift
Lazy jacks
VIII. REEFING
Why to reef
When to reef ; methods of judging the wind
Dangers of over-reefing
Price of laziness
Tying down the tack
Hauling out the clew
Furling in the reef
Tying in the reef
Tying down the clew
The second reef ; why tied on opposite side
The third reef ; the lowest batten
Reefing the jib
Scandalizing the jib
Shaking out a reef ; preserve proper order
Reefing under way
Shaking out under way
Preserving fore and aft balance
Merit of distinctive reefing points
IX. THE THEORY OF SAILING
"Boy, puddle, and chip"
"The first sailboats, the Irawadi, an the Nile"
Square rig
Fore and aft rig ; the lateen of the Arabs ; true fore and aft
Venturing away from the dead run ; sailing with a quartering wind
The reach
Leeway and a keel
Sailing to windward
What makes a boat sail against its driving force
The airplane and aerodynamics
The parallelogram of forces
Tacking
X. BEFORE THE WIND
Determining direction of the wind ; the fly ; baby ribbon ; cigarette smoke ; wind direction consciousness ; waves do not run quite in wind direction
Topping the boom
"Sheet trim, mainsail and jib"
"Wung-Out"
Sprit and whisker-pole
Back-stays
Trim by live weight while running
The centerboard
"Sailing "by the lee" ; danger of accidental jibe ; danger of broaching to ;danger of rolling"
The intentional jibe ; bringing wind over quarter ; sheet trim ; getting boom amidships before bringing wind dead aft ; easing her over ; paying out ; back stays in a jibe
The North River jibe
Dangers of jibing
The goose-wing and how to pluck it
Sailing with a quartering wind
Excessive rudder
Scandalizing a gaff mainsail
Necessity for hoisting the peak when altering the course
XI. SAILING TO WINDWARD
The objective
Tacking
The centerboard
Trim of main sheet
Trim of jib sheet
Trim of hull
Slack topping lift
Weather helm and lee helm
Watching the luff
Beating up to windward
Utilizing puffs
Luffing for safety
Staring the sheet
The question of coiling down the
Keep boom out of the water
Necessity for keeping under way
The technique of going about
What to do when caught in stays
Projecting the course on opposite tack
The problem of heeling
The critical point of heel
Parrying the knockdown
XII. REACHING
The finest course to sail
Close reach and broad reach
Trim of sheets
Trim of hull
Steering by landmark or bearing
Dangers from a beam sea
The centerboard
The topping lift
XIII. MAKING AND CLEARING A DOCK OR MOORING
"The simple problem, to stop the boat's way ; the shoot-up ; the centerboard as a brake ; the rudder as a brake"
Fetching short of a dock and long of a mooring
Shooting past the end of a dock
Holding off ; right and wrong ways to use a boathook ; right and wrong ways to use the feet
The heaving line ; trim from the boat ; what to do If you miss ; don't make your body part of the line
"The complicated problem, no room for the long swing ; the short swing as a way-killer "
No lee side to the dock
The solution when wind is blowing lengthwise of the dock
The solution when dock is directly to leeward
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XV. BALLAST AND TRIM
How much ballast?
Inside vs. outside ballast
Types of inside ballast
Weight amidships
Weight in the ends
Battens
Fore and aft trim
Windward and leeward trim
The useful sandbag
Ballast to replace live weight
Some experiences with change of trim
XVI. SEVENTEEN WAYS TO GET INTO TROUBLE
Carrying passengers before you have learned to sail
The overloaded boat
Running aground
Carrying too much sail
Carrying too little sail
Collision
Fog
"Carrying away sails, spar, rigging"
Jamming centerboard
Losing rudder
Becalmed
When ballast shifts
Insufficient ballast
Leaks
Man overboard
Fouled anchor
Sticking slides or hoops
XVII. SEVENTEEN OR MORE WAYS TO GET OUT OF TROUBLE
Self-confidence and discipline
Social amenities should never interfere with seamanship
Keeping from running agound ; knowing exactly where you are ; presume you haven't enough water unless you know you have ; the centerboard gives warning ; go out the way you came in
How to use a settin' pole
Making the sails
Heaving down the mast
Warping off
The parbuckle
Leverage
Overboard and push ; using your back
Changing the trim
How to get out of soft mud ; the fine art of wallowing ; using the flat of an oar
Aground in tide water ; danger from the scuppers ; the three stages of the flood ; digging clear at low water
Avoid collision ; the lookout ; presume the other fellow's ignorance of right of way ; bear away or luff?
Fog
"The horn and bell ; fog aids, horns, bells, gongs, whistles ; vagaries of sounds in fog ; keep out of steamship lanes ; necessity of a fix before fog sets in"
The winds as a compass
Loss of mast ; step the boom
Loss of step ; use caution ; mast may poke hole through bottom
Lanyards to replace broken turnbuckles
How to set up a broken stay
Emergency spreaders
Replacing a broken sheet
Topping lift as an emergency halliard
Spreader as an emergency block
A parrel to replace broken jaws
Spinnaker as a trisail
Three methods of lifting a jammed centerboard
"Steering with jib, oar or floor board"
Ghosting through a calm
Keeping ballast in place
Sandbagging
Fighting a leak ; where to look ; changing the tack ; emergency caulking ; plumbing leaks ; understand your pump
Picking up a man overboard ; the life preserver ; don't turn too short ; when the long sailor falls overboard ; ow to catch the boat again
Freeing a fouled anchor ; the tripping line ; working a turn around the fluke ; the direction to pll
Remedy for sticking hoops
Working down a sticking slide
XVIII. CAPSIZING
The danger in a keel boat
The danger in a centerboard boat
The critical angle
The plain knockdown
Loss of way ; puffy weather ; eel pot stakes ; obstructions to wind
Accidental jibes
Tripping
You never fall under the sail ; danger is in falling on it
Recapsizing
Righting a capsized boat
Stay with the boat
XIX. WHAT TO DO IN A THUNDERSTORM
"Warnings ; weather reports, newspapers, radio ; radio static ; heat ; low cumulus clouds"
Effect of wind
Effect of tide
Standard practice of thunderstorms
Try to make a lee
The calm before the storm
Making all snug
Riding out to an anchor
Scudding before it
Keep away from mast and shrouds ; lightning leaves above water line
About waves in a thunderstorm
Wind before rain
Rain before
The return engagement
When to get under way again
XX. SAILING IN A TIDEWAY
Rudder action ; in strong foul tide ; in strong fair tide
Lee-bowing the tide
The centerboard in a tideway
Working te eddies
Tide and current tables
Sailing through tide races at the slack
Directions of currents
"Reading force and direction of current from buoys, etc."
XXI. LAYING TO
The theory
Sails
Sheet trim
The helm
Getting her into the groove
The effect of trim
XXII. WAVES
Shape of boat and waves ; straight stem ; forward overhang and pounding
Easiest ways to take a sea
Dangers running before it
Dangers from a beam sea
Steadying effect of sail
"Oil, when and how to use it"
XXIII. COASTWISE NAVIGATION
The idea of navigation
Always know precisely where you are
Laying down a course form there to where you want to go
Always presume your course to be foul unless you know it is clear
"Charts ; what they are and how made ; scale ; compass rose ; landmarks ; soundings, correcting for tide ; the curves ; aids"
Compass ; variation ; deviation ; deviation chart ; heeling error ; points of the compass
True and magnetic north
The Coast Pilot
"Recognizing the aids ; red and black buoys ; obstruction buoys ; channel buoys ; cans, nuns, spars ; bell, gong, light, whistling buoys ; cans, nuns, spars ; bell, gong, light, whistling buoys ; spindles"
Laying down the course ; the departure ; parallel rules ; triangle and straight edge ; protractor ; dividers ; allowance for leeway
The current factor ; fair current ; foul current ; cross currents
Tide and current tables
The log
Dead reckoning
Obtaining a fix ; bearings ; cross bearings ; a bearing and a range ; doubling the angle on the bow ; the three-point fix.
XXIV. MARLINESPIKE SEAMANSHIP
Principles
Serving mallet
Marlinespike
Pricker
Cowtails and how to avoid them
Serving and parceling
An eye splice and a bend
"The hitch, round turn and hitch"
Picking up a clove hitch
The running bowline
The bowline in a bight
The fisherman's bend
The Blackwall hitch
The Wall and Crown
The Matthew Walker
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XXVII. RULES OF THE ROA

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