CHAPTER I
THE SELECTION OF A BOAT
How to survey a vessel—Galvanic action—Age of a vessel.
This work is intended for the use of the tyro who
has little or no experience of sailing—not for the
owner of the luxurious floating palace, but for the
young Englishman who has a true love of the sea,
and who, though unable to undertake long cruises
on a smart schooner, or to race his cutter against
the crack ships of the season, is yet ambitious
to own and to sail single-handed his small craft,
ready to rough it in the pursuit of his favourite
pastime. Without doubt he who sails his own little
vessel appreciates best all pleasures of yachting.
'The smaller the vessel, the better the sport,' has
long been a maxim of mine. I have sailed my own
vessels, from the tiniest craft up to seventy-tonners,
upon many seas; but I think that in this particular
sport I have got the most unadulterated delight
out of the open boats of my boyhood, and out of
my first five-tonner, a little yawl with which I
