Page:Small-boat sailing; an explanation of the management of small yachts, half-decked and open sailing-boats of various rigs; sailing on sea and on river; cruising, etc (IA smallboatsailing01knig).pdf/209

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those who have used it, and it certainly looks like a very serviceable yacht's dinghy.

It is always well to have a mast and sail for one's dinghy. The pleasures of yachting are much enhanced if one carries a boat with which one can sail while the vessel lies at anchor, for one can then make many interesting little voyages on waters inaccessible to the yacht. If one decides to tow a wooden dinghy astern she can be fitted with a wooden centreboard or with a false keel, to enable her to turn to windward, for this does not materially increase her weight. The dinghy I had with me while cruising on the Baltic was eleven feet long; she had a false keel nearly six inches deep, and a large balance-lug under which she sailed very well. I have many pleasant memories of my wanderings with her up sheltered inland waters—streams, creeks, and meres—while the wind and sea were roaring outside the harbour where the yacht lay weather-bound. The dinghy would be brought alongside; the mast, the sail, and a few pigs of ballast would be lowered into her; a provision of bread and cheese and beer would be placed in the stern-sheets, pipe and tobacco would not be forgotten; and then, with sketch-book and fishing-rod as my companions, away I would sail for the whole long summer day. One day, for example, starting from the entrance of the Slei Fiord, where the yacht lay at anchor, I sailed up that winding water to Schleswig and back, a cruise of sixty miles