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/191

 a vessel carried down by fair wind and current cannot be brought up suddenly, and would probably collide with the sides of the bridge had she to get out of the way of the vessel beating up; whereas the latter is completely under control, and can easily luff up along the bank below the bridge and wait till the other has sailed through.

It may be an unnecessary warning to give, but do not sail on the upper Thames near London, or on any other narrow crowded river, on a Bank Holiday, with a strong breeze blowing, unless you are very experienced. For an inexperienced coach-*man to attempt to drive a hansom through the city in the crowded hours would be rash enough, but there at any rate he would be encountering none but skilled drivers who would observe the rule of the road; whereas he who sails on the Thames through the crowd of boats collected on a public holiday must bear in mind that numbers of those who are in charge of these craft have no experience whatever of watermanship, and are wholly ignorant of the rules of the road. Erratic often is the course of one of these skiffs; and he or she who holds the yoke-lines, seeing your boat rushing through the water in his direction under a great sail, gets flurried, puts his rudder over first to one side then to the other, gives contradictory orders to his unmanageable crew: first they pull ahead in panic; then, just as you prepare to pass under her stern, they of a sudden cease rowing or back