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/73



knotted so as to prevent it from slipping through. The other end of the rope was made fast to a cleat at the bottom of the boat amidships. The lee-board could thus be easily thrown over from one side to the other, according to the tack on which the boat was sailing; the rope, being always passed over the fore side of either iron pin, kept the lee-board in its place, and prevented it from sliding aft. Another rope, rove through a hole at the lower end of the lee-board, led aft, and served to raise it. The above is the simplest method of fitting lee-boards, and the result will be found to be perfectly satisfactory. In the punt he has described, the author, provided with rod and gun, for game and fish were plentiful, undertook a long cruise among the bayous and channels of the Gulf Coast, camping out each night in pine forests on the mainland or on the sands of desert key, much astonishing the few natives he met; for a lee-board was an unknown mystery to them, and they marvelled to see one of their rough country punts turn to