Page:Yachting wrinkles; a practical and historical handbook of valuable information for the racing and cruising yachtsman (IA yachtingwrinkles00keneiala).pdf/199

 sailmaker's skill. The head-sails are ready for hoisting. The big jib-topsail is set in stops ready for breaking out as we cross the line, for the first leg of the triangular course is a reach with the wind abeam, and we shall have to carry on sail like a China clipper to get to the first mark before our antagonist, the Ghost, whose best sailing point is reaching or running.

Our boat, the Phantom, though built from the same design as the Ghost and carrying the same amount of sail, is the better at beating to windward. Once get her sheets trimmed in close-hauled to a breeze, and she will look up as high as any yacht afloat, and, what is more, you can rely on the saucy jade to fetch and weather any mark she points for.

The Ghost, though phenomenally fast with the wind free, is not quite so good at windward work as we are, judging from her behavior in four former races, when we have given her a good dusting with the breeze dead in her teeth. But once get the Ghost a-going with the wind anywhere from abeam to right aft, and the way she slides through the sea is exasperating to her opponents on the Phantom, who have often had to contemplate with annoyed admiration the shapely contour of the beauty's counter.

Who can satisfactorily account for the difference in the speed of the two boats? They are like shoes made from the same last, of the same material and finish. Why is it that one boat beats to wind