If you are going to learn to sail get a small boat. Men who learn in large boats seldom become good helmsmen. Another thing, do not learn in what is called a non-capsizable boat; get a boat that can be upset. The modern outside ballast, non-capsizable, finkeel or semi-finkeel, is a very easy vessel to handle, and it requires very little skill to sail them; as a fact, you don’t sail them; you simply steer them. The old-fashioned, inside ballast, capsizable, long-keel craft was a very different proposition, and it required considerable skill to handle such properly. It is for this reason that the best sailors we have ever had graduated from the helms of that type of boat.

The best boat for a boy to get to learn in is one of not more than twenty feet length; a fifteen-footer is better. She should be half-decked, and be of such construction and weight that even if filled she will float. It is better to have a boat that requires little or no ballast. If in a place where the water is generally smooth, the Lark type is an excellent craft to learn in; if where it is rough, get one of those cheap sailing dories. The Rudder Skip is also a good boat, but is somewhat more expensive. Another good boat for a beginner is a 15-foot, half-decked, cat-rigged boat; a boat with considerable freeboard and a water-tight cockpit. Such a boat can be built in first-class style for about $250 or $300. I strongly advise the beginner to use the cat rig, no matter what type of hull he employs.

Many begin in a rowboat, fitted with a sail. These are generally poor craft, not being of the proper form for sailing. While they will do, if nothing better can be had, they are far inferior to a properly designed sailing dory or a Lark. If the beginner starts in a poor sailing craft he is apt to get disgusted with the results of his work and give up.

After you have learned to handle a boat under cat rig you can get one with a jib, and learn to sail the more complicated rig. It is not best at first to go in for too many sails, as it means much more gear and this is apt to confuse the beginner, and make the task of learning harder.

By starting to learn to sail in a capsizable boat you will gather the first and most important part of sailorizing, and that is caution, and you will gain from sailing such a boat that nicety of touch which is the acme of helming skill, and which can never be acquired in an uncapsizable craft. Knowing that inattention to your work will perhaps result in a spill, you will be constantly on the alert, and you will learn that by quick and proper movements of the helm you can control and maneuvre your boat so as to keep her on her bottom at all times.

If you have your boat ready take a day when the wind is light and steady and get somebody to go with you who understands sailing. Let the old hand tend the sheet while you handle the tiller. Then sail up and down in a quiet place until you get confidence in the boat and in yourself. This will soon come when you find that you can perform the different sailing maneuvres. It is a good plan after you have the hang of handling the tiller to choose a mark to windward, and to start and beat up to it, then turn the mark and run back again. Repeat this several times as it will give you practice in sailing both on and off the wind.

If the wind is strong and you feel afraid of the boat, don’t go out, but wait until the conditions are more favorable to have your first try. If you get afraid or rattled, as it is called, by the boat getting a knockdown in a puff, just let her come up in the wind and rest, and you will see that she is perfectly safe, and your courage will soon return.

I have taught many—both boys and girls—to sail, and I always put them right at the helm, and insist upon them staying there. If they get in a tight place the beginner will generally want to give up the helm. At such a time I make them retain it, and by a little judicious advice and a few words of encouragement get them through the difficulty. This at once instills confidence. One of my favorite tricks is when the green hand is approaching the shore on a tack to leave him and go below, pretending to pay no attention to his actions. If he is good for anything, he will when the right time arrives go about. Once he has done this by himself he is confident, and will not hesitate to do it again. This is the principal thing to make a beginner understand, that he must depend upon his own judgment and not rely upon yours.

Some persons can never be taught to sail. They can learn to steer perhaps, but never can learn to handle a sailing boat. I have found that comparatively few females can learn to sail, but when they have the sailor’s instinct it is very strongly developed, and they make excellent skippers. They are far more fearless than men, and can invariably be relied upon to carry out orders, even to the death.