YACHT RACING.*
Mn. B. HECKSTALL-SMITH (Secretary of the Yacht Racing Association and Yachting Editor of the Field) has in this book simplified the rules of the road in yacht racing so far as they can be simplified. In chapter V., which is the most important in the book, he tries to make his reader possessed of all the essential rules and also to make him a considerate, that is to say a " good " sportsman, by inviting him to commit to memory three simple facts. We strongly advise the beginner to read this exposition or simplification before he tackles the Y.R.A. rules in their official form. The exposition is aided by summaries of a number of disputed cases with appropriate diagrams.
If, however, the rules for yachtsmen are to reach their ultimate stage of simplification it will be necessary for certain common technical terms to be reconsidered. There was a time when the similarity of the terms " starboard " and " larboard " caused so much confusion in the world of shipping that the word " larboard " was replaced by the word " port " —to the "great satisfaction and comfort of everybody. But there are still possibilities of misunderstanding. For example, the word " up " is used in connexion with both bringing the head of the vessel up to the wind and making the vessel's head fall away from the wind. When you " luff up " you do the first of these two things, but when you " bear up " you do the second ! The explanation is that in the first case it is the head of the vessel that is brought " up " to the wind, but in the second case it is the tiller that is pulled " up " to windward in order that the vessel's head may fall away from the wind Old hands are in no danger of becoming confused, but beginners are—very much so. The true simplification would be to make the word " up " apply to bringing the vessel's head up to the wind and to that alone. Will Mr. Heckstall-Smith try his hand on this ? It is just as easy to say " bear away " as to say " bear up " , both terms are now in use and they mean the same thing.
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