SIDELIGHTS ON OCEAN RACING S EAFARING folk are commonly supposed to
be superstitious. The day was Friday and the thir- teenth. We were one man short in spite of every effort to fill the vacancy ; the next day the Ocean Race started. In spite of the evil omens every one was cheery ; the Royal London Yacht Club's dinner was at hand ; an emptied bottle had already helped. Besides, had not the owner given the ship a new topmast and spinnaker ? She moved fast in light airs and we dreamed dreams. We were lucky with our crew—four from last year's race sailed again : Banks the skipper and Harry forward, the owner and Balloo aft. The new crew consisted • of one F.O.O. (1914 mark), a hard-bitten citizen, whose real vocation is the sea ; another, reft from his Bank stool, who had been an Assistant-Pay in the Grand Fleet " for the duration," and who was elected log-keeper, assistant navigator and yarn-spinner ; Bill, ex R.A.F., a temperamental bird who was a better hand at the wheel than any man aboard and for whom Morse had no terrors, and finally the skipper's young brother, Arthur, who had volunteered to cook, and whose offer had been accepted with suspicious alacrity.
Still, there was that vacancy. ' Last year's race had shown us that watch and watch for 600 miles' hard driving was too much, so we had arranged for three watches. One man had failed us, and we were wondering what to do about it.
Then a miracle happened. The Gull's ' boat came alongside, and out of it came Fred—foot by foot he came all the six foot four of him. Thus he spoke : " Say, I've just come over •steerage in the Majestic ' to get a chance in this race. • How about it ? " After an awed silence our owner said : " If you've done that you're on." Fred was introduced all round and shown his bunk, and then he left for the beach to buy his sea-going dunnage. On his departure a voice said : " Some lad ! " That seemed to close the subject adequately.
The dinner at the Royal London was a huge success. Here amongst the other crews we met the Harvard and Yale men who had sailed their little schooner ' Prim- rose II' over from Boston, U.S.A., for the race. The greybeard of them all was not twenty-two.
Ten-thirty the next day saw us under way, the F.0.0. at the wheel timing her from a buoy to the Royal Yacht Squadron line in preparation for the start an hour later. Fred in the meantime had spent his morning forward with the crew. It was well spent. Light or dark, he never put a hand wrong throughout the race.
Crash A spurt of smoke from the Squadron battery left five minutes to go. The nine ships Hallowe'en,' Saladin," Jolie Brise,' Gull," Ilex," Primrose II,' Altair," Penboch ' and Banba IV ' began to make for the line. Another crash and we were off. We set the spinnaker, and to our great glee we led the procession. Hallowe'en,' the new Fife boat, made a beautiful picture as she came creeping up. We hoisted the ensign over " T " but regret that it was not only disregarded but treated with unseemly mirth. It only meant, " Please do not pass us."
The breeze freshened near the Warner and ' came up on us and passed. The sappers were as usual driving their ship to the limit, and she looked wet and so did they. But nothing can damp that crew. Gull ' came past full of joyous Irish yells. Shortly after she was dumb ; her jackyarder carried away and we went past in silent dignity. St. Catherine's " race " put a lot of water aboard, and in the flurry Balloo got a rap on the head from the staysail shackle. Seeing all the stars in the firmament, he clung to the throat halliards, whilst the staysail sheets played the devil's tattoo on his counter, bringing, so, he said, bitter memories of a prefect's licking. His language was deplorable but justified. Next morning the bobstay parted and the crew put in three merry hours out on the bowsprit fitting a jury one, with intervals of coming up to spit between the enveloping seas. That incident over, we jogged along, to Start Point. There we found the Gull ' chasing her own tail in the " race." In we went and did exactly the same. ' Primrose,' coming up astern, must have smiled, but not for long. Soon she was in the same fix. Eventually we all got clear, ' Gull' leading. After this experience " races " will be severely left alone. 13;11 was dug out at midnight to chat with the signal station at Prawle Point. He was slightly peevish a being disturbed until Prawle asked if we were in " the great race." After that Bill realized that here was glory for all.. He swelled visibly—it suited him as he is very thin.
Two days out from Cowes, in a fog, we hailed a fisher- man and got our position off the Lizard. In spite of previous lessons the " race " there took us in its uneasy embrace. The log mentions it by saying " Heavy seas and little wind." It is an unimaginative document. Those seas just played " not my child " with the ship, bouncing her off one wave on to another at will. Having lost a lot of time and some crockery we made for the Longships.
The third day dawned with a falling glass. The sun rose red and fiery ; the weather outlook was distinctly dirty. By this time we were well on our way to the Fastnet. In the afternoon some of the others passed us homeward bound, but owing to the height of the seas we could not be sure who they were. Evening came as we rounded the Fastnet with Primrose ' close astern. Here our worst troubles began. Primrose ' had her staysail blown away. Then our leech line fouled a sheave when we were getting the second reef down. It was a wicked job as the sea had become very bad with heavy rain squalls. Eventually the reefs were got in and a small jib was set.
By midnight we ran into the centre of the depression. The wind dropped and a few stars came out. We stood by for trouble. Luckily the wind came from the south- west and we could lay our course. The staysail was set and the ship thrumming all through tore along at her best pace. When the bobstay carried away the bitts were started and now enough water was coming below to make cooking impossible. For the last twenty-four hours none had been done, and eating was a gymnastic performance. The entry in the log " The skipper made a pot of tea " is therefore a very significant statement. What it really means is this : he filled and lit a Primus stove and held a kettle on it in a battened down fo'c'sle that smelt like nothing on earth and bucked like an outlaw bronco. How he did it caused fierce argument. All agreed that his interior economy was iron.
After we had rounded the Lizard the weather settled. Soon we had the spinnaker out and all the kites up. The Eddystone and Rame Head were passed, then Plymouth breakwater, and so on to the finishing line inside Drake's Island. ' Hallowe'en," Jolie Brise,' Primrose ' and Ilex ' were in but no sign of the others. Once the anchor was down we were boarded by the other crews. Then the fun began. Seventeen men crowded into the small saloon all talking at once. Balloo who had been opening bottles bolted for the cockpit and listened. The voices rose a pitch higher and the smoke increased ; which was thicker the smoke or the yarns about the race is still a debatable point in. his mind.
News came of. the absentees, ' Gull ' having sprung .a bad leak and lost her mainsail limped into Cork Harbour. Altair ' retired from the race and put into Baltimore ; Penboch' and Banba IV.' arrived at Plymouth reporting very dirty weather. In fact Ilanba.' swore it. took three tacks to get up each sea off the Fastnet. With that remark the second Ocean Race came to a successful conclusion.
C. P.
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