Cruising World – May 2018

may 2018

cruisingworld.com

114

S

ome of my most

treasured possessions

are nautical books

signed by the authors, which

I’ve been collecting for years.

Among many others, my

bookshelf is graced by prized,

inscribed copies of A World of

My Own by Robin Knox-John-

ston (with a joke about my

sailing skills); Adrift by Steve

Callahan (with a cool personal-

ized sketch like the ones in the

book); and Cruising in Seraffyn

by Lin and Larry Pardey (with

nice notes from both authors).

But one of my favorite titles

is Arthur Knapp’s Race Your

Boat Right, a tome not familiar

to many cruising sailors but a

classic in its own right.

Knapp’s book was a gift from

friends who, knowing my ob-

session, came across it while

perusing the shelves of a used

bookstore. Written in 1952,

Knapp signed it for its original

owner, a fellow named John J.

Flynn (“one of the fi nest Irish-

men I know!”). Despite my pas-

sion for such things, I’ve always

wondered if my pals gave it to

me thanks to Knapp’s signa-

ture or because they believed

I could really use the advice

imparted therein. Not really

wanting to know the answer, I

never posed the question.

In any event, Knapp was

certainly qualifi ed to pen such

a book. A lifelong racing sailor,

he twice was the world cham-

pion of the prestigious Star

class. In 1928, as a member of

the Princeton sailing team, he

was victorious in the school’s

fi rst intercollegiate regatta,

vanquishing both Yale and

Harvard in the process. A de-

cade later, he won the Ameri-

ca’s Cup as crew and sail trim-

mer aboard the J boat Ranger,

skippered by the legendary

Harold “Mike” Vanderbilt,

who later wrote the introduc-

tion to Race Your Boat Right.

Knapp’s book, which is

a stonishing in its attention to

detail, is defi nitely the work of

an entirely different era. There

are long discussions about the

merits and maintenance of

cotton sails; confusion over

the preference by sailmakers

of Dacron over Orlon in the

brilliant new “synthetic” sails;

and wonder at the lack of in-

dispensable “masthead fl ies,”

a rarity then but now better

known as the Windex found

on practically every sailboat.

In about equal amounts of

jaw-dropping bewilderment

and humbling awe, Knapp’s

observations are downright

stunning. For example, his

discussion of the red spinna-

kers employed on Carleton

Mitchell’s Finisterre is amazing:

The color supposedly picked

up heat from the sun that de-

veloped an upward thermal

draft that enabled the sail to

lift higher and stay fuller for a

longer amount of time (huh?).

But his local-knowledge

description of sniffi ng out the

wind on Long Island Sound

is awesome: “When the haze

back in the hills of Long Island

gets heavier, making the tree-

tops in the background appear

a lighter shade of green, you

can almost bet your bottom

dollar that a new breeze — a

sea breeze — is trying to break

through from the ocean. The

same thing follows when the

tall buildings in New York, the

Chrysler, Empire State and

others, fade from sight. If these

buildings have been clearly vis-

ible during the early afternoon

and then suddenly fade out,

your sou’wester is on its way

and will hit in eventually.”

All that said, at least by the

standards of contemporary mo-

res, Knapp’s take on all sorts of

matters can be the source of ei-

ther unintentional comedy or

cringe-worthy embarrassment.

For example, in his discussion

of deck layouts, Knapp notes,

“Winches like wenches come in

all shapes and sizes.”

And here’s one that slipped

past the surgeon general:

“Make sure you and/or your

crew are abundantly supplied

with smokes of one sort or

another. While I intend to

endorse no special brand of

cigarette, I do heartily en-

dorse the use of smokes of one

kind or another as a means

of determining the wind on

a fl at day. Time and again we

have literally smoked our way

past other boats, puffi ng and

checking the wind for the least

little cat’s paw. The masthead

fl y and telltales are wonder-

ful when there is a breeze, but

when it’s fl at, Lady Nicotine

will be more helpful.”

Cough. Gasp. OK.

Then there’s this beauty,

about recruiting a favorite

Italian sailor as a ringer on a

raceboat: “You’d better pick

the Guinea or that boat will

never go!”

Knapp concludes his text

by reminding us never to stop

sailing your hardest until the

very last moment when you

cross the fi nish line: “Church

ain’t out till the singin’.”

That’s probably a metaphor

for life as well. All these years

later, Arthur Knapp still hums

a zany tune.

Herb McCormick is CW’s

executive editor.

At least by the standards of contemporary mores, Arthur Knapp’s take on all sorts of matters can

be the source of either unintentional comedy or cringe-worthy embarrassment.

Though not familiar to many cruising sailors, Race Your

Boat Right is a telling testament to a bygone past.

KNAPP’S TIME

Off Watch

HERB MCCORMICK