YACHTING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 165, 13 July 1940, Page 16

YACHTING.

THE ANNUAL REPAINT.

GETTING A GOOD SURFACE.

CUTTING IN THE WATERXINE. The three important factors in winning yacht races, in Speedwell's opinion, apart from the major one of a good design, are good handling by the skipper and crew, well-setting sails and a hard, smooth bottom and topsides, for the average craft is usually well down on her side when there is a caps'ful of wind. Skill in sailing a boat to got the best out of her can only be gained by studying any practical bonks on the subject and trying them out when racing and the more practice the better will be the boat's record at the end of the season. Good sails arc largely a question of cash, but the most costly sails can easily be ruined by careless treatment and less costly sails can be made to set better and last as long as any others if the hints and suggestions which appear in this column arc followed: — The matter of a good surface on the boat just a question of hard work on the part of her skipper and crow. This is made a bit easier by the excellent enamel paints put on i',e market during the past three or four years, which were not available to the old hands. The best of paint is wasted If a good surface has not been obtained. If a boat has been painted three or four years in succession without being pumiced down to almost hare hoards each winter she should he burnt off. It is impossible to get a really smooth surface over many thicknesses of old paint which has cracked, chipped (>r peeled off in spots. I find that pumice bricks give tins best result. There are various paint removers, but the best one is hard scrubbing with a piece of pumice or the aforesaid "bricks." When using keep them wet, rubbing In a fore-and-aft direction and with the grain of the wood if apparent. Wash off and go over with tin,! sandpaper when the wood is dry. it is possible—or was pre-war —to get sandpaper which stands water, in which case you can finish off the work at one operation. After this, the surface should be ready for tHo first coat of paint. When you have decided on the colour get good paint and brush on evenly and thinly. Two coats, rubbed down when dry with fine sandpaper, will give a good foundation for the finishing coat, which can be one of the many enamels. Extra enre Ts advisable when eutting-ln the watcrliiic. as nothing is more amateurish than a wavy or unfair waterline. I'se a long thin batten to strike it in anil score it lightly with a bradawl or end of a tile. Paint the topside colour <lown 11 bit below the waterline nnd finish off with the bottom paint over the topside colour, as this avoids the paint running down and making a mess of things. The same preparation applies to the deck and anywhere else except the mast and spars, which should be scraped with glass or steel scrapers, sandpapered and oiled in the case of the mast, and the spurs varnished. Coamings and the sides of the cockpit and cabin doors—if any— can be grained. There is a knack in graining and it is usually better to have it done professionally. Willi July half gone it is nearly time work was started on fine week-ends, especially as crews will lie searjer than ever in the coming season, leaving more work on the older hands and the youngest recruits to the sport, which never fails to attract a fair share of them each year, and everywhere skippers are on the lookout for help in this direction for 1910-41.