necessity for unlacing the working foresail should the shift have to be made from that sail, especially if it has soon to be called into use again. The above method will be found far superior to that of hanks, which are always getting out of order and not infrequently refuse to do their duty altogether. In mentioning the shifting of sails, there is one point to which nothing like sufficient attention is paid, and that is to the lead of sheets. Many a good jib has been destroyed and pulled out of shape through a bad lead, and more than one race has been lost through the bad lead of a reaching or balloon foresail sheet. When jibs or foresails are changed, the greatest care should be taken to see that the leads told off for their sheets are really fair--that is, that the pull on the sheet does not favour the foot more than the leach of the sail, or _vice versâ_. In the case of a balloon-foresail its sheet leads outside the lee rigging and belays somewhere aft. The man attending the sheet should take it as far aft as a direct strain will permit, and not belay it to the first cleat that comes to hand; otherwise the sail will simply prove a windbag taking the yacht to leeward rather than ahead. There is a fitting which must not be passed over that is now almost universally adopted on large yachts, but is equally important on small ones--that is, an iron horse at the main-boom end for the mainsail outhaul to travel on. It was originally invented by that most skilful helmsman Mr. W. Adams, of Greenock, to obviate a difficulty so common in square stern boats with booms stretching to _n_ length over the transom. He fitted the boom of his little racing boat with a horse, which came from the boom end to within easy reach for unhooking the clew of the sail, and so saved the trouble of having to use a dinghy for the purpose. The idea was soon taken up by Clyde yachtsmen, for it was found so much easier to get the mainsail out on the boom than with the traveller working on the boom itself. Whilst on a subject connected with mainsails, the writer can recommend for the gaff and head of the mainsail, instead of the ordinary long rope lacing commonly in use, separate stops or seizings to each eyelet-hole. The seizing can be done in half the time it takes to properly lace the head of the sail to the spar; it looks quite as well and does its work better. For fastening the luff of the mainsail to the mast-hoops, instead of seizings he has used hanks, and has found them very handy and neat. The hanks used are riveted on to the mast-hoops. He has now had them in constant use for over twelve years, and has never had occasion to find any fault whatever with them. In one yacht he kept two mainsails in use for cruising and racing, and thus preserved the racing mainsail in good condition for a considerably longer period than would otherwise have been the case, and with the fittings just named the shift of sails was a small matter.