THE KING AS A YACHTSMAN

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 1, 27 September 1920, Page 8

THE KING AS A YACHTSMAN

HAULING WITH HIS CEEW IN A STOKM.

How the Eoyal yacht Britannia won n race on the Clyde in a great storm, during which a sail was earned away, and how the King, working eido by Bide with the crew, helped under very dangerous conditions to repair the damage, is told in the "Field." ' . . "The King was accompanied by princess Mary, and the' storm was tcrntic. The old Britannia would have been an easy winner, when she had the- misfortune to carry away her jibhended topsail. To get in the topsail, which was flying wildly, the boat was gybed, with tfo result that the. hoi ow steol mam boom was heavily, bruised. The Britannia, however, jcontinued the- .race- m spite of damage, and won the second Pr "ln the force of the gale> all the yachts appeared a mass of foam from to Btern. During the + bme ti» Britannia was in difficulties the King was on deck working vigorously with the other sailors, and it may be said in truth that in history no such scene has eui tan. recSrdc7as that which occurred when it was necessary for the Britannia to gybe to clear the Towmont end of Great Cumbrae. - "Of courae the vessel might ha e rounded to and even up the race, but it was decided, to sail the match out and win a prizo if possible. To get command of the mainsheet was no easy tnak and every man was on the ]ob, his SWesty in the" midst of his men hauling not only as pluekily but also as; eftectivnlv as anv Corinthian on his ship. "What a landsman' would, have said rf he could have witnessed this spectacle we reaTlr do not know, and the difficulto of foothold with the deck Bl'Tipory with'the tearing rain increased the neSty for every, man having pretty good sea legs and grip."