Since the days of our great-grandfathers, methods of sailing and boat-building have scarcely changed. But this does not mean that yachtsmen were ever uninventive, as this book will amply illustrate. There is amusement and a strain of romance to be found in this collection of inventions dating from the nineteenth century, and often amazement at the skill and ingenuity of some of the early master-mariners whose schemes were defeated only by lack of suitable materials. Nowadays man-made materials make practicable many of the inventions whose patents, described here, were filed away, to be forgotten for generations. Others were absurdly impracticable in any age and we can only smile and wonder that patents were ever granted them at all.
Included here are descriptions of devices aimed at preventing capsize, new-fangled booms, spars and reefing gears, attempts to invent the perfect sail shape and the ultimate in rigging. Anyone who finds pleasure in yachting and in yachts will be intrigued and fascinated to browse through this collection of yachtsmen's dreams. All descriptions are illustrated with patent application drawings.
Joachim Schuit, the author of many books on nautical subjects, began his long association with boats at the age of eight. He has been headmaster of a college for nautical and yachting science, editor of yachting magazines and has trained German Olympic yachting crews.