The Sprilsail Skill
Here'» onolher view of the Sprifeail »kiff, pic¬
tured on the cover, ond described in the oc-
componying letter. The writer, Mr. Wesley N.
Jones, is now a resident of Severno Pork, Md.,
but formerly lived in Raleigh. Below is Julion
Guthrie of Harkers Island, who is building the
sprits,
о
boat design unchanged for well over a
century. These pictures, os well os the cover,
by Bob Simpson, Morehcad City.
To the Editor:
For a number of years I have read
your magazine and found it very in¬
teresting. You cover the state quite
thoroughly in an entertaining manner.
However, there is one bit of very in¬
teresting North Carolina history that
seems to have been ignored.
I am referring to the sprilsail skiffs
which were used around Morehcad
City and Beaufort for fishing and are
now being revived as pleasure boats.
These skiffs have been built in sub¬
stantially their present form for at least
100 years. They arc fast and seaworthy
and wonderful all around boats. They
can be sailed, rowed, sculled, poled
with the sprit and do well with a small
outboard.
Probably the most remarkable thing
about these skiffs is their beautiful sim¬
plicity, they are as functional as a tele¬
phone and handsome in the same
way.
Some of these boats have been
clocked at 20 mph. which is not bad
for a sailboat. The sprit rig which they
use is the oldest fore and aft sail,
dating back to at least 1425, accord¬
ing to the Encyclopaedia Brillinaca.
Josiah Bailey of Morehcad City
could tell you more about them and
perhaps take you out in his. Julian
Guthrie of Harkers Island builds them
to order and built 3 for me this winter.
I am bringing them to Maryland so
that 1 will have someone to race
against.
These boats are so remarkable that
I thought you might be interested in
them, particularly since they are
strictly a North Carolina product of
historical interest.
I grew up in Raleigh and learned
to sail in one of these skiffs at More-
head. For a number of years I didn't
think much of a skiff because they
didn’t have enough brass and bright-
work to suit my idea of a sailboat.
In 1954 I moved to Maryland and
started looking around for a sailboat.
I needed a boat that I could take my
family out in. fishing, sailing, crabbing,
or just joy riding. It had to be easy to
sail and to keep in good condition,
and fit a trailer.
After much thought I decided that
the best possible boat would be a sprit-
sail skiff, if 1 could find one. In 1955
we took a vacation at Morehcad and
discovered that they were being built
again for the first time in several
years. I ordered one and became in¬
terested in their history. There has
been very little change in the last hun¬
dred years and it seems remarkable
that a design so old can be so good
today. — Wesley N. Jones, Scverna
Park. Md.
Jnst A Moment, Please
While the Operator Changes Reels
The sleek jet airliner was poised on
the runway, ready for a roaring take¬
off and a swift transcontinental flight.
"Good evening, ladies and gentle¬
men." said the plane's captain over the
loudspeaker system. "This is your cap¬
tain speaking. We’ll soon be crossing
the United States at a speed of 750
miles an hour at an altitude of 35.000
feet. We should reach San Francisco
in approximately four hours."
After a moment of silence, the cap¬
tain continued:
"We will take off as soon as I gel
up enough nerve."
The movie was about the French
Revolution, movingly depicting the
hardships of the average family.
One stout and emphatic matron in
the audience, however, refused to be
moved.
"The picture didn’t make sense," she
announced to her companions. "If they
were so poor, how could they afford
all that antique furniture?"
A Dallas businessman tells how one
rule of etiquette was written indelibly
on his mind. At a dinner he once asked
the lady on his right: "Pardon me.
but am I eating your salad?"
"Honey," she said, "it’s very simple.
Youse eats to your left and youse
drinks to your right."
It was language, says the man. that
youse don't forget.
The girl gazed soulfully into the eyes
of her new boy friend and asked: "Am
I the first girl you ever kissed?" The
boy thought seriously for a moment
and replied: "You may be. Did you
ever live in Tuscaloosa?"
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