“The growth of yacht racing in popular favor is no doubt due, in part, to the fact that it has been carried out in that fair and manly spirit which ought to govern the conduct of every true sportsman. One meets occasionally with persons whose ill-nature compels them to find fault with everything, no matter how good or meritorious it may be.
But it is seldom that the charge of unfair dealing or cheating is ever brought against the pleasure navy. It is true that in the old days of shifting ballast there were men so regardless of sportsmanlike feeling as to endeavor to evade the rule which said ‘No ballast shall be shifted during a match’. The practice was rigidly put down, and delinquents found themselves in the unenviable position of outsiders, being cut by their brother yachtsman, and black-balled at the Clubs.”
Tyrrel E. Biddle – The Corinthian Yachtsman (1886)
(It would be fascinating to know what Biddle might have made of today’s water ballast, canting keels and powered winches. He wrote books on knots & splices, yacht construction and rigging, and an illustrated instructional on how to sail “open and half-decked” boats.)
