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Thames Rater
The Thames A Class Rater is both a historic and modern specialist sailing craft designed for the particular conditions at Thames Sailing Club, on the River Thames at Surbiton in England. The class is a development of the Half Rater, which was designed by Linton Hope and Alfred Burgoyne in 1907. The rules refer to the craft as a yacht. The rig is lofty, supported by standing rigging and usually by runners, and the hull is a scow with metal centreplate. All boats built before 1922 are made from wood whilst those built since are of a different construction. The rater is extremely fast, planes easily, and is a technically highly challenging boat to sail in anything above moderate wind conditions. It is usually sailed with a crew of three. Raters have traditionally commuted by river under tow between Thames Sailing Club at Surbiton and Upper Thames Sailing Club at Bourne End, Buckinghamshire. Rater Development Over the years raters have developed extraordinarily tall masts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centreboard
A centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a ''centreboard trunk'' (UK) or ''centerboard case'' (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised to operate in shallow waters, to move the centre of lateral resistance (offsetting changes to the sailplan that move the centre of effort aft), to reduce drag when the full area of the centreboard is not needed, or when removing the boat from the water, as when trailering. A centreboard which consists of solely a pivoting metal plate is called a centerplate. A daggerboard is similar but slides vertically rather than pivoting. The analog in a scow is a bilgeboard: these are fitted in pairs and used one at a time. General History Lt. John Schank (c. 1740 – 6 February 1823) was an officer of the British Royal Navy and is credited with the invention of the centerboard. Schank, however, gave credit for the idea to British Brigadier General ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dinghies
A dinghy is a type of small boat, often carried or towed by a larger vessel for use as a tender. Utility dinghies are usually rowboats or have an outboard motor. Some are rigged for sailing but they differ from sailing dinghies, which are designed first and foremost for sailing. A dinghy's main use is for transfers from larger boats, especially when the larger boat cannot dock at a suitably-sized port or marina. The term "dinghy towing" sometimes is used to refer to the practice of towing a car or other smaller vehicle behind a motorhome, by analogy to towing a dinghy behind a yacht. Etymology The term is a loanword from the Bengali ', Urdu ', and Hindi '. Types Dinghies usually range in length from about . Larger auxiliary vessels are generally called tenders, pinnaces or lifeboats. Folding and take-down multi-piece (nesting) dinghies are used where space is limited. Some newer dinghies have much greater buoyancy, giving them more carrying capacity than older b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fibre-reinforced Plastic
Fibre-reinforced plastic (FRP; also called fibre-reinforced polymer, or in American English ''fiber'') is a composite material made of a polymer matrix reinforced with fibres. The fibres are usually glass (in fibreglass), carbon (in carbon-fibre-reinforced polymer), aramid, or basalt. Rarely, other fibres such as paper, wood, or asbestos have been used. The polymer is usually an epoxy, vinyl ester, or polyester thermosetting plastic, though phenol formaldehyde resins are still in use. FRPs are commonly used in the aerospace, automotive, marine, and construction industries. They are commonly found in ballistic armour and cylinders for self-contained breathing apparatuses. Process definition A polymer is generally manufactured by step-growth polymerization or addition polymerization. When combined with various agents to enhance or in any way alter the material properties of polymers, the result is referred to as a plastic. Composite plastics refers to those types of plastic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingston Railway Bridge
Kingston Railway Bridge in Kingston upon Thames, London, crosses the River Thames on the reach above Teddington Lock. It carries the Kingston Loop Line train service (for passengers only) from London Waterloo station, where the majority of services begin and end and which line includes a maintenance depot. The loop diverges from main lines at New Malden and Richmond. East and west of the bridge along the line are Kingston and Hampton Wick stations. The loop returns to the south bank of its terminus via Richmond Railway Bridge. The loop feeds a branch line, a further incentive for the 1863 construction of the bridge, Shepperton Branch Line. History ;First Kingston Railway Bridge and its 1907-built replacement The present bridge was designed by J W Jacomb Hood and built in 1907, replacing a cast-iron bridge designed by J E Errington, first discussed in 1860 and completed in 1863. ;Design specifications The bridge has five arches: three span the Thames; two span dry land, w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teddington Lock
Teddington Lock is a complex of three lock (water transport), locks and a weir on the River Thames between Ham, London, Ham and Teddington in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. Historically in Middlesex, it was first built in 1810. The limit of legal powers between the Port of London Authority, the navigation authority downstream to the North Sea and that upstream to small headwaters of the river, the Environment Agency, is marked nearby by an obelisk on the "Surrey" (Thames Path, towpath, right) bank. The weir named Teddington Weir marks the river's usual tidal limit and is the lowest on the Thames. This lock is the lowest full-tide lock and second lowest of all-tide locks on the Thames. The complex of civil engineering or infrastructure in essence consists of a large long weir and three locks: a conventional launch lock in regular use, very large barge lock and a small Thames skiff, skiff lock. The barge lock was made to accommodate long barges, steame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lug Sail
The lug sail, or lugsail, is a fore-and-aft, four-cornered sail that is suspended from a spar, called a yard. When raised, the sail area overlaps the mast. For "standing lug" rigs, the sail may remain on the same side of the mast on both the port and starboard tacks. For "dipping lug" rigs, the sail is lowered partially or totally to be brought around to the leeward side of the mast in order to optimize the efficiency of the sail on both tacks. The lug sail is evolved from the square sail to improve how close the vessel can sail into the wind. Square sails, on the other hand, are symmetrically mounted in front of the mast and are manually angled to catch the wind on opposite tacks. Since it is difficult to orient square sails fore and aft or to tension their leading edges ( luffs), they are not as efficient upwind, compared with lug sails. The lug rig differs from the gaff rig, also fore-and-aft, whose sail is instead attached at the luff to the mast and is suspended from a spar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bourne End, Buckinghamshire
Bourne End is a village mostly in the civil parishes in England, parish of Wooburn and Bourne End, Wooburn, but partly in that of Little Marlow in Buckinghamshire, England. It is about five miles (8 km) south-east of High Wycombe and three miles (5 km) east of Marlow, Buckinghamshire, Marlow, near the boundary with Berkshire and close to where the Buckinghamshire River Wye, Buckinghamshire, River Wye empties into the Thames. History Bourne End's original location differed from today's established village centre, and was a half-mile downstream on the River Thames. The name refers to the end of the river (''bourne'' being an obsolete term for river), and derived from the mouth of the River Wye. Then a hamlet, it appears on Morden's 1722 map of Buckinghamshire as "Born end". It was noted in the 19th century, however, that the name had been corrupted to "Bone End", apparently through local mispronunciation and thence on official maps and documents. In 1858, the vicar of Wo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scow
A scow is a smaller type of barge. Some scows are rigged as sailing scows. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, scows carried cargo in coastal waters and inland waterways, having an advantage for navigating shallow water or small harbours. Scows were in common use in the American Great Lakes and other parts of the U.S., Canada, southern England, and New Zealand. In modern times their main purpose is for recreation and racing. Scows The name "scow" derives from the Dutch , ultimately from the German for a punt pole and subsequently transferred to mean the boat. Old Saxon has a similar word which means to push from the shore, clearly related to punting. The basic scow was developed as a flat-bottomed barge ( a large punt) capable of navigating shallow rivers and sitting comfortably on the bottom when the tide was out. By 1848 scows were being rigged for sailing using leeboards or sliding keels. They were also used as dumb barges towed by steamers. Dumb scows were used for a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
River Thames
The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the River Severn. The river rises at Thames Head in Gloucestershire, and flows into the North Sea near Tilbury, Essex and Gravesend, Kent, via the Thames Estuary. From the west it flows through Oxford (where it is sometimes called the Isis), Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Henley-on-Thames and Windsor, Berkshire, Windsor. The Thames also drains the whole of Greater London. In August 2022, the source of the river moved five miles to beyond Somerford Keynes due to the heatwave in July 2022. The lower reaches of the river are called the Tideway, derived from its long tidal reach up to Teddington Lock. Its tidal section includes most of its London stretch and has a rise and fall of . From Oxford to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Highfield Lever
A Highfield lever is a lever A lever is a simple machine consisting of a beam or rigid rod pivoted at a fixed hinge, or '' fulcrum''. A lever is a rigid body capable of rotating on a point on itself. On the basis of the locations of fulcrum, load and effort, the lever is d ... device which allows tension to be rapidly set up in a wire and equally rapidly released to the required extent. It is frequently used in sailing boats where tension in some part of the rigging needs to be adjusted to a pre-set amount as the wind impinges on one side of the sails or the other. It is typically used in running backstays (runners). To make it work in this application, the backstay is led through a block or fairlead along the deck to a two-legged, second order lever mounted with its fulcrum above deck level. The end of the runner is attached to a cross-member between the two legs and part way along the lever. When the lever is moved away from the fairlead, tension is placed on the runner o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Running Backstay
Running backstays support the headstay in a fractionally rigged boat. A masthead rig has the advantage of not needing them. A running backstay runs from each lateral corner of the stern to the mast at the level where the forestay begins in the fractional rig. Together with other rigging, it supports the mast. Because they are attached low on the mast, they can present a significant problem in an accidental gybe, as the boom hits the stay, with the possibility of breaking the boom, mast, or both. During beating or reaching, the running backstay in windward side is in tension. The one in the leeward side is lazy. As the boat tacks they change over. Another function of the running backstay is to adjust the tension of the forestay to suit the sailing angle and sea condition. In general, during a hard beat when the boat sails very close to the wind, the running backstay is tightened to increase the tension of the forestay. The genoa is sheeted in. Under these conditions, the dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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