HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The spritsail is a four-sided,
fore-and-aft sail A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing vessel rigged mainly with sails set along the line of the keel, rather than perpendicular to it as on a square rigged vessel. Description Fore-and-aft rigged sails include staysails, Bermuda rigged sails, ga ...
that is supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running
spar SPAR, originally DESPAR, styled as DE SPAR, is a Dutch multinational that provides branding, supplies and support services for independently owned and operated food retail stores. It was founded in the Netherlands in 1932, by Adriaan van Well, ...
known as the sprit. The foot of the sail can be stretched by a boom or held loose-footed just by its sheets. A spritsail has four corners: the
throat In vertebrate anatomy, the throat is the front part of the neck, internally positioned in front of the vertebrae. It contains the pharynx and larynx. An important section of it is the epiglottis, separating the esophagus from the trachea (windpipe ...
,
peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...
,
clew Sail components include the features that define a sail's shape and function, plus its constituent parts from which it is manufactured. A sail may be classified in a variety of ways, including by its orientation to the vessel (e.g. ''fore-and-a ...
, and
tack TACK is a group of archaea acronym for Thaumarchaeota (now Nitrososphaerota), Aigarchaeota, Crenarchaeota (now Thermoproteota), and Korarchaeota, the first groups discovered. They are found in different environments ranging from acidophilic the ...
. The Spritsail can also be used to describe a rig that uses a spritsail. Historically, spritsails were the first European
fore-and-aft rig A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing vessel rigged mainly with sails set along the line of the keel, rather than perpendicular to it as on a square rigged vessel. Description Fore-and-aft rigged sails include staysails, Bermuda rigged sails, gaff ...
s, appearing in
Greco-Roman The Greco-Roman civilization (; also Greco-Roman culture; spelled Graeco-Roman in the Commonwealth), as understood by modern scholars and writers, includes the geographical regions and countries that culturally—and so historically—were di ...
navigation in the 2nd century BC.


The rig

The luff of the sail is bound to the mast, but unlike the
gaff rig Gaff rig is a sailing rig (configuration of sails, mast and stays) in which the sail is four-cornered, fore-and-aft rigged, controlled at its peak and, usually, its entire head by a spar (pole) called the ''gaff''. Because of the size and shape ...
where the
head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals may ...
is bound to a spar, this rig supports the
leech Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bodie ...
of the sail by means of a diagonal spar or spars named a sprit ( ). The forward end of the sprit spar is attached to the mast, with the after end of the sprit spar attached to the
peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...
. The sprit is steadied and controlled from the deck by a pair of wire vangs ( ) attached to the
peak Peak or The Peak may refer to: Basic meanings Geology * Mountain peak ** Pyramidal peak, a mountaintop that has been sculpted by erosion to form a point Mathematics * Peak hour or rush hour, in traffic congestion * Peak (geometry), an (''n''-3)-di ...
of the sail. It is said to be the ancestor of the common gaff rig that evolved in 16th-century
Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...
. The foot of the sail may be bent to a boom, or be loose-footed and just controlled by its sheets.


Barges

The spritsail was best known from its use in the
Thames sailing barge A Thames sailing barge is a type of commercial sailing boat once common on the River Thames in London. The flat-bottomed barges with a shallow draught and leeboards, were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and narr ...
, which employs two similarly sized spars to form the framework for the sail area. In a barge, the mast is stepped vertically in a mast case or
tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...
, whilst the sprit is suspended by chain stanliffs (standing lifts) from the hounds at the mast head at an angle of about 30° from vertical, with sprit to the starboard side of the mast. The heel of the sprit is secured to the mast, by the ''muzzle'', which allows the sprit the freedom to move laterally, nearly as far to each side as the shrouds. This enables the vessel to reach and run. The instability caused by allowing such a weighty spar to extend too far away from the vessel's centreline, however, had to be borne in mind when designing hull and rigging. The peak of the sail is permanently attached to the head of the sprit, which is steadied by two sets of vangs. The spritsail rig was normally used without a
boom Boom may refer to: Objects * Boom (containment), a temporary floating barrier used to contain an oil spill * Boom (navigational barrier), an obstacle used to control or block marine navigation * Boom (sailing), a sailboat part * Boom (windsurfi ...
. (The latter was usually found on fore-and-aft rigged vessels to keep the mainsail in an aerodynamically efficient shape.) Such loose-footed sails can also be found on gaff-rigged
Norfolk wherry The Norfolk wherry is a type of boat used on The Broads in Norfolk and Suffolk, England. Three main types were developed over its life, all featuring the distinctive gaff rig with a single, high-peaked sail and the mast stepped well forward. Dev ...
s and the
bawley A bawley was an English sailing vessel typified by a boomless cutter rig and probably named for having a boiler for cooking shrimp in amidships. "The majority were built by Aldous of Brightlingsea",Leather, John, The Gaff Rig Handbook, 2002, Adlar ...
class of vessel. The spritsail was a feature of the
Cromster The Crommesteven or cromsteven, often as crompster, cromster or crumster (from ''crom'' = bent, concave; ''steven'' = stem) was a type of small warship used by the Dutch Republic and later by the British fleets during the sixteenth and seventeenth ...
where the ability to furl the foot of the sail and raise the sheets, made gunnery much more readily possible. The sail could still be controlled using the vangs. In a commercial vessel, the rig has the advantage of allowing a high stack of deck cargo and freeing the cargo hatch of obstructions when loading and unloading. The entire sail can be quickly brailed to the mast. The overriding advantage is safety in open water. Barges are unballasted and, if overpressed, will heel excessively and must be pulled to wind. The sheet will be eased and the aft end of a boom could drag in the water making the rudder ineffective and a capsize inevitable. The sheet of loose footed boomless barge is just released and control is regained. The boom does not project outboard so that the vessel can pass through a narrow gap between moored vessels. Loose footed sails suffer from
sail twist Sail twist is a phenomenon in sailing where the head of the sail is at a different angle of incidence from the foot of the sail in order to change the lift distribution with height. Twist is measured by comparing the angle of a straight line betw ...
which reduces their aerodynamic efficiency when sailing off the wind, which usually is not a commercial issue. It can be an advantage in light air. The vangs control the head of the sail which can be set so as to make use of the air above the wind-shadow of moored ships, warehouses and so on. This fine control of the sail without need for the crew to leave the deck, is achieved by ''brailing up''. Rather than lowering the
mainsail A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel. * On a square rigged vessel, it is the lowest and largest sail on the main mast. * On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, it is the sail rigged aft of the main mast. The sail's foot ...
, it is gathered up against its own luff and head by means of lines called ''brails''. This technique is an effective way of stowing the mainsail and gives fine control over the power obtained from the sail. In narrow channels, and in the lee of tall buildings the mailsail and mizzen are brailed and the bowsprit topped up, and she sails on topsail and foresail alone. A gaff rig was far more suitable for heavy weather and long sea passages, but when a daff rigged boomie takes in the mainsail, she cannot set the topsail. However, it means that the sail is stowed aloft and unreachable from the deck. It also means that the sail cannot easily be covered when it is stowed, and thus protected from the elements. But in any case, the crews of working vessels did not trouble with such dainty ways. In keeping with the general philosophy of working boats, all sails would therefore be traditionally treated with red oxide and other substances. The problem of the inaccessibility of gear was met in the Thames barge by stepping the mast in a tabernacle and using a windlass on the foredeck to strike the whole lot, mast, sprit, sails and rigging. The crew could sail under a low bridge such as at Aylesford or
Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...
the without losing steerage way. The windlass is below the tack of the foresail and the tackle at the foot of the forestay. In striking the gear, the foresail tack tackle had to be cast off, the bridge cleared, the skipper and an extra man (the huffler) used the windlass to raise the mast.


Dinghies

Modern use of the spritsail has also become more common through its use in the
Optimist (dinghy) The Optimist is a small, single-handed sailing dinghy intended for use by young people up to the age of 15. The Optimist is one of the two most popular sailing dinghies in the world, with over 150,000 boats officially registered with the c ...
- this uses a boomed spritsail - in the case of which the sprit is tensioned by a snotter arrangement. This much simpler implementation sees the sprit anchored higher on the mast than on barges.


Leg of mutton spritsail

This is a sprit rig that uses a triangular sail, the luff is bent to the mast, and the one spar, the sprit-boom attaches to the clew of the sail. The fore end of the boom is tensioned (pulled tight to the mast) by use of a snotter chord. On a Bolger 59 rig, there is a 14'3" luff, 13'7" leech and 9'0" foot.


Local boats

The spritsail is also commonly used in a
fore-and-aft rig A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing vessel rigged mainly with sails set along the line of the keel, rather than perpendicular to it as on a square rigged vessel. Description Fore-and-aft rigged sails include staysails, Bermuda rigged sails, gaff ...
(along with a
staysail A staysail ("stays'l") is a fore-and-aft rigged sail whose Sail components#Edges, luff can be affixed to a stays (nautical), stay running forward (and most often but not always downwards) from a mast (sailing), mast to the deck (ship), deck, the b ...
) on local traditional wooden boats of the west coast of Norway, most notably the
faering A faering is an open boat with two pairs of oars, commonly found in most boat-building traditions in western and northern Scandinavia. History Faerings are clinker-built, with planks overlapped and riveted together to form the hull. This type of ...
variant of the
Oselvar The Oselvar or Oselver is a small wooden rowing boat traditionally built and used along the west coast of Norway. The Oselvar is a clinker built boat with thin, very wide planks. Almost all parts of an Oselvar are made of pine, with only the ke ...
. Traditionally, up until the second half of the 1800s, these boats used to be rigged with a
square rig Square rig is a generic type of sail and rigging arrangement in which the primary driving sails are carried on horizontal spars which are perpendicular, or square, to the keel of the vessel and to the masts. These spars are called ''yards'' and ...
.


Square rigged ships

In an inconvenient piece of nautical ambiguity, the term "spritsail" also refers to a sail used aboard some square-rigged vessels, typically on vessels developed prior to the middle of the 19th century CE. Unrelated to the spritsail described above, it is an evolution of the ancient Greek
artemon Artemon ( grc, Ἀρτέμων) (fl. c. 230 AD), a prominent Christian teacher in Rome, who held Adoptionist, or Nontrinitarian views. We know little about his life for certain. He is mentioned as the leader of a nontrinitarian sect at Rome in ...
that was eventually made obsolete by the evolution of more efficient
headsail A sail plan is a description of the specific ways that a sailing craft is rigged. Also, the term "sail plan" is a graphic depiction of the arrangement of the sails for a given sailing craft.> In the English language, ships were usually describe ...
s. In the context of square-rigged vessels, the spritsail is a square sail set under the
bowsprit The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestays. The word ''bowsprit'' is thought to originate from the Middle L ...
; a "spritsail topsail" may be set above it, though this latter element of a square-rigged sailplan fell into disuse early in the 18th century CE.Anderson, R. C. (1927). "Peface". The Rigging of Ships in the Days of the Spritsail Topmast 1600-1720 (First, 1927 ed.). Portland, Maine: The Southworth Press. p. vii. In this form, in addition to carrying the spritsail itself the spritsail
yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly 0.914 ...
, mounted under the bowsprit abaft the
dolphin striker A dolphin striker (an older term for a martingale boom or simply a martingale; sometimes called a striker) is a small vertical or near vertical ancillary spar spanning between the bowsprit and martingale thereby redirecting the tension in the forw ...
, also often provided some lateral support for the
jibboom A jibboom (also spelt jib-boom) is a spar used to extend the length of a bowsprit on sailing ships. It can itself be extended further by a flying jib-boom. The heel (i.e. rear and lower) end of the flying jib-boom is attached to the jib-boom, and ...
and flying jibboom via the guys supporting those spars.


See also

*
Crab claw sail The crab claw sail is a fore-and-aft triangular sail with spars along upper and lower edges. The crab claw sail was first developed by the Austronesian peoples some time around 1500 BC. It is used in many traditional Austronesian cultures in Islan ...
*
Oselvar The Oselvar or Oselver is a small wooden rowing boat traditionally built and used along the west coast of Norway. The Oselvar is a clinker built boat with thin, very wide planks. Almost all parts of an Oselvar are made of pine, with only the ke ...


References


External links


Web article
about triangular 'Leg-o-Mutton' sprit sail rig.
Video of sailing the Oselvar
A spritsail-rigged Norwegian traditional wooden boat. * {{Sail Types Sailing rigs and rigging