A sloop is a
sailboat
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture.
Types
Although sailboat terminology ...
with a single
mast
Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to:
Engineering
* Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship
* Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag
* Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires
* Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship
* Radio mas ...
typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one
mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called 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, ga ...
, and can be rigged as a
Bermuda rig
A Bermuda rig, Bermudian rig, or Marconi rig is a configuration of mast and rigging for a type of sailboat and is the typical configuration for most modern sailboats. This configuration was developed in Bermuda in the 1600s; the term ''Marconi'' ...
with triangular sails fore and aft, or as a
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 sh ...
with triangular foresail(s) and a gaff rigged
mainsail. Sailboats can be classified according to type of
rig, and so a sailboat may be a sloop,
catboat
A catboat (alternate spelling: cat boat) is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast set well forward in the bow of a very beamy and (usually) shallow draft hull. Typically they are gaff rigged, though Bermuda rig is also used. Most are ...
,
cutter,
ketch,
yawl
A yawl is a type of boat. The term has several meanings. It can apply to the rig (or sailplan), to the hull type or to the use which the vessel is put.
As a rig, a yawl is a two masted, fore and aft rigged sailing vessel with the mizzen mast p ...
, or
schooner
A schooner () is a type of sailing vessel defined by its rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than the mainmast. A common variant, the topsail schoo ...
.
A sloop usually has only one headsail, although an exception is the
Friendship sloop, which is usually
gaff-rigged with a bowsprit and multiple headsails. If the vessel has two or more
headsails, the term
cutter may be used,
especially if the mast is stepped further towards the back of the boat.
When going before the wind, a sloop may carry a square-rigged topsail which will be hung from a topsail yard and be supported from below by a
crossjack. This sail often has a large hollow foot, and this foot is sometimes filled with yet another quadrilateral square rigged sail called a "save-all topsail."
The name originates from the
Dutch ''sloep'', which is related to the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th ...
''slūpan'', to glide. In naval terminology, "
sloop-of-war
In the 18th century and most of the 19th, a sloop-of-war in the Royal Navy was a warship with a single gun deck that carried up to eighteen guns. The rating system covered all vessels with 20 guns and above; thus, the term ''sloop-of-war'' en ...
" refers to the purpose of the craft, rather than to the specific size or
sail-plan, and thus a sloop should not be confused with a sloop-of-war.
After the
cat rig
A catboat (alternate spelling: cat boat) is a sailboat with a single sail on a single mast set well forward in the bow of a very beamy and (usually) shallow draft hull. Typically they are gaff rigged, though Bermuda rig is also used. Most are f ...
which has only a single sail,
the Bermuda rig is the simplest sailing rig configurations. It is the most popular
yacht
A yacht is a sailing or power vessel used for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a , as opposed to a , such a pleasu ...
rigging
because it is easier to sail with a smaller crew or even single-handed, it is cheaper since it has less hardware than more complex rigs, and it sails well into the wind. A limitation is that when a boat gets over 45 feet in length (approximately 13.7 meters), the sails become so large that they are difficult to handle,
although modern technology is helping with this through the use of electric winches and furling systems.
The headsail can be masthead-rigged or fractional-rigged. On a masthead-rigged sloop, the
forestay (on which the headsail is carried) attaches at the top of the mast. On a fractional-rigged sloop, the forestay attaches to the mast at a point below the top. A sloop may use a
bowsprit, a spar that projects forward from the
bow.
See also
*
Mast aft rig, a single mast rig with a mast further back than a sloop or cutter.
*
Chialoup
A chialoup (or chaloup) was a type of sloop used in the East Indies, a combination of western (Dutch) and Nusantaran (Indonesian) technologies and techniques. Many of these "boat-ships" were produced by VOC shipwrights in Rembang and Juwana, whe ...
, an historical type of sloop produced in the
East Indies
The East Indies (or simply the Indies), is a term used in historical narratives of the Age of Discovery. The Indies refers to various lands in the East or the Eastern hemisphere, particularly the islands and mainlands found in and around ...
.
*
Bermuda sloop, originally used for a type of sea-going, sloop-rigged vessel. Today used for any Bermuda-rigged sloop.
*
Bermuda Fitted Dinghy: a scaled-down sloop used for racing in Bermuda.
*
Hope
Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large.
As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...
: an example of a traditional sail-powered oyster-dredging sloop.
Notes
References
External links
{{Authority control
Sloops
Sailing rigs and rigging
Sailboat types
Oyster sloops
Pirate ships
Tall ships