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Sprit
The spritsail is a four-sided, fore-and-aft sail that is supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running spar 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, peak, clew, and tack. The Spritsail can also be used to describe a rig that uses a spritsail. Historically, spritsails were the first European fore-and-aft rigs, appearing in Greco-Roman navigation in the 2nd century BC. The rig The luff of the sail is bound to the mast, but unlike the gaff rig where the head is bound to a spar, this rig supports the leech 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. The sprit is steadied and controlled from the deck by a pair of wire vangs ( ) attached to the peak of the sail. It is said to be the ancestor of the common gaf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 narrow tributary rivers. The larger barges were seaworthy vessels, and were the largest sailing vessel to be handled by just two men. The average size was about 120 tons and they carried of canvas sail in six working sails. The mainsail was loose-footed and set up with a sprit, and was brailed to the mast when not needed. It is sheeted to a horse, as is the foresail; they require no attention when tacking. The foresail is often held back by the mate to help the vessel come about more swiftly. The topsail was usually first sail on and last sail off, being fixed to the topmast by hoops. In the upper reaches of the rivers and constricted harbours it reached into the clear air, and when approaching a berth casting off the halliard would dro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 of the sail, a gaff rig will have running backstays rather than permanent backstays. The gaff enables a fore-and-aft sail to be four sided, rather than triangular. A gaff rig typically carries 25 percent more sail than an equivalent Bermuda rig for a given hull design. A sail hoisted from a gaff is called a gaff-rigged sail. Description Gaff rig remains the most popular fore-aft rig for schooner and barquentine mainsails and other course sails, and spanker sails on a square rigged vessel are always gaff rigged. On other rigs, particularly the sloop, ketch and yawl, gaff rigged sails were once common but have now been largely replaced by the Bermuda rig sail, which, in addition to being simpler than the gaff rig, usually all ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 class and many more built but never registered. It is sailed in over 120 countries and it is one of only two sailboats as an International Class by World Sailing exclusively for sailors under 16. Origin The Optimist was designed in 1947 either by American Clark Mills or a Canadian sailor Gordon Reid a member of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and the Clearwater Optimist Club at the request of the Clearwater Florida Optimist service club following a proposal by Major Clifford McKay to offer low-cost sailing for young people. The Optimist Club ran a soap box derby, but wanted more than a single-day event. Thus they were looking for a low-cost equivalent for sailing. The ultimate design was a simple pram that could be built from two 4' x 8' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parts Of A Sail
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-aft'') and its shape, (e.g. ''(a)symmetrical'', ''triangular'', ''quadrilateral'', etc.). Sails are typically constructed out of flexible material that is shaped by various means, while in use, to offer an appropriate airfoil, according to the strength and apparent direction of the wind. A variety of features and fittings allow the sail to be attached to lines and spars. Whereas conventional sails form an airfoil with one layer of fabric, wingsails comprise a structure that has material on both sides to form an airfoil—much like a wing placed vertically on the vessel—and are beyond the scope of this article. Classifications Sails may be classified as either ''triangular'', which describes sails that either come to one point of suspen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mast (sailing)
The mast of a sailing vessel is a tall spar, or arrangement of spars, erected more or less vertically on the median line of a ship or boat. Its purposes include carrying sails, spars, and derricks, giving necessary height to a navigation light, look-out position, signal yard, control position, radio aerial, or signal lamp. Large ships have several masts, with the size and configuration depending on the style of ship. Nearly all sailing masts are guyed. Until the mid-19th century, all vessels' masts were made of wood formed from a single or several pieces of timber which typically consisted of the trunk of a conifer tree. From the 16th century, vessels were often built of a size requiring masts taller and thicker than from single tree trunks. On these larger vessels, to achieve the required height, the masts were built from up to four sections (also called masts). From lowest to highest, these were called: lower, top, topgallant, and royal masts. Giving the lower section ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rigging
Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support and control a sailing ship or sail boat's masts and sails. ''Standing rigging'' is the fixed rigging that supports masts including shrouds and stays. ''Running rigging'' is rigging which adjusts the position of the vessel's sails and spars including halyards, braces, sheets and vangs. Etymology According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition "rigging" derives from Anglo-Saxon ''wrigan'' or ''wringing'', "to clothe". The same source points out that "rigging" a sailing vessel refers to putting all the components in place to allow it to function, including the masts, spars, sails and the rigging. History Theophrastus in his '' History of Plants'' ( 300 BCE) states that the rigging on King Antigonus' fleet was made from papyrus reed. Types of rigging Rigging is divided into two classes, ''standing'', which supports the mast (and bowsprit), and ''running'', which controls the orienta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fore-and-aft Rig
A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing ship rig with sails set mainly in the median plane 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 rigged sails, gunter rig, lateen sails, lug sails, tanja sails, the spanker sail on a square rig, and crab claw sails. Fore-and-aft rigs include: * Rigs with one mast: the proa, the catboat, the sloop, the cutter * Rigs with two masts: the ketch, the yawl * Rigs with two or more masts: the schooner Barques and barquentines are partially square rigged and partially fore-and-aft rigged. A rig which combines both on a foremast is known as a hermaphroditic rig. History Austronesia The fore-and-aft rig is believed to have been developed independently by the Austronesian peoples some time after 1500 BC with the invention of the crab claw sail. It is suggested that it evolved from a more primitive V-shaped "square" sail wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spar (sailing)
A spar is a pole of wood, metal or lightweight materials such as carbon fibre used in the rigging of a sailing vessel to carry or support its sail. These include yards, booms, and masts, which serve both to deploy sail and resist compressive and bending forces, as well as the bowsprit and spinnaker pole. In larger vessels during the age of sail, spare spars could be roped together to provide a temporary surface known as a "spar deck". These served as jury-rigged repairs for permanent decks, or as an additional platform under which to shelter goods or crew. The term was also informally applied to areas of the forecastle The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck (ship), deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is t ... or quarterdeck where spare spars were stored by laying them flat against the existing decking. In the moder ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 centuries. It was designed for work inshore on the shoal Netherlands coast and was a ketch, spritsail rigged on the main, and lateen on the small mizzen. As a class of vessel, it was represented in England by the hoy. When Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603, her navy was reported to consist of 31 great ships, including galleons and crompsters, though crommestevens were considerably smaller than galleons.Corbett, Julian Stafford: ''The successors of Drake'', London : Longmans, Green 1900. p. 411 For its size, it was heavily armed and capable of influencing events ashore, in which respect it played a part in the Spanish Armada The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, ) was a Spanish fleet tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fore-And-Aft Sail
A fore-and-aft rig is a sailing ship rig with sails set mainly in the median plane 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 rigged sails, gunter rig, lateen sails, lug sails, tanja sails, the spanker sail on a square rig, and crab claw sails. Fore-and-aft rigs include: * Rigs with one mast: the proa, the catboat, the sloop, the cutter * Rigs with two masts: the ketch, the yawl * Rigs with two or more masts: the schooner A schooner ( ) is a type of sailing ship, sailing vessel defined by its Rig (sailing), rig: fore-and-aft rigged on all of two or more Mast (sailing), masts and, in the case of a two-masted schooner, the foremast generally being shorter than t ... Barques and barquentines are partially square rigged and partially fore-and-aft rigged. A rig which combines both on a foremast is known as a hermaphroditic rig. History Austronesi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
