In sailing the parts of a sail have common terminology. Sailing is the art of controlling a Sailing vessel. By changing the Rigging, Rudder and dagger or centre board a Sailor manages the force A sail is any type of surface intended to generate Thrust by being placed in a Wind &mdashin essence a vertically-oriented Wing. Most sails are now triangular; for such sails, there are six separate terms, one for each corner and edge. A corner is the place where two Lines of different dimensions meet at an Angle, and a convex corner of intersecting walls is generally thought to be the least beneficial
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The corners
In a triangular sail, the upper point is known as the head; the halyard, the line which raises the sail, is attached to the head. In Sailing, a halyard or halliard is a line ( Rope) that is used to hoist (pull up a Sail, a Flag or a yard. A rope is a length of Fibers twisted or Braided together to improve strength for pulling and Connecting. The lower two points of the sail, on either end of the foot (the bottom edge of the sail), are called the tack (forward) and clew (aft). The tack is shackled to a fixed point on the boat, such as the gooseneck in the case of a mainsail, or the deck at the base of a stay, in the case of a jib or staysail. The gooseneck is the Swivel connection on a Sailboat by which the boom attaches to the mast. A mainsail is the most important sail raised from the main (or only mast of a sailing vessel A jib (also spelled jibb) is a triangular Staysail set ahead of the foremost mast of a sailing boat A staysail is a fore-and-aft rigged Sail whose luff can be affixed to a stay running forward (and most often but not always downwards from a The clew is movable and is positioned with running rigging. Running rigging is the term for the Rigging of a sailing vessel that is used for raising lowering and controlling the Sails - as opposed to the Standing A symmetrical sail may be said to have two clews.
Clew
The clew of a jib or other headsail is the free corner (not attached to any standing rigging), to which port and starboard jib sheets are attached to control the angle of the sail to the wind. A headsail of a Sailing vessel is any Sail set forward of the foremost mast. On a Sailing boat standing rigging generally refers to lines wires or rods which are more or less fixed in position while the boat is under sail In Sailing, a sheet is a line ( Rope, Cable or Chain) used to control the moveable corner(s of a Sail.
In a sail with a boom (such as a mainsail on a sloop), the clew is attached to the boom, and can often be tightened along the boom using the outhaul to adjust the sail shape. In Sailing, a boom is a Spar (pole along the foot (bottom of a Fore and aft rigged Sail, that greatly improves control of the angle For the military definition of sloop see Sloop-of-war. For the open learning project see SLOOP Project. An outhaul is a line which is part of the Running rigging of a Sailboat, which is used to extend a Sail, and control the shape of the curve of the
On a square sail or a symmetrical spinnaker, each of the lower corners is a clew, but the corner to which the sheet (the working sheet or leeward sheet) is currently attached is called the clew. 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 A spinnaker is a special type of Sail that is designed specifically for Sailing off the wind from a reaching course to a downwind i
Related terms are the 'clew lines', ropes attached to the clews, and 'clewgarnets' or 'cluegarnets', which are the tackles attached to clew lines. A block and tackle is a system of two or more Pulleys with a Rope or Cable threaded between them usually used to lift or pull heavy loads These lines and tackles are used to ‘clew up’ the ‘courses’ (ie to pull the clews up onto the upper yard or the mast in preparation for furling the sail). In Sailing, a course sail is the principal sail on a mast This term is used predominantly on Square rigged vessels referring to the largest and lowest sail on A yard is a Spar on a mast from which Sails are set It may be constructed of timber steel or from more modern materials like Aluminum or Furling refers to stowing or dousing a boat's Sail by flaking (folding packing (like stuffing a spinnaker into a turtle Roller furling or just lowering it onto
The edges
The foot of a sail is its lowest edge, bounded by the clew and the tack, or on some sails by the two clews. The forward (leading) edge of the sail is called the luff. This is related to the term luffing, which is a condition where the sail ripples because wind is crossing over the front and back side simultaneously, caused when the angle of the wind fails to allow the sail to maintain a good aerodynamic shape; this condition usually starts near the luff as the boat passes through being close-hauled. Points of sail describes a sailing boat's course in relation to the wind direction A cunningham may be rigged on the luff of the mainsail to help control the sail shape. In Sailing, a cunningham or cunningham's eye is a type of Downhaul used on a Bermuda rigged sailboat to change the shape of a sail
The aft edge of a sail is called the leech. If incorrectly tensioned, the leech of a sail may "flutter" noisily; some larger mainsails are provided with a line which runs along a pocket in the leech, called a leech line, for the purpose of tightening the leech to prevent this fluttering.
The roach
The shape of a sail is seldom a perfect triangle. It is common for sailmakers to add an arc of extra material on the leech, outside a line drawn from the head to the clew. This additional part of the sail is known as the roach; mainsails usually have roaches, but they are very occasionally found on specialized jibs as well. They provide additional power for a given mast/boom size.
Since it cannot be supported by tension in the sail material (applied from the corners), it would flap uselessly unless some other provision were made for it. It is therefore supported by battens, held in batten pockets, which extend into the main portion of the sail. A batten is a thin strip of solid material (usually Wood) Battens are used for various purposes in Building construction, as well as other various fields
Non-triangular fore and aft sails
Gaff, gunter, lug, junk and some sprit sails have four sides but are set fore and aft so that one edge is leading. Gaff rig is a Sailing rig (configuration of sails in which the Sail is four-cornered Fore-and-aft rigged controlled at its peak and usually In Sailing, a gunter is used for two main configurations of rig The gunter is defined as a wire that leads from one point near the end of a gaff A lugger is a type of small Sailing vessel setting lugsails on two or more masts and perhaps lug Topsails. The Junk rig also known as the Chinese lugsail and Sampan rig, is a type of sail rig in which rigid members called Battens, span The spritsail is a form of three or four-sided fore-aft Sail and its Rig. That is, the luff. tack, foot, clew and leech are the same as for the triangular Bermuda sail. But the high aft corner is the peak and the top edge is the head. The corner between the head and the luff is the throat.
Square Sails
Although most sails used today are triangular and follow the conventions above, square sails are still used on a few vessels. Many of the same names are used for parts of a square sail.
- Head
- As for a triangular sail, this refers to the topmost part. On a square sail, however, this part is an edge rather than a corner.
- Leech
- The "side" edge of the sail. Since square sails are symmetrical, they have two leeches. Occasionally, when the ship is close-hauled, the windward edge of the sail might be referred to as the luff. Points of sail describes a sailing boat's course in relation to the wind direction
- Clew
- Like a triangular sail, the "free" corners of a square sail are called clews; again there are two of them. Square sails have sheets attached to their clews like triangular sails, but the sheets are used to pull the sail down to the yard below rather than to adjust the angle it makes with the wind. In Sailing, a sheet is a line ( Rope, Cable or Chain) used to control the moveable corner(s of a Sail.
- Foot
- The bottom edge of the sail.
Square sails also have tacks and sheets, although they are not a part of the sail itself . The tack of a square-rigged sail is a line attached to its lower corner . . .
See also
This is a glossary of nautical terms; some remain current many date from the 17th-19th centuryDapyx Software network: MP3 Explorer | Ebook Manager | Zenithic