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A raffee sail is a triangular topsail carried aboard certain sailing ships. Originally used in ancient Rome to maneuver ships at sea, [1] the raffee was eventually implemented as a downwind sail set below a square-rigged yard to fill in areas needed for light airs. In later pilot schooners, it was a triangular sail set above a yard from the ...
Running rigging is the rigging of a sailing vessel that is used for raising, lowering, shaping and controlling the sails on a sailing vessel—as opposed to the standing rigging, which supports the mast and bowsprit. Running rigging varies between vessels that are rigged fore and aft and those that are square-rigged.
Sails are classified as "triangular sails", "quadrilateral fore-and-aft sails" (gaff-rigged, etc.), and "square sails". [38] The top of a triangular sail, the head , is raised by a halyard , The forward lower corner of the sail, the tack , is shackled to a fixed point on the boat in a manner to allow pivoting about that point—either on a mast ...
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 their tips, outside the lifts, are called the yardarms. [1] A ship mainly rigged so is called a square ...
Asymmetrics are less suited to sailing directly downwind than spinnakers, and so instead the boat will often sail a zig-zag course downwind, gybing at the corners. An asymmetric spinnaker is particularly effective on fast planing dinghies as their speed generates an apparent wind on the bow allowing them to sail more directly downwind.
Each form of rig requires its own type of sails. Among them are: A staysail (pronounced stays'l) is a fore-and-aft sail whose leading edge is hanked to a stay. A headsail is any sail forward of the foremost mast on a sailing boat. It is usually a fore-and-aft sail, but on older sailing ships would include a square-sail on a bowsprit. [11]
For instance, if a vessel sails alternately in the directions 45° from the downwind direction, it will sail √ 2 (≈1.4) times farther than it would if it sailed dead downwind. However, as long as it can sail faster than 1.4 times its dead downwind speed, the indirect route will allow it to arrive at a chosen point sooner. [14] [15]
A term peculiarly appropriated to the yards and their sails. Thus, when the yards hang at right angles with the mast they are said to be 'square by the lifts;' when perpendicular to the ship's length, they are 'square by the braces;' but when they lie in a direction perpendicular to the plane of the keel, they are 'square by the lifts and braces.'