Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
A sail batten is a flexible insert in a fore-and-aft sail that provides added stiffness and definition to the sail's airfoil cross-section. [1] The most common use of sail battens is in the roach of a mainsail. The batten extends the leech past the line that runs from the head and the clew of the sail to create a wider sail towards the top.
AAW An acronym for anti-aircraft warfare. aback (of a sail) Filled by the wind on the opposite side to the one normally used to move the vessel forward.On a square-rigged ship, any of the square sails can be braced round to be aback, the purpose of which may be to reduce speed (such as when a ship-of-the-line is keeping station with others), to heave to, or to assist moving the ship's head ...
For a triangular sail the head refers to the topmost corner. [37] A fore-and-aft triangular mainsail achieves a better approximation of a wing form by extending the leech aft, beyond the line between the head and clew on an arc called the roach, rather than having a triangular shape.
John Russell Bartlett later defined the idiom in his 1848 Dictionary of Americanisms as "The form of his profile, the cast of his countenance". This usage alludes to a frequent variation of meaning which describes approval, specifically, of the shape of one's nose , which roughly approximates the frontal position and triangular shape of the jib ...
Either of the braces attached to the yard of the mainsail (the largest and lowest sail on the mainmast) on a square-rigged vessel. mainmast. Also simply main. 1. The tallest mast on a ship [1] with more than one mast, especially the tallest mast on a full-rigged ship. 2. On a ship with more than one mast, the second mast from the bow. mainmast head
This meant a traditional mainsail could be raised no higher than the first point a rope or wire was required to keep the mast upright. Further mainsail area (and height) was obtained by adopting a gaff rig. A mainsail may be fixed to the boom via slugs, cars, or a bolt-rope, or may be "loose-footed," meaning it is only attached at the tack and ...
Types of staysail include the tallboy staysail (a narrow staysail carried between the spinnaker and the mainsail on racing yachts), the genoa staysail (a larger one carried inside the spinnaker when broad reaching), and the bigboy staysail (another name for the shooter or blooper, carried on the leeward side of the spinnaker). Unlike the cutter ...
The lowest and normally largest sail on a mast is the course sail of that mast, and is referred to simply by the mast name: Foresail, mainsail, mizzen sail, jigger sail or more commonly forecourse etc. Even a full-rigged ship did not usually have a lateral (square) course on the mizzen mast below the mizzen topmast.