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The crab claw sail is a fore-and-aft triangular sail with spars along upper and lower edges. The crab claw sail was first developed by the Austronesian peoples by at least 2000 BCE. It is used in many traditional Austronesian cultures in Island Southeast Asia , Micronesia , Island Melanesia , Polynesia , and Madagascar .
A mast-aft rig is a sailboat sail-plan that uses a single mast set in the aft half of the hull. The mast supports fore-sails that may consist of a single jib, multiple staysails, or a crab claw sail. The mainsail is either small or completely absent. Mast-aft rigs are uncommon, but are found on a few custom, and production sailboats. [1]
The crab claw configuration used on these vessels is a low-stress rig, which can be built with simple tools and low-tech materials, but it is extremely fast. On a beam reach, it may be the fastest simple rig. Another evolution of the basic crab claw sail is the conversion of the upper spar into a fixed mast.
The mast usually hinges, adjusting the rake or angle of the mast. The crab claw configuration used on these vessels is a low-stress rig, which can be built with simple tools and low-tech materials, but it is extremely fast. On a beam reach, it may be the fastest simple rig. Crab claw examples
The design is meant to carry heavy loads. The vaka's top is very close to the flotation line, so it is closed with planks (tetau) and the accommodations for the crew are on an elevated platform over the Lakauhalava (the crossbeams connecting the main hull and the smaller, windward outrigger) The radical claw sail.
The outrigger canoe was one of the key technological innovations of the Austronesian peoples.Although there is little archeological evidence due to perishable building materials, comparative reconstructions indicate that Austronesians already had the distinctive outrigger and crab claw sail technology from at least 2000 BCE.
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Fore-and-aft rigged sails include staysails, Bermuda rigged sails, gaff rigged sails, gaff 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