Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The top of all sails is called the head, the leading edge is called the luff, the trailing edge is the leech, and the bottom edge is the foot. Head – The head is the upper edge of the sail, and is attached at the throat and peak to a gaff, yard, or sprit. [7] For a triangular sail the head refers to the topmost corner.
A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may be made from a combination of woven materials—including canvas or polyester cloth, laminated membranes or ...
The sail can even be tilted completely horizontally, becoming wing-like, to lift the bow above incoming waves. The sail is reefed by rolling it around the lower spar. [19] In addition to the tanja sails, ships with the tanja rigs also have bowsprits set with a quadrilateral headsail, sometimes also canted as depicted in the Borobudur ships. [22]
Lift on a sail, acting as an airfoil, occurs in a direction perpendicular to the incident airstream (the apparent wind velocity for the headsail) and is a result of pressure differences between the windward and leeward surfaces and depends on the angle of attack, sail shape, air density, and speed of the apparent wind.
Multi chines are more complex to build but produce a more seaworthy hull form. They are usually displacement hulls. V or arc-bottom chine boats have a V shape between 6° and 23°. This is called the deadrise angle. The flatter shape of a 6-degree hull will plane with less wind or a lower-horsepower engine but will pound more in waves.
Defined by sail plan. All masts have fore-and-aft sails. Schooner: fore-and-aft rigged sails, with two or more masts, the aftermost mast taller or equal to the height of the forward mast(s) All masts have square sails. Brig: two masts, square rigged (may have a spanker on the aftermost) Full-rigged ship: three or more masts, all of them square ...
A warship propelled by oars with a sail for use in a favourable wind Galliot Name refers to several types of sailing vessel, usually two-masted Gunboat Various small armed vessels, originally sail and later powered Hydrofoil A ship whose hull is fitted underneath with shaped vanes (foils) which lift the hull out of the water at speed. Ironclad
Before steam tugs became common, sailing vessels would back and fill their sails to maintain a good position in a tidal stream while drifting with the tide in or out of a river. In a modern yacht, motor-sailing – travelling under the power of both sails and engine – is a common method of making progress, if only in and out of harbour.