Misplaced Pages

#491508

85-460: The race is famous for fast downwind sailing under spinnaker in the trade winds . In 1969, French sailing legend Éric Tabarly shadowed the race with his Pen Duick IV , one of the world's first trimarans competitive in all wind conditions. He originally intended to enter the race but was unaware that multihulls were not invited. Having started with all other participants, Tabarly and his crew set an unofficial record of 8 days and 13 hours, almost

170-509: A halyard , and their angle with respect to the wind is usually controlled by a line, called a sheet . In use, they may be designed to be curved in both directions along their surface, often as a result of their curved edges. Battens may be used to extend the trailing edge of a sail beyond the line of its attachment points. Other non-rotating airfoils that power sailing craft include wingsails , which are rigid wing-like structures, and kites that power kite-rigged vessels , but do not employ

255-413: A genoa but is frequently mounted on a bowsprit , often a retracting one. If the spinnaker is mounted to a special bowsprit, it is often possible to fly the spinnaker and the jib at the same time; if not, then the spinnaker will be shadowed by the jib, and the jib should be furled when the spinnaker is in use. The asymmetric has two sheets , very much like a jib, but is not attached to the forestay along

340-423: A continuous loop, passing through the chute. If the spinnaker chute is within the hull and is required to be watertight, it takes the form of a hard tube sealed to the hull at both ends. If a watertight arrangement is not required, a cloth tube may be used to contain the lowered spinnaker. A masthead, symmetrical spinnaker is occasionally used for entertainment at anchor to loft a person hanging beneath it above

425-538: A day ahead of official winner and record-setter Blackfin . In 2013, the fully crewed monohull, Dorade , won first overall, making it the oldest boat in the fleet to win and a 2-time winner, having won the Transpac in 1936, 77 years prior. The 2019 edition of the race, its fiftieth, saw the sinking of a yacht for the first time in its history, when the 68 foot mono-hulled sailboat Santa Cruz 70 OEX suffered rudder damage and an uncontrollable water intrusion. The crew

510-405: A lateral force, resisted by the underwater foils, ice runners, or wheels of the sailing craft. For apparent wind angles aligned with the entry point of the sail, the sail acts as an airfoil and lift is the predominant component of propulsion. For apparent wind angles behind the sail, lift diminishes and drag increases as the predominant component of propulsion. For a given true wind velocity over

595-414: A line or a hook may pass, as on Bermuda mainsails. Fore-and-aft sails may have tell-tales —pieces of yarn, thread or tape that are affixed to sails—to help visualize airflow over their surfaces. The lines that attach to and control sails are part of the running rigging and differ between square and fore-and-aft rigs. Some rigs shift from one side of the mast to the other, e.g. the dipping lug sail and

680-439: A mast to support the airfoil and are beyond the scope of this article. Sailing craft employ two types of rig, the square rig and the fore-and-aft rig . The square rig carries the primary driving sails 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, beyond the lifts , are called the yardarms . A ship mainly so rigged

765-491: A monohull yacht in the race. The list of Los Angeles to Honolulu Record Holders is: The Barn Door Trophy is awarded each race for the Fastest Monohull Elapsed Time in the race. It was originally called the "First to Finish" Trophy. Since 2009, it has been restricted to manual power only sailing yachts. Barn Door Winners Year Boat Owner/Skipper Time * record Spinnaker A spinnaker

850-502: A new idea and date back to at least the 19th century. However, in the 1980s a new concept appeared, starting with the Sydney Harbour 18ft Skiff fleet. Since the 1960s, many faster sailing craft, starting with catamaran classes, have discovered that it is faster to sail downwind on a series of broad reaches with efficient airflow across the sail rather than directly downwind with the sails stalled. This technique had developed to

935-488: A plane of symmetry exists for that particular sail. Asymmetric spinnakers operate more like a jib, generating lift from the side, rather than the top like a symmetric spinnaker. This makes asymmetrics a better choice on reaching courses than symmetric spinnakers, which excel when running. While a fully equipped racing boat might have a number of spinnakers, both symmetric and asymmetric, to cover all courses and wind conditions, cruising boats almost always use an asymmetric, due to

SECTION 10

#1732771978492

1020-420: A sail is defined by its edges and corners in the plane of the sail, laid out on a flat surface. The edges may be curved, either to extend the sail's shape as an airfoil or to define its shape in use. In use, the sail becomes a curved shape, adding the dimension of depth or draft . Sail characteristics derive, in part, from the design, construction and the attributes of the fibers, which are woven together to make

1105-471: A sail to reinforce it, or to fix the sail into a groove in the boom, in the mast, or in the luff foil of a roller-furling jib. They may have stiffening features, called battens , that help shape the sail, when full length, or just the roach, when present. They may have a variety of means of reefing them (reducing sail area), including rows of short lines affixed to the sail to wrap up unused sail, as on square and gaff rigs, or simply grommets through which

1190-407: A sailing craft turns downwind, the more drag increases and lift decreases as propulsive forces, until a sail going downwind is predominated by drag forces. Sails are unable to generate propulsive force if they are aligned too closely to the wind. Sails may be attached to a mast , boom or other spar or may be attached to a wire that is suspended by a mast. They are typically raised by a line, called

1275-582: A shape that does not lie flat. Conventional sail panels are sewn together. Sails are tensile structures, so the role of a seam is to transmit a tensile load from panel to panel. For a sewn textile sail this is done through thread and is limited by the strength of the thread and the strength of the hole in the textile through which it passes. Sail seams are often overlapped between panels and sewn with zig-zag stitches that create many connections per unit of seam length. Whereas textiles are typically sewn together, other sail materials may be ultrasonically welded ,

1360-401: A technique whereby high frequency ultrasonic acoustic vibrations are locally applied to workpieces being held together under pressure to create a solid state weld . It is commonly used for plastics , and especially for joining dissimilar materials . Sails feature reinforcements of fabric layers where lines attach at grommets or cringles . A bolt rope may be sewn onto the edges of

1445-417: A three- or four-sided shape. A sail provides propulsive force via a combination of lift and drag, depending on its angle of attack , its angle with respect to the apparent wind . Apparent wind is the air velocity experienced on the moving craft and is the combined effect of the true wind velocity with the velocity of the sailing craft. Angle of attack is often constrained by the sailing craft's orientation to

1530-493: Is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach (wind at 90° to the course) to downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually nylon , and are often brightly colored. They may be designed to perform best as either a reaching or a running spinnaker, by the shaping of the panels and seams. They are attached at only three points and said to be flown . Some dictionaries suggest that

1615-592: Is a form of asymmetric spinnaker used by cruising yachts and designed for easy use when short-handed. Two sheets are used, with the tack line eased by a foot or so before gybing. Alternatively, only one sheet is used, with the sail snuffed before a gybe. A Code Zero is a light-weight sail that approaches the dimensions of a genoa jib, for light airs and points of sail up to a close reach. It may be launched furled on its own stay. The following codes are used for both symmetric and asymmetric sails. Since they will only be used on certain points of sail, raising and lowering

1700-412: Is called a square-rigger . A fore-and-aft rig consists of sails that are set along the line of the keel rather than perpendicular to it. Vessels so rigged are described as fore-and-aft rigged . The invention of the sail was a technological advance of equal or even greater importance than the invention of the wheel. It has been suggested by some that it has the significance of the development of

1785-448: Is called the sheet . It attaches to the clew of the spinnaker and is used to control the shape of the sail. The spinnaker pole must be moved in each gybe , and is quite difficult for beginners to use. However, it can be sailed in all downwind wind directions. Symmetric spinnakers when sailing across the wind (reaching) develop most of their lift on the forward quarter, where the airflow remains attached. When correctly set for reaching,

SECTION 20

#1732771978492

1870-448: Is deployed. To retrieve the spinnaker, the sheet or the tack is released and the sock is pulled down, gathering the sail. The halyard is then dropped and the sail may be packed away. As of 2006, there were a variety of means to aid the launching (hoisting) and dousing (taking down) of a spinnaker—a sail which, in lacking luff support, is "more unstable and more difficult" to handle in these and related situations. One system focuses on

1955-404: Is stuffed into the spinnaker bag. The top of the sock will have provisions for attaching to the spinnaker halyard. The spinnaker is raised as normal, but with the sock in place, the spinnaker is unable to catch the wind. Once the spinnaker is raised and the guys are ready to set, the sock is raised, releasing the spinnaker. The sock remains bundled up at the head of the sail while the spinnaker

2040-413: Is that the idea for the sail was conceived in 1865 by William Gordon, owner of the racing yacht Niobe . He wanted to name the sail after his yacht but a crewman's comment, "Now there's a sail to make her spin" became "spin maker" which developed into the commonly accepted term spinnaker. Gordon was widely known in the yachting world of the time as "Spinnaker Gordon". It has been pointed out, however, that

2125-404: Is to set up the sock. Two lines are attached to the sock; one is attached to a bridle on the ring, for pulling the sock down, and one is up the inside, from the ring, through the top, and back down, for raising the sock; these lines may be two ends of the same line, to form a loop. The head of the spinnaker is attached to the top of the sock and the ring runs down to the tack. The resulting bundle

2210-471: Is usually a "flow through" structure) and a number of intervisible islands create both an invitation to travel and an environment where advanced navigation techniques are not needed. Alongside this, the Nile has a northward flowing current with a prevailing wind in the opposite direction, so giving the potential to drift in one direction and sail in the other. Many do not consider sails to have been used before

2295-433: Is very little stress at the tack, whereas head sails (spinnakers and jibs) are more likely to be tri-radial, because they are tensioned at their corners. Higher performance sails may be laminated, constructed directly from multiple plies of filaments , fibers , taffetas , and films , instead of woven textiles that are adhered together. Molded sails are laminated sails formed over a curved mold and adhered together into

2380-572: The caravel in Northern European waters from about 1440 made lateen sails familiar in this part of the world. Additionally, lateen sails were used for the mizzen on early three-masted ships, playing a significant role in the development of the full-rigged ship . It did not, however, provide much of the propulsive force of these vessels – rather serving as a balancing sail that was needed for some manoeuvres in some sea and wind conditions. The extensive amount of contemporary maritime art showing

2465-399: The linear mass density of fibers). Cross-cut sails have the panels sewn parallel to one another, often parallel to the foot of the sail, and are the least expensive of the two sail constructions. Triangular cross-cut sail panels are designed to meet the mast and stay at an angle from either the warp or the weft (on the bias ) to allow stretching along the luff, but minimize stretching on

2550-504: The 11th into the 19th centuries. Materials used in sails, as of the 21st century, include nylon for spinnakers, where light weight and elastic resistance to shock load are valued and a range of fibers, used for triangular sails, that includes Dacron , aramid fibers including Kevlar , and other liquid crystal polymer fibers including Vectran . Woven materials, like Dacron, may specified as either high or low tenacity , as indicated, in part by their denier count (a unit of measure for

2635-484: The 1975 movie Jaws , the character Matt Hooper, played by Richard Dreyfuss , claims that he has "crewed three Transpacs" as a means of establishing his seamanship credentials with Quint. The 2008 documentary Morning Light is a film about the 2007 Disney-sponsored competitors in the race. The Transpac Honolulu Race Elapsed Time Record Trophy is awarded to the Record Holder for the fastest elapsed time by

Transpacific Yacht Race - Misplaced Pages Continue

2720-412: The 2009 Transpac, Alfa Romeo II set a Transpac race elapsed-time record of 5 days, 14 hours, 36 minutes, 20 seconds. This represents a new race record for monohulls; the multihull record of 5 days, 9 hours, 18 minutes, set by Bruno Peyron in the 1997 race, remains. However, because she must use "stored power" (a diesel engine) to move, Alfa Romeo II, sailing in the "unlimited" class, was not eligible for

2805-618: The 5th millennium BCE. Others consider sails to have been invented much earlier. Archaeological studies of the Cucuteni-Trypillian culture ceramics show use of sailing boats from the sixth millennium BCE onwards. Excavations of the Ubaid period (c. 6000–4300 BCE) in Mesopotamia provide direct evidence of sailing boats. Sails from ancient Egypt are depicted around 3200 BCE, where reed boats sailed upstream against

2890-571: The Mighty Merloe smash the record by over 25 hours making the trip in just over 4 days. On July 7, 2009, Alfa Romeo II beat the Morning Glory record for best day's run set in the 2005 race, by sailing 399 nautical miles (459 mi; 739 km) in 24 hours. The next two days she broke her own best-day record by sailing 420 nautical miles (480 mi; 780 km) and 431 nautical miles (496 mi; 798 km). First to finish

2975-585: The River Nile 's current. Ancient Sumerians used square rigged sailing boats at about the same time, and it is believed they established sea trading routes as far away as the Indus valley . Greeks and Phoenicians began trading by ship by around 1200 BCE. V-shaped square rigs with two spars that come together at the hull were the ancestral sailing rig of the Austronesian peoples before they developed

3060-421: 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 . It is also particularly useful in cruising yachts in the form of a cruising spinnaker or cruising chute , where the ease of handling is important. A cruising chute

3145-413: The broader application and easier handling afforded by the asymmetric. The symmetric one is the most classic type, running symmetrically alongside the boat controlled by lines known as a sheet and a guy running from the lower two corners of the sail. The windward line, or guy, is attached to the corner called the tack of the sail, and is stabilized by a spinnaker pole . The leeward (downwind) line

3230-479: The change from spoon to spin in the term spindrift is attributed to a local Scottish pronunciation. According to Merriam Webster 's dictionary, however, spindrift derives from a local Scottish pronunciation of speen (not spoon ), meaning "to drive before a strong wind." According to Merriam-Webster's etymology, the origin of the word spinnaker is simply unknown. There are two main categories of spinnakers, symmetric and asymmetric depending on whether

3315-403: The corners on top for easy access. While a symmetric spinnaker is flown with a "guy" and a "sheet", an asymmetric spinnaker is flown with a tackline and a "sheet." The tack attaches to the bow or (often retractable) bowsprit, and the two sheets attach to the clew. The head of the sail is attached to the spinnaker halyard, which is used to raise the sail. The sheets are passed to either side of

3400-423: The extent that in bar conversation at the end of one season Andrew Buckland observed that the 18s had sailed all season without pulling the spinnaker pole back from the forestay and that all the systems could be simplified by eliminating the pole and setting the spinnaker from a fixed (but often retractable) bowsprit. The concept quickly evolved to a sail with a loose luff much more like a conventional spinnaker than

3485-444: The force component in the direction of the apparent wind and lift , the force component normal (90°) to the apparent wind. Depending on the alignment of the sail with the apparent wind, lift or drag may be the predominant propulsive component. Total aerodynamic force also resolves into a forward, propulsive, driving force, resisted by the medium through or over which the craft is passing (e.g., through water, air, or over ice, sand) and

Transpacific Yacht Race - Misplaced Pages Continue

3570-438: The force of the wind, or it may have lines attached to it to raise (the topping lift ) and lower (the foreguy or downhaul ) the angle of the pole. If these lines are used, they are generally set up before setting sail and left in place even when the spinnaker is stowed. Since spinnakers are downwind sails, they are never tacked, they are only jibed. When jibing a symmetric, the pole is removed from one corner and attached to

3655-503: The fore-and-aft crab claw , tanja and junk rigs . The date of introduction of these later Austronesian sails is disputed. Lateen sails emerged by around the 2nd century CE in the Mediterranean. They did not become common until the 5th century, when there is evidence that the Mediterranean square sail (which had been in wide use throughout the classical period ) was undergoing a simplification of its rigging components. Both

3740-444: The forestay and lead to the back of the boat. The head (top corner) is attached to the spinnaker halyard, which is used to raise the sail up the mast. Symmetric spinnakers have the windward clew secured to a spinnaker pole. The pole is attached to the mast and holds the windward edge of the sail in position. Lines that control the spinnaker pole are called guys or braces . The spinnaker pole may be allowed to raise and lower with

3825-399: The forestay, attached to the clew; they may be passed forward of the luff of the asymmetric, or aft of the luff of the asymmetric, between the tack line and the forestay. The sheet on the downwind (lee) side of the hull is used to trim the sail, and the opposite sheet is left slack. Often a tack line is used at leading edge to provide adjustable tension on the luff of the spinnaker. To keep

3910-403: The forestay, the operation is reversed. The loaded sheet is slackened, and the opposite (lazy) sheet is pulled in, which allows the sail to pass around in front of the forestay, and then be sheeted in on the new lee side of the boat. Retrieving the asymmetric is similar to the process for the symmetric. The sheets are released, allowing the sail to collapse to the front of the boat. The foot of

3995-406: The foretriangle area and prevents interference with the jib. As this trend becomes more popular in racing boats, it may result in similar adaptations to cruising boats as well. Jibing with the asymmetric is much less complex than the symmetric, due to the lack of the spinnaker pole. Much like a jib, all that is required is to change sheets; however, since the asymmetric still flies in front of

4080-480: The increasing popularity of the lateen and the changes to the contemporary square rig are suggested to be cost saving measures, reducing the number of expensive components needed to fit out a ship. It has been a common and erroneous presumption among maritime historians that lateen had significantly better sailing performance than the square rig of the same period. Analysis of voyages described in contemporary accounts and also in various replica vessels demonstrates that

4165-432: The islands of Maritime Southeast Asia , then later sailed further onwards to Micronesia , Island Melanesia , Polynesia , and Madagascar , eventually settling a territory spanning half the globe. The proto- Austronesian words for sail, lay(r) , and some other rigging parts date to about 3000 BCE when this group began their Pacific expansion. Austronesian rigs are distinctive in that they have spars supporting both

4250-533: The lateen mizzen on 16th and 17th century ships often has the sail furled. Practical experience on the Duyfken replica confirmed the role of the lateen mizzen. Austronesian invention of catamarans , outriggers , and the bi-sparred triangular crab claw sails enabled their ships to sail for vast distances in open ocean. It led to the Austronesian Expansion . From Taiwan, they rapidly settled

4335-401: The lateen. The lines can be categorized as those that support the sail, those that shape it, and those that control its angle to the wind. Fore-and-aft rigged vessels have rigging that supports, shapes, and adjusts the sails to optimize their performance in the wind, which include the following lines: Square-rigged vessels require more controlling lines than fore-and-aft rigged ones, including

SECTION 50

#1732771978492

4420-400: The launching of the spinnaker, only, and it makes use of special sail-packing and a funnel system that places breakable elastic bands as the sail is launched, bands that break as sheet and guy of the filled spinnaker are trimmed. Other systems use means that assist with both launching and dousing, and such systems include: A spinnaker chute is a means of launching and dousing (recovering)

4505-420: The leading edges of a symmetric spinnaker should be nearly parallel to the wind, so the flow of air over the leading edge remains attached. When reaching, the sail camber allows only some attached flow over the leeward side of the spinnaker. On running the spinnaker is angled for maximum drag, with the spinnaker pole at right angles to the apparent wind. The symmetric spinnaker also requires care when packing, since

4590-415: The length of the luff, but only at the corners. Unlike a symmetric spinnaker, the asymmetric does not require a spinnaker pole, since it is fixed to the bow or bowsprit. The asymmetric is very easy to gybe since it only requires releasing one sheet and pulling in the other one, passing the sail in front of the forestay. Asymmetrics are less suited to sailing directly downwind than spinnakers, and so instead

4675-422: The luff and foot, where the fibers are aligned with the edges of the sail. Radial sails have panels that "radiate" from corners in order to efficiently transmit stress and are typically of higher performance than cross-cut sails. A bi-radial sail has panels radiating from two of three corners; a tri-radial sail has panels radiating from all three corners. Mainsails are more likely to be bi-radial, since there

4760-499: The monohull with the fastest elapsed time. In 1995, multihulls were invited to participate for the first time, but not eligible for the Barn Door trophy. Steve Fosset set a new race record in 1995 on his 60' trimaran Lakota , of 6 days 16 hours 7 minutes 16 seconds. Two years later in 1997, this record was broken by the 86' catamaran Explorer with a time of 5 days 9 hours 18 minutes 26 seconds. 2017 saw Howard Enloe and his boat

4845-406: The names are reversed. Larger boats may choose to use both a sheet and guy on each corner, with the guy being a heavier line. Having 2 sets of lines will makes the jibe easier as the kite is flown by the two sheets while the crew at the bow and at the mast are removing one guy from the pole and attaching it to the other with no tension on them. Retrieving the spinnaker is a multi-step process, and

4930-482: The neolithic lifestyle or the first establishment of cities. Yet it is not known when or where this invention took place. Much of the early development of water transport is believed to have occurred in two main "nursery" areas of the world: Island Southeast Asia and the Mediterranean region. In both of these you have warmer waters, so that use of rafts is possible without the risk of hypothermia (a raft

5015-405: The next deployment. There are, however many other ways to retrieve the spinnaker depending on the conditions and intent. It may or may not go into a turtle. It may be pulled back into the cockpit & then down below to be repacked for the next hoist or be pulled in a foredeck hatch and left free for the next hoist. Like the symmetric, the asymmetrical spinnaker is often stored in a turtle, with

5100-463: The old jib-style asymmetric sails. Julian Bethwaite was the first to rig and sail a boat with one the next season, followed shortly by Andrew Buckland. The first modern offshore sailboats to incorporate a retractable bow sprit and an asymmetric spinnaker was the J/Boats J/105 . The concept has spread rapidly through the sailing world. The tack of the sail may be attached at the bow like

5185-407: The opposite corner. This corner now becomes the windward corner. There are two ways this is done. Generally on smaller boats, an end-for-end jibe is accomplished by disconnecting the pole at the mast-end and connecting the mast end to the opposite side of the sail. The old sail end is disconnected and then attached to the mast. This prevents the pole from getting loose during the procedure and allows

SECTION 60

#1732771978492

5270-557: The origin of the word could be traced to the first boat to commonly fly a spinnaker, a yacht called Sphinx , mispronounced as Spinx . Sphinx first set her spinnaker in the Solent in 1865, and the first recorded use of the word was in 1866 in the August edition of Yachting Calendar and Review (p. 84). In addition, the term may have been influenced by the spanker , originally a gaff rigged fore-and-aft sail. Another suggestion

5355-585: The performance of square rig and lateen were very similar. Lateen provided a cheaper rig to build and maintain, with no degradation of performance. The lateen was adopted by Arab seafarers (usually in the sub-type: the settee sail ), but the date is uncertain, with no firm evidence for their use in the Western Indian Ocean before 1500 CE. There is, however, good iconographic evidence of square sails being used by Arab, Persian and Indian ships in this region in, for instance, 1519. The popularity of

5440-537: The rest of Austronesia , crab claw sails were mainly for double-outrigger ( trimarans ) and double-hulled ( catamarans ) boats, which remained stable even leeward. In western Island Southeast Asia , later square sails also evolved from the crab claw sail, the tanja and the junk rig , both of which retained the Austronesian characteristic of having more than one spar supporting the sail. Aerodynamic forces on sails depend on wind speed and direction and

5525-416: The sail angle on the new course. Dip-pole jibing can use a pole with one mast end and one sail end. Smaller boats tend to use only one line on each clew (a combination guy and sheet ). The windward line that runs through the jaw of the spinnaker pole is referred to as the guy (as opposed to foreguy) and the one on the free-flying corner is referred to as the sheet . During a jibe, these roles and thus

5610-443: The sail cloth. There are several key factors in evaluating a fiber for suitability in weaving a sail-cloth: initial modulus , breaking strength (tenacity) , creep , and flex strength . Both the initial cost and its durability of the material define its cost-effectiveness over time. Traditionally, sails were made from flax or cotton canvas , although Scandinavian, Scottish and Icelandic cultures used woolen sails from

5695-402: The sail is then gathered, the halyard released and the head of the sail lowered, where it is packed into the turtle. The dousing sock , "spinnaker sleeve", snuffer , or just sock , is a device used to make deploying and retrieving the spinnaker a much easier task. The sock is a long fabric tube with a ring in one end to hold it open. Since the spinnaker is stored in the sock, the first step

5780-406: The skippers of Thames sailing barges also used the term spinnaker for their jib staysails . Unlike the other, tanned sails of these boats, the spinnakers were usually white. It has thus been suggested that the term could be "connected with the obsolete word spoon , meaning to run before the wind (cf. spindrift )." Early usage of the verb to spoon can be traced back to the 16th century;

5865-445: The speed and direction of the craft. The direction that the craft is traveling with respect to the true wind (the wind direction and speed over the surface) is called the "point of sail". The speed of the craft at a given point of sail contributes to the apparent wind ( V A ), the wind speed and direction as measured on the moving craft. The apparent wind on the sail creates a total aerodynamic force, which may be resolved into drag ,

5950-483: The spinnaker is a task that is often performed while under sail. Due to the size of spinnakers (the spinnaker is often double or more the size of the mainsail) this can be a difficult operation, since the sail will immediately catch the wind. Typically the symmetric spinnaker is packed in its own bag, called a turtle , with the three corners on top for ready access. The clews (lower corners) are controlled by lines called sheets . The sheets are run in front (outside) of

6035-423: The spinnaker. Found most commonly on modern dinghy designs and updated older classes, it often consists of a tube or an aperture mounted on the deck close to the forestay. To allow recovery of the spinnaker into the chute during dousing, the spinnaker is fitted with one or more recovery patches to, or through which, the tail of the spinnaker halyard is attached or passed; the spinnaker head and its halyard form

6120-551: The surface, a sail can propel a craft to a higher speed, on points of sail when the entry point of the sail is aligned with the apparent wind, than it can with the entry point not aligned, because of a combination of the diminished force from airflow around the sail and the diminished apparent wind from the velocity of the craft. Because of limitations on speed through the water, displacement sailboats generally derive power from sails generating lift on points of sail that include close-hauled through broad reach (approximately 40° to 135° off

6205-413: The tack near the centerline of the boat, it may be attached to the forestay with a sliding collar (often riding over the furled jib on parrel beads , tacker or similar device) adjustable with a down haul, or tack line. This allows the tack to slide up and down the forestay to adjust the luff tension. On racing boats, the tack of the asymmetric is often rigged to a retractable bowsprit , which increases

6290-425: The take-down depends on wind position. First, the windward corner is detached from the spinnaker pole and the guy is released. This step is referred to as blowing the guy . This allows the spinnaker to collapse into the shadow of the mainsail, where the foot is gathered by a crew member. The halyard is then lowered, and a crew member gathers the sail and stuffs it carefully into the turtle, corners out, and ready for

6375-458: The three corners must be available on the top of the packing. A Parasailor is a symmetrical spinnaker with a paraglider wing inserted into a gap in the sail approximately mid-way up. This feature makes the sail easier to keep inflated, but detracts from its performance. The sail may be flown on a spinnaker pole or with the tack attached to the bow of the boat. Asymmetrical spinnakers resembling large jibs and flown from spinnaker poles are not

6460-519: The traditional "Barn Door" trophy, but instead was the inaugural winner of a new trophy dedicated by Trisha Steele, called the " Merlin Trophy". However from 2019 yachts eligible for this trophy must use manual power only In the double-handed division, Pegasus 50, sailed by Philippe Kahn and Mark Christensen, set a new record of 7 days, 19 hours, 38 minutes and 35 seconds. They pioneered use of an iPhone , with Fullpower -MotionX GPS technology. In

6545-545: The upper and lower edges of the sails (and sometimes in between). The sails were also made from salt-resistant woven leaves, usually from pandan plants. Crab claw sails used with single-outrigger ships in Micronesia , Island Melanesia , Polynesia , and Madagascar were intrinsically unstable when tacking leeward. To deal with this, Austronesians in these regions developed the shunting technique in sailing, in conjunction with uniquely reversible single-outriggers. In

6630-451: The use of only two control lines that alternate as sheet and guy (more on this below). End-for-end jibing requires a pole with identical fittings at either end. Larger boats do a dip-pole gybe (jibe) in which the pole remains attached to the mast and the outer end is lowered until it can clear the head-stay and is then raised back up on the other side of the boat to the proper height with the topping lift. The guys are adjusted as before to set

6715-652: The various combinations of sail proposed for a sailing ship . Sail plans may vary for different wind conditions—light to heavy. Both square-rigged and fore-and-aft rigged vessels have been built with a wide range of configurations for single and multiple masts with sails and with a variety of means of primary attachment to the craft, including: High-performance yachts, including the International C-Class Catamaran , have used or use rigid wing sails , which perform better than traditional soft sails but are more difficult to manage. A rigid wing sail

6800-517: The water. To work, the vessel must be anchored stern to the wind to allow the sail to extend out over the bow. Sail 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 bonded filaments, usually in

6885-406: The wind or point of sail . On points of sail where it is possible to align the leading edge of the sail with the apparent wind, the sail may act as an airfoil , generating propulsive force as air passes along its surface, just as an airplane wing generates lift , which predominates over aerodynamic drag retarding forward motion. The more that the angle of attack diverges from the apparent wind as

6970-405: The wind). Because of low friction over the surface and high speeds over the ice that create high apparent wind speeds for most points of sail, iceboats can derive power from lift further off the wind than displacement boats. Each rig is configured in a sail plan , appropriate to the size of the sailing craft. A sail plan is a set of drawings, usually prepared by a naval architect which shows

7055-452: Was rescued by another racing boat. This edition also saw the greatest number of skippers dropping out of the race. Ragtime finished first in 1973 and again in 1975. In 1977, the yacht Merlin, designed by Bill Lee , set an elapsed time record of 8 days, 11 hours, 1 minute. This record would stand for 20 years. Ending Merlin's record, in the 1997 race a new monohull elapsed time record of 7 days, 11 hours, 41 minutes, and 27 seconds

7140-451: Was set by Roy E. Disney 's Pyewacket , a Santa Cruz 70 ultralight also designed by Bill Lee. The record fell once again in 2005, with Hasso Plattner 's Morning Glory , a maxZ86 from Germany . Morning Glory was the scratch boat when it led a five-boat assault on the record for monohulls. She finished the race in 6 days, 16 hours, 4 minutes, and 11 seconds to win "the Barn Door" trophy, a slab of carved koa wood traditionally awarded to

7225-424: Was used by Stars and Stripes , the defender which won the 1988 America's Cup , and by USA-17 , the challenger which won the 2010 America's Cup . USA 17' s performance during the 2010 America's Cup races demonstrated a velocity made good upwind of over twice the wind speed and downwind of over 2.5 times the wind speed and the ability to sail as close as 20 degrees off the apparent wind. The shape of

#491508