Book Excerpt
The Anatomy
of a Sail
The Yacht dissected
and explained
by Nic
Compton
S
edans, coupés, hatchbacks,
estates, sports, pick-ups, 4 x
4, SUVs, campers... Just as
cars come in many shapes and
sizes, so do sailing boats, and
it takes a bit of practice to
recognise them. Like car engines,
different sail plans serve different
purposes. One is powerful but tricky
to handle (eg lugger), while another
is more versatile (eg gaff cutter),
and another more suited to shorthanded sailing (eg ketch).
New materials and equipment also
play a major role in the development
of sails. It’s long been known that
a in
ar
ai i mor ffi i nt
than several small sails, for instance,
which is why cutters and sloops are
the rigs of choice for racing. Until
the invention of winches, however,
all that sail area had to be controlled
by hand using blocks and many, many
yards of rope. It’s no coincidence
that the largest cutter ever built
(the 1903 America’s Cup defender
R ian
a o ort th r t
r
set of underdeck winches. Even with
th
n to
in h
ar
ai
need large crews to handle them,
which is why sail plans with two
masts, such as ketch or yawl, are
preferred by cruising folk, who
are more interested in comfort
than speed.
Logic aside, sailors often favour
certain types of rig for purely
aesthetic or cultural reasons – which
is why Americans love schooners and
Brits love cutters.
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