Have you ever thought about learning how to sail? If so, then you should start by understanding the different parts of a sailboat if you want to sail your boat as efficiently as possible. Here they are in alphabetical order:
- Block: This is the nautical term for a pulley.
- Boom: The horizontal support for the foot of the mainsail which extends aft of the mast. This is what you want to watch out for when changing directions in a sailboat. It can give you quite a wallop on the head if it hits you.
- Bow: This is what the front of the boat is called.
- Centerboard: This is a (usually fibreglass) plate that pivots from the bottom of the keel in some boats and is used to balance the boat when under sail.
- Cleat: Cleats are what lines (or ropes) get fastened to when they need to be kept tight.
- Halyard: Lines that raise or lower the sails. (Along with the sheets, aka running rigging.)
- Hull: The hull is the body of the boat and consists of everything below the deck.
- Jib: This is the sail at the bow of the boat. The jib helps propel the boat forward.
- Genoa: A foresail which is larger in size than a jib.
- Keel: The keel is what prevents a boat from sliding sideways (“making leeway”) in whatever way the wind is blowing and stabilizes the boat.
- Line: Lines are ropes. They are everywhere on boats. There is only one “rope” on a sailboat, the bolt rope which runs along the foot of the mainsail.
- Mainsail: As the name implies, this is the main sail of the boat. It is the sail attached to the back of the mast.
- Mast: The mast is a large, vertical pole that holds the sails up. Some boats have more than one mast.
- Painter: This is a line positioned at the front of small boats. It is used to tie the boat to a dock or another boat.
- Rudder: The rudder is how the boat is steered. It is moveable so that when you turn the wheel or tiller, the rudder directs the boat in the direction you would like the boat to go.
- Sheets: The lines that control the sails. (aka running rigging.)
- Spinnaker: The usually brightly colored sail used when sailing downwind or across the wind.
- Stays and Shrouds: There are wires that make sure the mast stays upright, even in very heavy winds. (aka standing rigging.)
- Stern: This is the term for the back of the boat.
- Tiller: The tiller is a stick attached to the rudder and is used to control the rudder.
- Transom: This is what we would call the butt of the boat. It is the back part of the boat that is perpendicular to its centerline.
- Wheel: The wheel works the rudder, steering the boat.
- Winch: Winches help bring in the lines. When lines are wrapped around a winch, a sailor can turn the winch with a handle, which will make it easier to bring in the lines.
Ready to learn how to sail? There are great sailing classes that you can take right here close to home! One of them is in Seabrook called 3D Coast Captains – check them out – they’ll be at the June Boat Show along with other exhibitors!
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What does the sails actually do on a sailboat
Sails are an air foil like an airplane wing in that the wind flowing over the front and under the back of the sail forms a low air pressure in front of the sail and a higher pressure area behind the sail. This pulls the sail and thus the boat forward through the water. The sails are also used to turn the boat and they can be eased or released to slow or stop the boat.
What does the sails on a sail boat do
Ropes on a Boat
1. Awning-Rope, A rope around an area to which an awning is laced
2. Back-Rope The rope or pendant or small chain for staying the dolphin striker.
3. Bell-Rope A short rope attached to the tongue of a ships’s bell.
4. Boat-Rope A separate rope veered to the boat to be towed at a ship’s stern.
5. Bolt-Rope A hard laid rope used in several places where it is not required to flex, such as the Head Rope, Foot Rope, Leech Rope and Luff Rope of a sail.
6. Breast-Rope A rope fastened along the lanyards of the shrouds to secure the leadsman when in the chains, heaving the lead.
7. Breech-Rope A rope to restrain the recoil of a gun when discharged.
8. Bucket-Rope A rope attached to the handle of a bucket for drawing water to scrub the deck, put out fire, etc.
9. Bull-Rope A hawser rove through a block on the bowsprit and attached to a bouy to keep it clear of the ship.
10. Bouy-Rope A rope that fastens the bouy to the anchor.
11. Cat-Rope A line for hauling the cat-hook about.
12. Check-Rope A rope made fast to anything stationary for the purpose of bringing a moving vessel to a stand.
13. Clew-Rope In large sails the eye or loop at the clew is made of a rope larger than the bolt rope into which it is spliced.
14. Davit-Rope Lashing that secures the davit to the shroud when not in use.
15. Drag-Ropes Two ropes that are trailed from the after quarters of a sailing vessel so that if fell overboard he could grab one of these ropes as the vessel passed him. They generally had Turk’s head knots on them, spaced about 2 1/2 feet apart, to assist in climbing aboard.
16. Entering Ropes(Man Ropes) Ropes that hung from the upper part of the stanchions alongside of the ladder at the gangways.
17. Foot-Rope A rope suspended under a yard or boom for men to stand on. Also, that part of a bolt to which the bottom of a sail is attached.
18. Grab-Rope A line secured above a boat boom or gangplank for steadying oneself.
19. Guest-Rope A rope fastened to an eye-bolt in the ships side, and to the outer end of a boom, projecting from the ship’s side, by guys, to keep the boats clear off the sides.
20. Hawse-Rope A rope used to take the strain off the anchor warp when clearing hawse.
21. Head-Rope A rope to haul out jib-booms, and the bowsprits of cutters, etc. Also, that part of a bolt rope at the top of a sail.
22. Heel-Rope A rope for securing the inner end of a studding-sail boom to a yard.
23. Jaw-Rope A rope over a jaw of a gaff to keep it from leaving the mast.
24. Limber-Rope A rope rove fore-and-aft throughout the limbers to clear them if necessary. ( Also a light bronze chain was used for this purpose and known as a Limber-Chain)
25. Luff-Rope That part of a bolt rope on a fore-and-aft sail nearest the mast.
26. Parrel-Rope A rope used to confine a yard to a mast at its center.
27. Passing-Rope A rope led round the ship, through the eyes in the quarter, waist, gangway, and forecastle stanchions forward to the knight’s head.
28. Port-Ropes Ropes for the hauling up and suspending the gun port lids.
29. Ridge-Ropes Ropes sewed along the center of an awning to give it the pitch needed to shed rain.
30. Ring-Rope Ropes made fast to the ring-bolts in the deck, and by cross turns around the cable to confine it in stormy weather, Also used to reeve off the anchor cable through the hawsehole.
31. Slip-Rope A rope whose bight is passed through the ring of a mooring bouy with both ends on shipboard. By letting go one end and hauling on the other the ship is freed.
32. Span-Rope A rope made fast at both ends for hooking a block to the bight.
33. Spring-rope A rope led from a ships’s quarter to her anchor cable, to bring her broadside guns to bear upon a given object.
34. Swab-Rope A rope tied to the handle of a swab for dipping it overboard.
35. Tail-Rope A rope, attached to the clew cringle, that is made taut when the sheets are transferred.
36. Tiller-Ropes Ropes leading from the tiller head round the barrel of the wheel. Also used to secure and control the tiller of a small craft.
37. Top-Rope Rope rove through the heel of a topmast to hist it by its tackle to the masthead.
38. Trip-Rope Rope fastened to the tripping hook of the anchor tackle to release the anchor when the order, “Let fall!” is given.
39. Yard-Rope A temporary rope used for hoisting a yard for crossing or sending down.