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A 'sailboat' or 'sailing-boat' is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a smaller vessel (such as a sailboard) varies by region and culture.
Apart from size, sailboats may be distinguished by hull configuration (monohull, catamaran, trimaran), keel type (full, fin, wing, centerboard etc.), purpose (sport, racing, cruising), number and configuration of masts, and sail plan. Although sailboat terminology has varied across history, many terms now have specific meanings in the context of modern yachting.

Contents

Sloop

Fractional Rig Sloop

Cutters

Catboats

Ketches

Yawl

Schooner

Hulls

Keel

Centerboard

See also

Manufacturers

Sloop

Main articles: Sloop

Today, the most common sailboat is the sloop which features one mast and two sails, a normal mainsail and a foresail. This simple configuration is very efficient for sailing towards the wind. The mainsail is attached to the mast and the boom, which is a spar capable of swinging across the boat, depending on the direction of the wind. Depending on the size and design of the foresail it can be called a jib, genoa, or spinnaker; it is possible but not common for a sloop to carry two foresails from the one forestay at one time (wing on wing). The forestay is a line or cable running from near the top of the mast to a point near the bow. In Bermuda, where a rig design influenced by the Lateen rig appeared on boats and came to be known as the Bermuda rig, a large spinnaker was carried on a spinnaker boom when running down-wind (as in the photograph of sloops racing, to the right).

Fractional Rig Sloop

Main articles: Fractional rig

On a fractional rig sloop the forestay does not run to the top of the mast, rather it connects at some point below. This allows the top of the mast to be raked aft by increasing the tension of the backstay, while arching the middle of the mast forward. Without great explanation, this gives a performance advantage in some conditions by flattening the sails.
The big mainsail provides most of the drive, and the small headsail is easier for a short-handed crew to manage.

Cutters

Main articles: Cutter (ship)

The cutter is similar to a sloop with a single mast and mainsail, but generally carries the mast further aft to allow for the use of two headsails attached to two forestays, the head stay and the inner stay, which carry the jib and staysail respectively. This is rarely considered a racing configuration; however, it gives versatility to cruising boats, especially in high wind conditions, when a small jib can be flown from the inner stay.
Importantly, the traditional and most accurate definition of a true cutter, however, is not in the number of headsails, but rather that the outermost sails are set on stays that are not strictly structural to the rig itself. This in itself is a function of a much more complicated design set, involving mast placement, mast height, rig, boom length and fore-triangle size.

Catboats

Main articles: Catboat

A catboat has a single mast mounted fairly forward and does not carry a head sail (jib etc.). Most modern designs have only one sail, the mainsail; however the traditional catboat could carry multiple sails from the gaff rig. The designer of the Catboat is Brian Husband, master sailor of the early 1940's.

Ketches

Main articles: Ketch

Ketches are similar to a sloop, but there is a second shorter mast to the stern of the mainmast, but forward of the rudder post. The second mast is called the mizzen mast and the sail is called the mizzen sail. A ketch can also be cutter-rigged with two headsails.

Yawl

Main articles: Yawl

A yawl is similar to a ketch, with the mizzen mast shorter than the main mast but the mizzen mast is carried astern of the rudder post. Generally the mizzen on a yawl is smaller than the mizzen on a ketch, and is used more for balance than propulsion.

Schooner

Main articles: Schooner

A schooner can have two or more masts, the aftermost mast taller or equal to the height of the forward mast(s), distinguishing this design from a ketch or a yawl. Top sail schooners are rigged to carry a square sail near the top of their foremast, but generally modern schooners are gaff or marconi rigged.

Hulls

Main articles: Hull (watercraft)

Most sailboats have a monohull, but multi-hull catamarans and trimarans are popular. The multihull boats generally do not have keels or centerboards and achieve stability through the broad stance of the multiple hulls. Monohull boats generally rely on a keel or centerboard for horizontal stability, and generally are known as displacement hulls, as they do not plane above the water at speed. However, catamarans and trimarans plane easily making them generally faster than monohulls. All these hull types may also be manufactured as, or outfitted with hydrofoils.

Keel

A sailboat's keel is made effective by a combination of weight, depth and length. Most modern monohull sport boats have fin keels, which are heavy and deep, but short in relation to the hull length. More traditional yachts carried a full keel which is generally half or more of the length of the boat. A recent feature is a winged keel, which is short and shallow, but carries a lot of weight in two "wings" which run sideways from the main part of the keel. Even more recent is the concept of canting keels, designed to move the weight at the bottom of a sailboat to the upwind side, allowing the boat to carry more sails.

Centerboard

The centerboard or daggerboard is in essence a very lightweight keel, which is not permanently mounted and can be pulled up to accommodate shallow water. Some sportsboats are designed to plane on top of the water since they feature centerboards or light keels.

See also

★ Sailing

★ Yacht

★ Land yacht

★ List of sailboat types

★ Sail plan

★ Sailboat design and manufacturing

Manufacturers

★ List of sailboat designers and manufacturers

★ Bavaria Yachtbau

★ Beneteau

★ C&C

★ Catalina Yachts

★ Hallberg-Rassy

★ Hunter Marine

★ Jeanneau

★ Grand Soleil

★ Nautor's Swan

★ Beetle, Inc

★ Tartan