CHAPTER 1

About Sailboats

Quiet anchorages like this one in Penobscot Bay, Maine, await the cruisingsailor. (PHOTO BY STEPHEN GROSS)

The objectives of this chapter are to describe:

• Parts of a sailboat in proper language.

• Sailboat hull types and rigs.

• The variety of sailboats available to match your needs.

• How boats are built.

• How to get information on possible defects in a vessel.

• Considerations in a contract to purchase a boat.

SAILBOATS AND POWERBOATS together make up the world of recreational boating. Thetwo differ considerably, not only in their appearance and locomotive power, butalso in the ways people use them. Sailboats don't make very good fishingplatforms, and you can't water-ski behind one, but they bring you closer tonature, to the wind and the waves. They challenge a skipper's skill andjudgment. They require greater effort than most powerboats, but the rewards areoften proportional to the effort expended.

To many people, the thrill of getting there, the ability to master the elements,is more important than the destination itself. These are the folks we seesailing in local waters week after week while their powerboating friends headoff to new and exotic destinations. At the other extreme, we find that mostaround-the-world cruises are carried out in sailboats, which are more seakindly,less noisy, and not completely dependent on refueling facilities. There is roomfor all kinds of recreational boating on our increasingly crowded waterways, butonly if all boaters respect both the interests and the rights of others.

Although there are literally hundreds of types of sailboats afloat today, allsailboats are basically similar. In this book, we will concentrate on the morecommon types, but the principles that apply to them will generally hold true forexotic or unusual craft as well.

What Is a Boat?

A boat is anything used for transportation on the water. Huck Finn's raft was aboat. A seaplane is a boat when it is on the water. Canoes, kayaks, rowboats,and other small craft are boats. Boats range in size from personal watercraft(PWC) to large ships, and they might have deep or shallow hulls; flat, round, orV-shaped bottom sections; and tall or short cabin sides and superstructures.They can be slender or stout, and they might have one, two, or even three hulls.They vary, too, in the materials from which they're built. As defined by theFederal Boat Safety Act of 1971, all boats are vessels, but a vessel is not aboat (and therefore exempt from certain commercial safety regulations) unless itwas manufactured or is engaged primarily for noncommercial use or is engaged incarrying six or fewer passengers for hire.

Language of the Sea

Newcomers to any subject usually must learn a new vocabulary, and boating is noexception. The language of mariners has been developing for many centuries. Ithas the virtues of utility, economy, and an exactitude you need when talkingabout boats and boating.

As we introduce terms, we will usually define them for you. You can also findsome of them in the Glossary at the back of the book. If you do not find a wordlisted in the Glossary, look for it in the Index. The first time we define atechnical term, we will print it in red.

Some nautical terms have found their way into our everyday vocabulary. The term"blue Monday" came to us from England. The British Navy disciplined sailors onMondays for infractions over the preceding week. The punishment consisted oflashes with a cat-o'-nine tails, or whip. No wonder Monday was blue. When not inuse, the cat stayed in a sack. Of course, the cat was "out of the bag" whenused.

Other terms came from Norway. Sailboats are steered by rudders. On an ancientsailing boat, the rudder was to the right of center at the rear, or stern, ofthe vessel. There it was protected from damage when the ship was in port. Thetiller, which turned the rudder, was kept under the helmsman's right arm.

In Norway, the rudder was a "stjorn" board or steering board. Stjorn, whenpronounced, sounds like "starn." So the right side of a vessel when lookingforward became known as the "stjorn board" or starboard side(Figure 1-1).

When a vessel came into port, it was with its left side next to the wharf. Thiswas the side most visible to the helmsman. It was also the side for the "loadboard." No wonder the left side of the vessel became known as the larboard side."Larboard" and "starboard" are more exact terms than "left" and "right" sincethey do not change if you are facing forward or aft.

Because larboard and starboard sound somewhat alike, they are easily confused.Thus, larboard was changed to port. This was a logical choice, as this was theside of a vessel next to the wharf when the vessel was in port. Larger vesselsload through ports, or openings, in their sides.

Remnants of ancient boats made of large, hollowed-out tree trunks or keels stillexist. These unstable vessels took on water easily. Although they didn't sink,they were of little value when slightly submerged in rough or icy water.

Planks were added later, and the trunk became but one part of the vessel. Thename keel remained, however. The body of the vessel, formed by the keel and theplanks together, became known as the hull.

The aft terminus of many boats is a flat, vertical surface extending from oneside of the vessel to the other. This part of a boat became known as a transom,from the Latin root "trans," meaning across (Figure 1-2).

The bow is the forward most portion of a vessel. This term came from theNorwegian word "bov," meaning shoulder, and pronounced "bow." You can almost seethe shoulder of a boat pushing its way through the water.

Components of a Sailboat

Once you become accustomed to using sailors' terminology, it will comenaturally. It's a lot easier in the long run to have at your command a word likehalyard, for instance, than to grope for the approximate equivalent in everydayEnglish: a rope or wire that raises and lowers a sail.

There are two basic parts of any sailboat—the hull (or hulls) and the rig.A sailboat hull is simply the load-carrying part of the vessel. Besidessupporting the crew, their equipment, the engine (if any), and the mast andsails, the hull has other functional requirements. It must move efficientlythrough the water in the direction the boat is steered while at the same timeresisting forces that attempt to push it in other directions. Meanwhile, it muststay reasonably upright, opposing the pressure of the wind on the sails.

The rig is the collective term for the various elements that form a sailboat'spower system. There are basically three interacting parts—the spars (seebelow), the rigging, and the sails.

THE HULL

Many sailboat terms are so much a part of the language that you'll find you knowthem already. Others are less well known. We covered bow, stern, port, andstarboard above. Now let's run through a few others that pertain to the hull.

If you were to measure the length of a boat along its deck from bow to stern(but not including a bowsprit or stern sprit, if either were present), thedimension would be labeled as length overall. When the dimensions of a sailboatappear in magazines or sales literature, this term is frequently abbreviated LOA(Figure 1-3). Length at the waterline (for more, see below) is called LWL forshort. The width of the hull at the widest point is her beam, and the depth ofwater required to float her is known as the boat's draft. Many sailboats haveretractable bottom appendages called centerboards (which retract by pivotingsternward) or daggerboards (which retract straight upward), so in this case twodrafts may be listed—one with board up and one with board down (Figure 1-4, and see page 23).

The waterline is the line of intersection of the water surface with the boat'shull. A stripe painted along and above the waterline when the boat is floatingupright is called the boottop or bootstripe (see Figure 1-3). It serves as auseful reference to determine if the boat has been properly loaded. When theboottop shows clearly around the hull and is parallel with the water surface,the boat is said to be correctly trimmed. If the hull is down by the bow orstern, or tipped to one side or the other, or too high or low in the water,she's out of trim (Figure l-5).

Very small sailboats may be completely open (Figure 1-6). Most boats, however,have a covering, the deck, over the forward part of the hull (Figure 1-7), andin many craft there are side decks as well. The deck keeps rain and spray out ofthe hull, provides a place to attach hardware, and helps keep the mast in place(Figure 1-8). The cutout tub in the center of the deck, from which the skippersteers and the crew operates the boat, is the cockpit. There's frequently araised lip around the edge of the cockpit—the coaming—that serves todeflect water.

The floor of the cockpit is called the cockpit sole. In a contemporaryfiberglass boat the decks, the cockpit tub and sole, and the cabin sides and top(if the boat has a cabin) are frequently molded as one large piece, which isthen bonded to the hull mold. In wooden boats, however, all these parts are handbuilt. Like other walk-on surfaces aboard, the sole should be nonskid (Figure 1-9).A nonskid effect can be achieved using paint with sand in it, or, in afiberglass boat, with a molded-in pattern. If your boat doesn't have nonskidwhere it's needed, you can buy, at most boating supply stores, waterproof tapewith a slightly abrasive surface. It's a good investment in safety. Some woodenboats and older fiberglass boats have a grate of interlocked wood strips(usually teak) on the cockpit sole to provide good footing while keeping shoesdry.

Most hardware on a sailboat is connected with handling the sails, but somepertains to the hull itself. Even the smallest boat should have a cleat or eyebolt at bow and stern for attaching mooring or towing lines. Cleats may be wood,metal, or plastic, but they should be bolted through the deck and preferablythrough a backing plate under the deck as well (Figure 1-10). More and morefiberglass sailboats—especially smaller, more open ones—have built-inflotation between the outer skin of the hull and the inner skin, called theliner. This flotation (as in Figure 1-10) is usually in the form of rigidplastic foam, inserted in sufficient quantity to keep the water-filled boat plusher crew afloat.

Some small sailboats have self-bailers built into the after end of the cockpit.These are one-way valves that operate to expel bilge water from thehull—but they only work when the boat is moving at a good clip and aretherefore only found on high-performance sailing dinghies. Don't count on themto empty the boat when she's at rest. For that you'll need a pump or bailer.Some self-bailers admit some water if the boat isn't moving, and must be shutoff once the boat slows down. If you have such a device built into your boat,make sure you know how it works before setting sail.

SPARS

Spar is the general term for the rigid members that support and extend thesails. The primary spar is the mast, a vertical member that holds the sails up.Most boats also have a boom, which holds out the foot, or bottom, of the sail atright angles to the mast. The mast and boom are joined by a kind of universaljoint called a gooseneck, which allows the boom to pivot up, down, or sideways(Figure 1-11).

There are other types of spars—gaffs, yards, and spinnaker poles, to namethe most common—but they are restricted to specialized boat types oradvanced forms of sailing, and will be dealt with later.

Spars were traditionally fashioned from wood, but the strength, light weight,and durability of aluminum have made it the most popular spar material forcontemporary sailboats. On some smaller boats where bending spars are useful,fiberglass spars, rather like oversize fishing poles, are occasionally seen.Carbon fiber, which is even lighter and stronger than aluminum, is sometimesused on high-performance sailboats when cost is no object. Some older boats andones of traditional appearance still retain wood spars, either hollow sectionsglued together or solid pieces of timber.

Whatever the construction material, all spars have much the same kinds offittings attached to them. As we shall see in a later chapter, it's importantnot only to extend a sail but also to vary the tension along its edges, therebycontrolling and optimizing its shape. Sail control fittings on the spars performthis function. Once we've had a chance to consider how sails are shaped and howthey are fastened to spars, we can consider the various types of fittings andhow they work.

The mast fits into or onto a mast step, or socket, which is shaped so that thespar's heel, or base, cannot slide off (see Figure 1-10). In most boats the stepis cast metal (though it may be wood in a wooden boat) and is mounted in areinforced area of the boat's bilge. In some boats, however, the mast is steppedon deck, making it much easier to raise and lower at the beginning and end ofthe sailing season. If the boat is trailered and the mast must be raised andlowered frequently, it will often be stepped in a pivot fitting called atabernacle. Any deck-stepped mast must be supported by a compression strut orother substantial reinforcing structure beneath it to transfer rigging loadsfrom the deck or cabin top to the boat's hull and keel.

When the mast is stepped in the bilge, it passes through a tight-fitting hole inthe deck or, in some small open boats, through a hole in a forward seat. Often,in larger boats, the mast passes through the cabin roof, where a reinforcingcollar called the mast partner is placed to help take the strain of the spar. Onsome small boats, this arrangement alone provides sufficient support for themast, but on most boats a certain amount of rigging, varying with the size ofboat, is necessary to keep the mast up and straight.

STANDING AND RUNNING RIGGING

There are two types of rigging—standing and running. Standing riggingstays put; it supports the mast under tension. Running rigging requires frequentadjustment; it runs through blocks (the nautical term for pulleys) to raise,lower, ease out, or trim in the sails.

Standing Rigging

The standing rigging of the average sailboat is not complicated. Its purpose isto keep the mast upright and straight. Remember also that any pull on the mastfrom one direction must be matched from the opposite side if the spar is toremain in position and in column (i.e., undistorted). A backstay keeps the mastfrom falling forward over the bow, while one or more forestays keep the mastfrom falling over the stern. A forestay that runs from the very bow of the boatto a position at or near the top of the mast is also called a headstay. On someboats an inner forestay, or babystay, runs from a point on the foredeck midwaybetween the bow and the mast to a landing point some two-thirds of the way upthe mast, permitting a smaller jib to be flown in strong winds (Figure 1-12).

If a backstay landing on the middle of the boat's transom would interfere withthe tiller and rudder, the backstay might be offset slightly to one side or theother, or it might be split into two lower legs, one leading to the boat'sstarboard quarter and one to its port quarter.

When, for reasons of design, the forestay doesn't end near the masthead, aftwardtension to balance the forestay is provided by a pair of running backstays, oneon each side of the boat (Figure 1-13). Each running backstay ends in a ropetackle, and only the windward one (the one on the side over which the wind isblowing) is set up. The one to leeward is left slack so as not to interfere withthe mainsail.

A mast is kept from falling to the side by standing rigging called shrouds. Onsmall boats there is usually only one set, running from the side of the hull upto the masthead. Sometimes, to make a more mechanically effective lead of theshrouds to the masthead, a pair of horizontal spars called spreaders are fittedabout two-thirds of the way up the mast. The spreader, as its name suggests,simply widens the angle at which the wire reaches the masthead, giving a moreeffective sideways angle of pull.

The shrouds that run over spreaders to the masthead are called upper shrouds, orjust uppers, or sometimes cap shrouds. Other shrouds run from the sides of thehull to the mast just beneath the intersection of the spreaders; these are lowershrouds or lowers. There may be one or two pairs of them. On some boats, aninner forestay does the same job as the pair of forward lowers.

Shrouds and stays are normally made of stiff stranded wire rope, generallystainless steel. Since it's necessary to balance the stresses of the variouspieces of standing rigging against their opposite numbers, adjustable fittingsare provided at the bottom end of each stay and shroud. The most common fittingfor this job, called a turnbuckle, is usually cast in bronze or stainless steel(Figure 1-14). It allows for a limited adjustment of wire tension, a processcalled tuning, dealt with in more detail in Chapter 11.