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Sailing
Questions about wind-propelled water vessels, their maintenance, handling and rules governing their use.
2,485 Questions
Where is the clew and tack positioned on a cruising shoot?
On a fore-and-aft rigged vessel, the clew is the point on the sail where sheets are attached and is furthest aft. The tack is attached fast to standing rigging (usually) and is furthest forward. The head (the third corner on a triangle-shaped sail) is topmost and is attached to the halyard.
In the case of a chute or spinnaker, the tack is the point attached to the spinnaker pole, and the clew is attached to running gear, e.g. the sheets. Note that, unlike other sails that can be tacked, and where the clew and tack are permanent, the clew and tack on a spinnaker reverse when you jibe.
In cases of a spinnaker without a spinnaker-pole (i.e. the so-called cruising chute), the tack attaches to the standing gear foreward and typically on deck; the clew is attached as always to the running gear. This works exactly like a big, nylon genoa.
How can you tell where you are by looking at a lighthouse?
A bearing taken over the compass will give you a Line Of Position (LOP) on your chart. Your position must be somewhere on this line. If you happen to notice exactly when the lighthouse hoves into view, you can tell from your chart how far away from the lighthouse you are. From that, you can plot a Circle of Position (COP) showing distance from the lighthouse. And, if you've done this right, it means your boat is somewhere on that circle. Combine the two and you have a True Fix.
Alternately, if you didn't notice the lighthouse (or at night it's light) coming over the horizon, you can still plot the same circle knowing you're not on the circle but inside it. This can help you determine exact position.
You can also advance a running fix from the first LOP.
What does it mean for a sailboat to be in irons?
A sailing vessel cannot sail directly upwind for very long. Usually, the sails are either full against the wind pulling the sailing vessel along down wind, or at an angle to the wind to "slice" along across the wind called a "tack". However, when the sailing vessel needs to change tack (first going left to right across the wind, then turning to go right to left across the wind), it can be accomplished by turning down wind, crossing the path of the wind as it comes across the stern of the sailing vessel, then "slicing" along on the opposite "tack". This process is called a "gybe". There is another way to change tack, that is to turn the sailing vessel into the wind, sailing upwind for a very short time, continuing the turn so as to sail on the opposite "tack". The process is, itself, called a "tack". Unfortunately during a "tack" when the sailing vessel spends that short time turning across "upwind", if the vessel comes to a stop because there isn't enough speed to completely turn across the wind, the vessel no longer has water passing the rudder enough to allow that rudder to continue steering. The sailing vessel will be slowly blown backwards a bit until it turns the sails to catch the wind properly to get the vessel going fast enough (usually down wind) for the rudder to steer again. When the vessel is stopped or going backwards a bit, this is when the sailing vessel is "in irons".
Basically, In irons is when the bow of a sailing vessel is headed into the wind and the boat has stalled and is unable to maneuver.
White lights can sometimes be found on what type of buoys?
Regulatory buoys can sometimes have white lights. This type of buoy alert operators of vessels of warnings and regulations in the area.
Why are triangular sails better than square ones?
because with the larger surface area being lower on the mast and the smaller surface area on the upper part. equalizing the torque along the mast from the force of the wind.
What runs forward to aft aft to forward port to starboard but never starboard to port?
ships hull number/name
White lights can be found on what type of bouys?
Safe water buoys are regulated to have white lights on them. Safe water buoys are found in waters close to shore that let boat operators know what parts of a waterway are safe for navigation.
How do I put up the mainsail on a Soling sailboat?
Use the sail pullr uppr rope /line called a/the Halyard. It is traditionally on the starboard/right side of the mast. If it a
has a fitting attach same to the top/head of the sail and then seed the sail luff rope or sail slugs into the groove in the back of the mast.
Have Crew/Assistant feed the Luff Rope on the sail from as low a point in the cockpit, or desk as possible so it will feed smoothly whilst you haul the sail up with the Halyard.
Haul fairly tight and then clet the halyard to the Mast or deck and coil/hang the remainder of the Halyard in the cockpit.attach the bottom of the sail Tack to the boom at the mast and the Clew at the outer end of the Boom.
Be alert and observant.
Scan 360 degrees and act accordingly. ALWAYS look before you leap.
What were punishments on a sailing ship in 1830?
Public flogging on deck, with all hands assembled.
Keel-hauling.
Completing the voyage in irons (under lock and key in the brig) awaiting trial on shore.
What is the minimum amount of masts on a schooner?
The minimum amount of masts on a schooner is two or more. The foremost mast is typically no taller than the rear mast. These vessels were first used by the Dutch in the 16th and 17th century. Original schooners were gaff-rigged.
How many ropes were there on an 17th century sailing ship?
In Frank Worsley's First Voyage, he is asked this by his Bosun, and for the good ship Wairoa, which is shown as a three-masted square-rigged ship, the answers follow.
There were only 9 actually called 'ropes', (p.77), but in total there were some 240 halyards, tacks, sheets, buntlines, downhauls, outhauls, spilling-lines, leach-lines, clewlines, reef tackles, bowlines, guys and clewgarnets.
And a few more, and the Bosun finished his instruction tour with "Remember them for tomorrow."
The next day the Bosun conducted a tour but after the first four named correctly, the fifth in error earned Frank a hard slap with a rope end round the buttocks, which as he points out, at the end of the tour he still did not feel like sitting down.
This would have been about 1890. Frank is better known for his work on Shackleton's Endurance, and for his superb navigation of the 22 foot James Caird across some 800 miles of the Antarctic Ocean to Elephant island, and subsequently to South Georgia, where they walked for 36 hours across that island to raise a rescue.
What is another name for a tiller or wheel to steer a boat?
The proper term is helm. Hence the person doing the steering is called the helmsman.
What kind of triangular sail was invented in 500 a.d. that allowed ships to sail more into the wind?
a Lateen Sail
Who was the first explorer to find America by sailing west from Europe?
Christopher Columbus.
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If you count people from Norway, Leif Ericson was the first to find and explore parts of North America by sailing west from Europe. He found Newfoundland (go figure) and Labrador, parts of modern day Canada and even established a settlement or two in these places. This was at the turn of the last millennium, almost 500 years before Columbus, about 1003 to 1005 AD. These dates are estimates with an error of a year or two.
If your facing the stern of the boat and do a 90 degree angle will you be seeing the starboard?
Depends on whic direction you turn. Turning counter-clockwise will make you face starboard.
No, he died in 2001. He was killed by pirates in Brazil while defending his boat and his men.
It depends. You can measure sails using a simple measuring tape.
