RIGGING A YACHT
Yachting & Sailing Terms
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Yachting is a  pastime which involves the use of any small, habitable sailboats, or motor-powered vessels propelled by an inboard or outboard motor. Generally noncommercial boats are used for pleasure yachting, especially for cruising, racing, or fishing.

Sailing - propulsion of a yacht by using the sails and wind as the driving forces.

To the non-sailor, a web of technical jargon surrounds the sport. Some of the language is widely used, other words belong to the achieves. Don't think that you've got to swallow a nautical dictionary before you get into yachting -nothing could be further from the truth.

At the beginning of your course, you will find that the AY Instructors are using very few technical terms. We think that you have got enough to learn without mastering a new language as well. As you progress through the AY Courses, you will find those different pieces of gear, rope and even maneuvers have their own names.

You will begin to appreciate that the language is not designed simply to confuse outsiders, as you might have suspected, but to save confusion. It allows the helmsman to give precise instructions to his crew and to communicate ideas or intentions clearly.

Have a look at the boat parts diagram but don't try to memorize all the names before you start. The important ones will soon become familiar with use.

Methods vary according to the manner in which boats are rigged, but the essential principles of sailing are the same for all yachts regardless of it's size.

Wind Awareness - Where is the Wind?
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The wind is the source of our motive power when sailing, and it will have an influence on everything we do afloat, even where we sit on the yacht. The helmsman of a small sailing yacht sits with his back to the wind, the tiller or tiller extension held lightly in the hand nearest the stern with the mainsheet in the forward hand. The crew sits further forward, adjusting his position to balance the boat, as described later.

The first indications of wind and its direction will be the feeling of breeze on the neck and ears or from flags fluttering and smoke. Ripples will show on the water surface as the wind blows over it, and gusts or "Catspaws".can be spotted on the surface as darkening patches.

The power of our sails is derived from the wind, but it will quickly become apparent that there is a limit to which any sail will work. When a sail is pointing directly into the wind, it will simply flap. To drive the boat along, the sails must be kept at the correct angle to the wind. For sailing yacht enthusiasts this basic Sail Angle principle governs much of what we do on the water. The sail angle must be addressed each time the yacht changes direction as the angle to the wind has changed. As shown on the Points of Sailing diagram.

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When a sail is flapping, it is producing no driving force. As yachts have no brakes, the way to stop is to let the sails flap by letting the sheets out. If the boat is pointing away from the wind, the standing rigging may prevent the sails from going right out, so you must turn the boat more towards the direction of the wind.

Parts of the Boat
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Hull

The main part or body of the boat is the Hull, to which everything else is attached. It is usually made of glass-reinforced plastic (grp) or wood, although some popular yachts are made of polyethylene, epoxy resins, fiberglass, carbon and kevlar fibers.

Spars

On sailing craft the spars are the Mast, Boom, Spinnaker Pole and Jockey Pole if carried. They are usually made of wood, aluminum and more recently on racing yachts out of carbon fiber

Rigging

The Mast is normally left standing and is supported by three or more wires, known collectively as the Standing Rigging or Shrouds. The wire to the front of the boat is the Forestay and the wires to the sides are the shrouds. The metal adjusters used to connect the wires to the boat are called Bottlescrews or Turn Buckles and the strongpoint to which they are attached are Chain-plates. When short lengths of rope are used instead of bottlescrews, they are called Lanyards.

Fixed / Moving Keel
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A Centerboard, Daggerboard or Keel is housed in the middle of the yacht. When sailing, it is lowered to prevent the hull slipping sideways through the water. It needs to be adjusted for different points of sailing (see diagram).

Rudder

The Rudder attached to the back (stern) of the boat and is controlled by a Tiller or wheel and is used to steer the boat. Yachts that use a tiller to steer usually have a Tiller Extension attached to the forward section of the tiller which enables the helmsman to steer from an outboard or hiking position.

Sails

Most yacht sails are the tall white triangular shaped material usually attached to a mast about the center of the boat. The sides and corners of each sail have their own names (see diagram) which you will pick up as you proceed. Sails are usually made of Terylene Dacron Kevlar or Mylar and are specially designed and cut by a sailmaker to create the required shape for a desired wind range.

Sail Controls

A AY Instructor will show you how sails will only work efficiently when set at a precise angle to the wind. During your Instructional Courses you will raise the sails using halyards and controll them by their sheets. Lines such as the Outhaul and the Boom Vang or Kicking Strap adjust their shape. All these ropes are known collectively as the Running Rigging.

The Boom Vang prevents the sail twisting and the boom lifting when wind is in the sail, and so it helps to maintain the correct sail shape that the sailmaker has designed and built into your sail.

Types of Yacht
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There are many different designs of Yachts, but your AY Instructor will show you how to rig the one in which you learn to sail. After that, you will find that different yachts may have their own peculiarities, but basically follow the same principles.

Yachts using sails for propulsive power may be classified as Day Sailors, Sailing Cruisers, Auxiliary Cruisers, and Motor Sailors.

As the names suggest, both the Day Sailor and the Sailing Cruiser are driven solely by sails. The Sailing Cruiser is longer and beamier (broader) than the day sailor and, unlike the latter, possesses living facilities.

An Auxiliary Cruiser is a sailing cruiser equipped with an inboard engine. A Motor Sailor is an under rigged, heavily powered auxiliary cruiser—that is, a vessel dependent primarily on its engine or engines, but capable of maintaining headway under sail in stronger wind.

The Cabin Cruiser, which is equipped with complete living quarters for two or more persons, is the most popular type of habitable motor-powered craft used in yachting. The larger Motor Yacht is powered by one to three inboard gasoline or diesel engines. Many of the smaller types, including those craft that can be assembled from kits, are driven by one or two outboard motors.

Boat Buoyancy

There are over million of different types of boats in use in the world today. The more recent designs have Built-in Buoyancy as an integral part of the boat to make them unsinkable. The buoyancy takes the form of several sealed spaces or tanks in the bow, stern or the sides of the boat. If water comes out of these tanks when the drain plug is removed, there may be structural damage, so this should be checked regularly.

Older boats may have Buoyancy Bags, usually made of a plastic material inflated by mouth or bellows. These are strapped firmly in position under the side benches or in the bow and stern. A deflated bag clearly indicates a fault. The straps should be checked regularly, as they are subject to large loads when the dinghy is capsized. A buoyancy bag that floats away from a capsized dinghy does little for crew morale.

Some boats may have metal portable tanks secured under the side benches and foredeck, or solid buoyancy in the form of expanded polystyrene blocks. It is difficult to see when this type of buoyancy has soaked up water.

The amount of buoyancy in any boat is something that is decided and calculated by the Designer and Builder. Some racing boats now have so much buoyancy that they float high out of the water, making it difficult to reach the centerboard after a capsize. The distribution of buoyancy may also increase the tendency for a capsizable yacht to invert completely.

Buoyancy calculations on hulls that have attached weighted Keel to compensate for the yachts Heeling Moments have become tools of the Naval Architect. That is why you will use small stable yachts during your early sailing sessions of the AY Instructional Courses.