ABW Sept 2020

Sail power
By the time of the Bronze Age, ships were being made of
planks nailed together, and the concept of the sail had been
introduced. The first sailing boats are thought to be on the
lines of the model ship discovered in a tomb in Egypt in 1906.
Dating from 2400BC, and rigged with
a single square-sail mounted on a
short central mast, the boat was
steered by a large paddle shaped oar
strapped to the stern of the boat.
The Egyptians retained this form of
ship for some time, and the Egyptian
square-sail rig spread eastward – it
is still seen today around the waters
of Malaya. The Lateen sail was also,
presumably, an Egyptian invention.
A trapezoidal with a short luff. It was
bent to a yard arm, set obliquely to
the mast. The design was revolutionary in that it enabled the
boat to sail towards the wind to some extent, as well as away
from it. The precursor of the fore-and-aft rig adopted by
most modern cruising boats, the lateen sail is still used today
by Arabian dhows. A slightly different, squarer form, known
as the lugsail, was developed by the Chinese. It consisted of
a single sail, made up in sections, stiffened by bamboos and
is also still in use, known as the junk rig. Like the lateen, it
is bent to q yard, but then slung towards the leeward of the
mast when hoisted and set, with its tack forward of the mast.
The lugsail is practical in that it can be easily handled and
reefed.
and ketches all plied the coastlines of Europe, each designed
for a particular purpose – the type of cargo carried or the type
of waters sailed in.
By the 19th century, the large cargo boats had been much
modified and streamlined.
Competition on the trade routes
to the Far East and to Australia
inspired the boat designers to
find important rigs to increase
speed and efficiency. One of
the most revolutionary was the
clipper design originating in the
states, of which the Rainbow, built
in 1845, was a prime example.
“The vessel will never be built to
beat her,” declared the skipper.
His confidence although proved
wrong some half a century later, was not surprising. The
clippers could cut the sailing time of other vessels down
by half. Their design was based on that of the Chesapeake
working boats, with a very narrow bow, a streamlined hull and
a combination of the fore-and-aft and square rig. With the
Early boatbuilders realized
that the efficiency of
the sail was directly
proportional to its size
and the larger the sail a
boat could carry the faster
it would travel.
Staysail Schooner
To understand the design of modern sailing craft, it helps
to know something of the development of the original hull
constructions and types of rig, as many of these aspects of
these ancient forms have been incorporated in modern designs.
Then, as now, one of the main concerns of boat builders was
for speed. Early boatbuilders realized that the efficiency of the
sail was directly proportional to its size and the larger the sail
a boat could carry the faster it would travel. However, large
sails were both unwieldy and uneconomical to use, except in
parts of the world where labour was cheap. Boat builders in the
Western World in Particular, resolved the problem by splitting
the canvas area into several smaller sails carried on more than
one mast. This square rig, with a beamy, sturdy hull and a high
freeboard, was for many centuries in Europe, the preferred boat
design for large cargo boats. As new oceans were discovered
and mapped they were built in ever-increasing numbers to take
advantage of the new markets.
Around the coastlines of the northern countries of Europe,
however, different considerations applied, and the variety
of rigs which developed to meet specific local needs were
numerous. Although the square-rigged ships, were suited
to sailing downwind, could exploit the steady breezes of the
trade winds, the craft plying coastal waters needed a more
adaptable rig. A combination of the square rig with a foreand-aft
one (a modification of the lateen sail) was developed
which allowed the boats to sail well toward windward. Barques
and barquentines, brigs and brigantines, snows, schooners
advent of the industrial revolution, the first experiments with
powering ships with steam engines were to be made. These
early vessels were unreliable and much scorned by the sailing
masters, but by the turn of the century, steam had overtaken
sail for many of the large cargo and passenger boats, and in
the years that followed only small fishing and working boats
still operated under sail power alone.
By the early part of the 20th century, engine power had
virtually eclipsed the use of sail. However, people were
beginning to turn to sailing for recreation and pleasure,
and the now redundant sail-powered working boats were
occasionally converted into cruising boats. Since those times
the art of sailing has been kept alive by enthusiastic amateurs.
Thanks to the increase in popularity of various forms of racing
boat design has been modified and improved to make boats
not only safer and faster, but easier to handle. The double
advantage of both adventure and a sense of freedom has
spurred many thousands of people to take to small boats, and
to cruising in particular, all over the world.
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