Boating and Sailing.pdf - Moja ladja

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Part 7: Sailing, Sailing …
Sport cats are light, easily trailered, shallow in draft so that they can be sailed off any
beach, and reasonably economical.
Some have no centerboard, depending on sharp keels to hold them stable against the sideways
push of the sails. Others use a “daggerboard”-type centerboard, which is pushed
straight down through the center of the boat.
The smallest Hobies and some others are “cat-rigged,” which refers to their use of a single
sail, rather than their hull configuration. Others use a jib in front of the mast and are
therefore “sloop-rigged.”
Flying on Water
One of the most spectacular forms of sailing, called “flying the hull,” is available to catamaran
sailors. It takes place when the upwind hull is actually raised off the water by the
heeling force on the sails. If allowed to go too far, flying can result in a capsizing, and
you’ve got a long way to fall from the upwind side of a cat. But kept under control by
steering slightly into the wind to luff the sails (or away from the wind to reduce the
apparent wind speed) and hiking out on the windward side, it’s an effective tactic for balancing
a catamaran. (Hiking out is hanging off the high side of a sailboat when it heels to
help keep the hull upright through moving the center of gravity to windward. Hiking
straps across the trampoline secure your feet so you don’t fall overboard.)
Cats with big sails sometimes call for “trapezing” in strong winds to keep them upright.
This is done by attaching a cable from the mast to a harness around the helmsman, allowing
him to stand on the rail with the body extended almost horizontally over the water—
one of sailing’s biggest rushes!
Boat Bytes
Sport catamarans have
Marconi sails, but rather
than the short battens on
conventional sloops, they
sport full-length battens that
run from leech to luff, better
shaping the sail and giving
stronger performance.
Sail Shapes
In addition to the names for different configurations of
boats, there are also names for various types of sails—
not something you have to drop into conversation when
you’re stepping aboard for the first time, but something
you will want to know somewhere down the road.
The most common type of sail is the triangular
“Marconi” rig, which is the sail you see on virtually all
modern sailboats. Allegedly, it was originally named
because the stays and shrouds holding up the mast
reminded Depression-era sailors of the first radio towers
set up by the Italian inventor.