Sails and Rigging Parts of sails Rigging Sail terminology The two types of sails This diagram shows the parts of a sail on a typical sail (this is the mainsail).  The top corner is called the  head   the bottom corners are the  clew  and the  tack.  On  this sail  the tack is close to the mast and the clew is at the end of the boom.  The sides are called the  foot  at the bottom  the  luff  at the front near the mast and  the diagonal  leech  at the back. Rigging is the ropes and wires on a boat involved with sails.  Every ‘rope’ is named for its function and/or location. This is so when  the skipper says “dump the mainsheet and take in the jib!” everyone  knows which rope to let go and which one to pull. A  topping lift  is used to raise or lower a spar  like the boom. A  halyard  raises or lowers a sail and would thus be attached to  the  head  of the sail. A  sheet  is a rope that controls the angle of the sail to the  wind. It is usually attached to the  clew . By and large you’ll only have to deal with two kinds of sails : the main and the jib. As you progress you might  deal with other kinds of sails including different kinds of jibs and speciality sails like storm sails or spinnakers.  For now we’ll concentrate on the main and the jib.  The mainsail is the big sail behind the mast and is obviously very important to how the boat works. The  mainsail is controlled by a single mainsheet that usually runs to a series of pulleys in the middle of the  cockpit. The pulleys supply the extra force need to move the big mainsail when it is full of wind. The jib (in front of the mast) is equally important to how a boat sails  especially when it sails into the wind.  The jib is controlled by two sheets which run down each side of the boat. When the boat is sailing one of  these  the working sheet  will be under load as it holds the force of the wind in the sail. The other  the lazy  sheet  will be lying slack – essentially doing nothing. When the boat changes direction the lazy sheet and the  working sheet will swap sides. The lazy sheet will hold the sail against the force of the wind and become the  working sheet and the working sheet will go slack and become the lazy sheet.  We’ll look at this in more detail later. • Take in / sheet in  – to tighten or pull on a rope • Hard on  – as tight as a sheet or sail will go (e.g. “bring the jib hard on”) • Let go / ease - to loosen or let out a rope (e.g. “ease the jib sheet”) • Dump  – to let go all at once  to ease as far as it will go • Luffing  – when a sail flaps at the front edge (i.e. the luff) • Working sheet  – a sheet that is tight  because it is holding a sail against the force of the wind • Lazy sheet  – a sheet that is loose  because it is doing nothing (no force)