Wednesday 12 August 2015

Popular sailboats and their uses

When we visit to a seafront, we often see a large variety of the sailboats sailing on the water. It’s sometimes hard to differentiate and identify. Let’s take a look at some popular sailboats, how we can identify them and their uses.

There are three main criteria or the characteristics on which sail boats can be classified:                        

•Keel type: The lateral surface on any sailboat is the keel that aims to counter the force of wind and create the lift by generating the forward motion. Some types of keel used in the sail boats are wing keel, fin keel, centerboard, daggerboard, etc.

•Hull type: A hull is the main part of any sailboat that is usually made up of fiberglass, wood or metal. When we say types of hull, we mean the number of hulls in a boat-- Monohull (one hull), Catamaran (two hulls) and Trimaran (three hulls). A Trimaran hull gives comparatively more stability to a sailboat.

•Sails and mast configuration: (catch, schooner, cutter, cat, yawl, sloop, fractional rig sloop, etc.)
Uses: From the ancient time, sailboats are being used for many purposes like trade, sport and naval defense. With the advancement in sailboat engineering, propulsion now is less dependent on the wind-force. Contemporary sail boats are very versatile and comfortable. These can be extensively used for a number of coastal cruising itineraries, recreational activities and racing.

Spinnaker boats, dinghies and some other newly developed models have redefined sailboat racing. The trend has picked up more pace in recent years and in a country like US that boasts of such long shorelines it’s quite natural that we’d have at least one yacht or boat racing championship in every month of the year.

So hobby sailors get busy all the year around, cleaning, polishing and repairing their boats, testing the spinnakers, placing order for a new one or working hard to improve race timing. 

No comments:

Post a Comment