Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the water, on ice (iceboat) or on land over a chosen course, which is often part of a larger plan of navigation.
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture.
A sail plan is a description of the specific ways that a sailing craft is rigged. Also, the term "sail plan" is a graphic depiction of the arrangement of the sails for a given sailing craft.
A jibe (US) or gybe (Britain) is a sailing maneuver whereby a sailing vessel reaching downwind turns its stern through the wind, which then exerts its force from the opposite side of the vessel. For square-rigged ships, this maneuver is called wearing ship.
A daggerboard is a retractable centreboard used by various sailing craft. While other types of centreboard may pivot to retract, a daggerboard slides in a casing. The shape of the daggerboard converts the forward motion into a windward lift, countering the leeward push of the sail. The theoretical centre of lateral resistance is on the trailing edge of the daggerboard.
A mainsail is a sail rigged on the main mast of a sailing vessel.
Tacking is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing vessel, whose desired course is into the wind, turns its bow toward and through the wind so that the direction from which the wind blows changes from one side of the boat to the other, allowing progress in the desired direction. The opposite maneuver to tacking is called jibing, or wearing on square-rigged ships, that is, turning the stern through the wind. No sailing vessel can move directly upwind, though that may be the desired direction, making this an essential maneuver of a sailing ship. A series of tacking moves, in a zig-zag fashion, is called beating, and allows sailing in the desired direction.
The Ross 930 is a class of fast cruiser-racer yachts named after its designer, New Zealander Murray Ross. The design is marked by light weight and moderate sail area, with a sail-area-to-displacement (SA/D) ratio of about 24, and displacement-to-length (D/L) ratio of 98. The bow section is quite narrow, providing relatively low wave-making resistance and reducing pounding while sailing upwind in waves, and the stern section is wide and flat, making the boat easy to control sailing fast downwind. The interior of the Ross 930 is comfortable, including fitted berths for five, a two-burner stove, galley with sink, and a head. The standard engine is an outboard in a well, but a few boats were built with small inboard diesel engines.
The Melges 24 is a one-design class of sailboat commonly used for racing. The monohull sportsboat is notable for its ability to plane over the water downwind in modest winds, and for its combination of a simple design that is highly tunable.
The 18 ft Skiff is considered the fastest class of sailing skiffs. The class has a long history beginning with races on Sydney Harbour, Australia in 1892 and later in New Zealand. The boat has changed significantly since the early days, bringing in new technology as it became available. Because of the need of strength, agility and skill, the class is considered to be the top level of small boat sailing. In Australia this boat is called the "Aussie 18" due to its inherent connections to Australia. It is the fastest conventional non-foiling monohull on the yardstick rating, with a score of 675, coming only third after the Tornado and Inter 20.
A fractional rig on a sailing vessel consists of a foresail, such as a jib or genoa sail, that does not reach all the way to the top of the mast.
The Melges 32 is a one-design class of sailboat commonly used for racing. The sportsboat is notable for its ability to plane over the water downwind in modest winds, and for its combination of a simple design that is highly tunable.
The Olson 30 is a sailboat designed by George Olson of Santa Cruz, CA around 1978. Olson was a surfer and surfboard shaper who decided to design a 30' ultra light displacement boat while on a delivery from Honolulu to Santa Cruz on Merlin, a 68' Bill Lee designed and built ultralight sailboat which had competed in the biennial Transpac race in 1977. During this delivery, Olson came up with the idea while sailing with Denis Bassano and Don Snyder, who lent their initials to the prototype's name, SOB 30. The resulting boat was christened Pacific High, and it was launched in 1978.
The term sportsboat first appeared in the late 1980s and early 1990s to describe trailer sailers that were optimised for high performance at the expense of accommodation and ballast. The very definition of the term "sportsboat" is evolving.
The 29erXX is a high performance sailing skiff, it was designed to allow light crews, particularly female crews, to sail twin trapeze boats and as a training boat for the more powerful 49er. The class gained International Sailing Federation Class status in May 2011, but lost it in 2014.
Forces on sails result from movement of air that interacts with sails and gives them motive power for sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and sail-powered land vehicles. Similar principles in a rotating frame of reference apply to wind mill sails and wind turbine blades, which are also wind-driven. They are differentiated from forces on wings, and propeller blades, the actions of which are not adjusted to the wind. Kites also power certain sailing craft, but do not employ a mast to support the airfoil and are beyond the scope of this article.
The Farr 3.7 is a one-person sailing dinghy designed by Bruce Farr in 1971. The design plans are sold by the 3.7 Class Owners Association and they are built by a mix of professionals and home built by amateurs. The 3.7 Class is recognised by Yachting New Zealand as a national class and yachts are sailed in New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain. Full sets of plans have been sold worldwide to a number of individuals with greatest numbers in Germany, Japan, USA, South Korea, Poland, France, Belgium, Russia, Spain, Uruguay.
The B&R rig is a variant of the Bermuda sailboat rig, designed and patented by Swedish aeronautical engineers Lars Bergström and Sven Ridder. It employs swept spreaders that are usually angled aft, together with "stays" running diagonally downward from the tip of the spreaders to the attachment of the next pair of spreaders to the mast or to the intersection of the mast with the deck that facilitates a pre-bend of the mast that is sometimes tuned into the rig before it is stepped onto the boat. Conventional shrouds thereby contribute to both lateral and longitudinal stability, unlike rigs with unswept spreaders. A B&R rig can be a masthead or fractional rig depending on how stays are configured; a backstay is optional. Such rigs are employed in many of the models of at least one U.S. manufacture and in many thousands of boats, worldwide.
The Hobie 17 is an American catamaran that was designed by John Wake as a single-handed racer and first built in 1985.
The ETAP 23iL is a Belgian trailerable sailboat that was designed by Jacques de Ridder as a cruiser and first built in 1994.
