In a keel boat, a death roll is the act of broaching to windward, putting the spinnaker pole into the water and causing a crash-jibe of the boom and mainsail, which sweep across the deck and plunge down into the water. The death roll often results in the destruction of the spinnaker pole and sometimes even the dismasting of the boat. Serious injury to crew is possible due to the swift and uncontrolled action of the boom and associated gear sweeping across the boat and crashing to the (now) leeward side. [1] [ better source needed ]
For dinghy sailors, a death roll is a common type of oscillation while running downwind. It may, and often will, result in a capsize and even a full inversion if the skipper does not take quick action to prevent one. [2]
During a death roll, the boat rolls from side to side, becoming gradually more unstable until either it capsizes or the skipper reacts correctly to prevent it. While on the dead run, off the wind, the force exerted by the sail lies almost parallel to the center line of the boat. There is little or no force causing the boat to heel to leeward, unlike most other points of sailing, and, if the sail is out past perpendicular to the center line, or the sail is incorrectly shaped, there may be a force causing the boat to heel to windward. Instabilities in the wind, and turbulence caused by the sail, which 'fouls' the wind on such a tack, may cause this force to change rapidly. Most sailors also retract the centerboards of their dinghies while on the run, to reduce drag and increase speed. The lack of resistance to the rolling motion can enhance it.
IOR (International Offshore Racing) boats in the 1970s and 1980s were known for death rolls due to their small mains that made them unbalanced downwind. Many boats put up spankers, big A-type sails set to leeward and flown away from the boat, to balance the boat. The higher the wind speed, the more important the spanker was to balance the boat.
High-performance racing dinghies are most prone to death roll situations.
These include skiff designs, such as the Musto Skiff, 29er, 49er and International 14. Sailors of these boats generally prefer to sail on the broad reach rather than on the dead run because the boat is more stable and actually faster. Additionally, as their speed increases on the broad reach, their apparent wind changes to allow them to point lower. Often they can point as low as the other boats, only faster. See Sailing faster than the wind . [3]
More traditional racing dinghies such as the Laser and Laser Radial are also prone to death rolls. Singlehanders without shrouds will actually sail faster downwind when sailing slightly "by the lee", or past dead downwind, where stability improves and death rolls are less likely. [4]
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.
Dinghy sailing is the activity of sailing small boats by using five essential controls:
A point of sail is a sailing craft's direction of travel under sail in relation to the true wind direction over the surface.
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. Because the mainsail boom can swing across the cockpit quickly, jibes are potentially dangerous to person and rigging compared to tacking. Therefore, accidental jibes are to be avoided while the proper technique must be applied so as to control the maneuver. For square-rigged ships, this maneuver is called wearing ship.
Dinghy racing is a competitive sport using dinghies, which are small boats which may be rowboats, have an outboard motor, or be sailing dinghies. Dinghy racing has affected aspects of the modern sailing dinghy, including hull design, sail materials and sailplan, and techniques such as planing and trapezing.
A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a reach to downwind. Spinnakers are constructed of lightweight fabric, usually nylon, and are often brightly colored. They may be designed to perform best as either a reaching or a running spinnaker, by the shaping of the panels and seams. They are attached at only three points and said to be flown.
Running rigging is the rigging of a sailing vessel that is used for raising, lowering, shaping and controlling the sails on a sailing vessel—as opposed to the standing rigging, which supports the mast and bowsprit. Running rigging varies between vessels that are rigged fore and aft and those that are square-rigged.
Tacking or coming about is a sailing maneuver by which a sailing craft, whose next destination 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. Sailing vessels are unable to sail higher than a certain angle towards the wind, so "beating to windward" in a zig-zag fashion with a series of tacking maneuvers, allows a vessel to sail towards a destination that is closer to the wind that the vessel can sail directly.
In sailing, hiking is the action of moving the crew's body weight as far to windward (upwind) as possible, in order to decrease the extent the boat heels. By moving the crew's weight to windward, the moment of that force around the boat's center of buoyancy is increased. This opposes the heeling movement of the wind pushing sideways against the boat's sails. It is usually done by leaning over the edge of the boat as it heels. Some boats are fitted with equipment such as hiking straps and trapezes to make hiking more effective.
The Laser 4000 is a racing dinghy designed by Phil Morrison crewed by two persons. Its one-design weight-equalised system enables physically differing sailors to compete on a level playing field. It is most popular in Europe, particularly the UK, France and Italy.
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. Worldwide this boat is called the "18 Foot Skiff". 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.
Weather helm is the tendency of sailing vessels to turn towards the source of wind, creating an unbalanced helm that requires pulling the tiller to windward in order to counteract the effect.
An asymmetrical spinnaker is a sail used when sailing between about 90 and 165 degrees from the angle of the wind. Also known as an "asym", "aspin", or "A-sail" it can be described as a cross between a genoa jib and a spinnaker. It is asymmetric like a genoa, but like a spinnaker, its luff is unstructured; its leading edge is allowed to float freely, unencumbered by an internal wire or hanks attaching it to a stay. Unlike a symmetric spinnaker, the asymmetric does not require a spinnaker pole, since it is fixed (tacked) to the bow or bowsprit. The asymmetrical spinnaker has a larger camber than a genoa and a Spinnaker Mid-Gerth (SMG) -- also called Spinnaker Half Width (SHW) -- measurement greater than the length of its foot.
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 RS100, first launched in 2009 by RS Sailing, is a singlehanded skiff. Possessing an asymmetric spinnaker the boat has two PY numbers of 981 for the 10.2 rig and 1004 for the 8.4 rig. The RS100 has a racing event circuit in the United Kingdom and in Europe, with the Eurotour beginning in 2011.
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 23 is a sailing boat designed in the early 1990s. It has an ultralight construction with a very large sail plane. Typical crew is a helmsman and two deck hands in trapezes. The boat is predominantly used for racing.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sailing:
Julian Bethwaite is an Australian, Sydney-based skiff sailor and sailboat designer. He wrote one chapter of his father Frank's book, Higher Performance Sailing.
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