A snotter is a rope or tackle used in sailing to tension the sprit on a spritsail, or a sprit boom on a sprit-boomed sail by pulling the lower end towards the mast. It is also used in a junk rig.
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.
The spritsail is a four-sided, fore-and-aft sail that is supported at its highest points by the mast and a diagonally running spar known as the sprit. The foot of the sail can be stretched by a boom or held loose-footed just by its sheets. A spritsail has four corners: the throat, peak, clew, and tack. The Spritsail can also be used to describe a rig that uses a spritsail.
There are a great many variations on the snotter arrangement, and some more fastidious authors have referred to it as a snouter or snorter.
The origin of the nautical term is obscure. Hauling on the snotter sets the tension in the spar and thus governs how the sail is set.
On very small boats, typically with a single boomless spritsail, the snotter is a rope with eyes spliced into it, and is merely hooked into the fore end of the sprit and then jammed up the mast to force the upper end of the sprit into a pocket in the sail.
Spritsail
There are boomed spritsails, loose-footed spritsails and boomless spritsails.
Sprit Booms
The most common sprit-boom is found on a sprit-boomed leg-of-mutton sail. Sprit booms have been combined with a leech spar called a club; they have been used on foresails, like the jib. Some sailors have used a sprit boom on the standing lug sail.
The lug sail, or lugsail, is a fore-and-aft, four-cornered sail that is suspended from a spar, called a yard. When raised the sail area overlaps the mast. For "standing lug" rigs, the sail remains on the same side of the mast on both the port and starboard tacks. For "dipping lug" rigs, the sail is lowered partially to be brought around to the leeward side of the mast in order to optimize the efficiency of the sail on both tacks.
Further reading
Emiliano Marino, Sailmaker's Apprentice, International Marine/Ragged Mountain Press (2001), ISBN0071376429
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Related Research Articles
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A Thames sailing barge is a type of commercial sailing boat once common on the River Thames in London. The flat-bottomed barges with a shallow draught and leeboards, were perfectly adapted to the Thames Estuary, with its shallow waters and narrow tributary rivers. The larger barges were seaworthy vessels, and were the largest sailing vessel to be handled by just two men. The average size was about 120 tons and they carried 4,200 square feet (390 m2) of canvas sail in six working sails. The mainsail was loose-footed and set up with a sprit, and was brailed to the mast when not needed. It is sheeted to a horse, as is the foresail; they require no attention when tacking. The foresail is often held back by the mate to help the vessel come about more swiftly.
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The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sailing:
