The diagram below illustrates the basic setup of a sailboat. The hull of the boat, consisting of the cockpit, the cabin, and the foredeck, is the main structural component of a sailboat. The front of the hull is called the bow while the back is called the stern. The side of the boat is called the beam, and top edge of the hull around the sides is called the gunwale.
The boat is steered using the rudder at the back of the boat which knifes through the water. The rudder can be controlled by a tiller, as shown, or a wheel that is mounted in the cockpit. The centerboard, an adjustable fin-like structure protruding underneath the hull, adds lateral stability to the boat. In larger boats, the centerboard is replaced by a keel, a heavily weighted fin that is permanently fixed to the hull.
The main pole that holds up the sails is the mast, and the boom supports the bottom of the mainsail.
Sail edges are described in terms of their luff, leach, foot, and head. The luff is the windward (front) edge of the sail and the leech is the leeward (back) edge. The foot is the bottom edge, and the head is the top point. The tack and clew of the sail are the windward and leeward corners for the sail, respectively.
Sails
There are two basic types of sails on most sailboats, a mainsail and the foresail. The mainsail is mounted behind the mast and is supported by the boom. As the name suggests, it’s the primary sail. Some smaller boats may only have a mainsail.
The foresail is used to add sail area and increase the wind power captured by the boat. Also, a boat that is designed for a foresail will be easier to steer if it is flying a foresail.
Typically, a sailboat has only one mainsail, but several different types of foresail can be substituted for one another. A foresail can be a jib, genoa, or spinnaker. Jibs come in different sizes, the smallest being a storm jib, and a genoa is basically just a very large version of a jib. For this reason, the terms foresail and jib are commonly used interchangeably. A spinnaker is a very large foresail used only under certain conditions and requiring a completely separate set of rigging from the jib.
Some modern sailboats have furling sails. A furling system on the jib allows it to be rolled up around the luff for easy storage. Otherwise, when not in use, the jib has to be completely taken down. Less common are furling mainsails which coil up inside a special hollowed out mast.
Rigging
Rigging – or the ropes and cables that hold up and control the sails – is divided into two categories. Standing rigging is basically anything used to hold up the mast. This includes all types of stays, shrouds, and spreaders.
Running rigging, on the other hand, controls the sails. These include sheets, halyards, the clew outhaul, topping lift, cunningham, boom vang, etc. Sheets are ropes or lines that control the trim – or shape and orientation – of the sails. Halyards are lines used to raise the sails. The clew outhaul is a line that pulls the mainsail clew out to the end of the boom. The topping lift and downhaul control the height of the boom (or spinnaker pole). On downwind tacks, the jib clew can be held out using a whisker pole, which attaches to the mast.
A system of cleats, blocks, and winches is used to feed the lines around obstacles on the boat into a position where they can be easily operated. Cleats are used to hold a line in place. Blocks are essentially pulleys that change the direction of a line. Winches are circular ratcheting devices that can be used to crank a line in if it’s difficult to pull by hand.
