Learning How to Sail: Vessel Classifications

1. Learning How to Sail: Vessel Classifications Students who enroll in a NauticEd course to learn how to sail a sailboat are in for a lot of training. One of the principles they learn early on is how sailing vessels are classified. Boats are classified based on size, hull type, and the total number of masts and sails. There is a lot to learn just in this one area alone. Today's sailing vessels are quite different from their historical counterparts in some ways but very similar in others. So it helps student sailors to learn about all sorts of vessels past and present. The more they know about the sailboat as a general concept, the better able they are to learn how to operate modern vessels on the open water. Sailing Vessel Hull Types The first classification for a sailing vessel relates to hull type. The monohull is the most common form of sailing vessel on the water. It is a single hull vessel with a design that dates back to the earliest watercraft constructed by carving out logs to create canoes. Monohull sailboats can be constructed with keels or daggerboards. Larger yachts and competitive sailing vessels are designed with keels in order to add ballast to what would otherwise be an unstable boat. The downside of such a design is that ballast reduces both acceleration and maneuverability. The upside is that a keel weight helps maintain momentum through maneuvers while the keel profile slows the vessel from side-slipping through the water from the sideways pressure of the wind. A daggerboard on smaller vessels has virtually no weight but helps reduce side-slip. The other two hull type classifications are multi-hull vessels known as catamarans (two hulls) and trimarans (three hulls). A multi-hull vessel needs no ballast in its keel but still uses a keel to slow the side-slip. The multihull geometry of the vessel keeps it stable in the water and provides extra room for the crew. Such vessels are becoming increasingly popular for competitive racing despite the fact that traditional sailing still relies on the monohull design.

2. Monohull Boat Classifications If you want to learn how to sail a sailboat, it is almost guaranteed that you will start out on a basic monohull craft with a single mast and three or fewer sails. This kind of boat is known as a dinghy. Sailing schools prefer the dinghy for training purposes as its operation is simple and it requires very little maintenance. Moving up from the dinghy, there are six other monohull boat classifications: Sloop– This is the most common monohull sailboat featuring a single mast and two sails. The sloop is a highly efficient vessel in the wind. Cutter– The Cutter is similar to the sloop with its single mast. However, the mast tends to be further to the rear (aft) of the boat. Ketch– The ketch is also similar to the sloop. The main difference is that it features a second mast astern of the mainmast. The second mast is known as the mizzen mast. Catboat– A far forward mast and no jib is characteristic of the catboat. Although this sailboat can have multiple sails, most modern designs feature just a single sail. Schooner– A multi-mast vessel with a mainmast taller than the foremast is known as a schooner. Some schooners also have topsails flown above their gaff sails. Yawl– The Yawl is similar to the ketch but with a shorter mizzen mast that is positioned behind the rudder. This brief description of the various kinds of monohull sailboats barely scratches the surface of what makes them so different. All the left-out details are things that new sailors eventually learn in sailing school. It is knowledge that goes into the sailor's toolbox; knowledge that will allow him or her to sail just about any kind of vessel on the water. And there you thought that all sailboats were the same. Nothing could be further from the truth.