Sheet (sailing)

“ When it becomes necessary to jibe, or if it is seen that it cannot be avoided, haul in the sheet just as rapidly as possible and just as soon as the boom passes the center of the boat pay out the sheet smoothly and quickly so that there will be no sudden jerk or pull as the wind swings the sail over. If there is much wind blowing it is a wise plan to lower the peak of the sail before jibing and when sailing before the wind dropping the peak will often make the boat sail better. ”

“ But there was nothing to do, for any one except Ash at the wheel; for the skipper had not stationed the crew for tacking. He had not had time to do so. The lower block of the main-sheet ran on a traveller, which is an iron rod set a couple of inches above the taffrail, or piece across the top of the stern. The ring under the block plays freely, or travels on it, from one side to the other. As the wind carries the sail and boom over, the sheet-block follows it. Of course, the sheet is trimmed so the boom may be at the right angle with the keel, on whichever tack the boat may be. ”

“ FLOWING-SHEET. In sailing free or large, is the position of the sheets or lower clues of the principal sails when they are eased off to the wind, so as to receive it more nearly perpendicular than when they are close-hauled, although more obliquely than when going before the wind; a ship is therefore said to have a flowing-sheet, when the wind crosses the line of her course nearly at right angles ”

“ In sailing the jib is worked to every puff, eased off or drawn in at every variation in direction or strength of wind. The man in charge watches the wind pressing down the grasses and reeds and darkening the water in advance, and trims his sheet to every puff or lull. If he does not, why, the boat is not sailing her best—that is all. The mainsheet man, too, is almost as particular. When there are hands enough to work the sheets no one thinks of making a sheet fast. ”

“ If, when sailing with a beam or quarter wind, you wish to turn about you should always haul in your sheet, push the tiller to leeward—away from the wind—and bring the boat up into the wind until the sail swings to the other side, when you may gradually ease-off the sheet until sailing as before. ”

“ If by any mischance the mainsheet becomes jammed do not hesitate, but cut it. A sharp knife in such an emergency has often saved life when an upset has seemed inevitable through the boat being nearly on her beam ends. If you are sailing in a jib and mainsail craft, and the squall has a good deal of weight in it, let fly the jib sheet and let the boat come up in the wind, at the same time lowering away the mainsail and taking care to spill it as it comes down. ”

“ Sit to windward while steering.
If struck by a squall, luff up to it, or ease the sheet, or do both.
Always luff up in the wind before hoisting or lowering sail.
Never climb the mast of a small boat. If anything is wrong aloft, lower the mast to set it right.
Belay a halyard by taking a few turns round its cleat. Do not put a half-hitch on the top of the turns.
Do not jibe in the middle of a squall, if you can avoid doing so. If a jibe is unavoidable, lower your peak first; haul in your mainsheet, and pay it out on the other side, so as to lessen the jerk as the boat jibes. ”

“ The same remarks apply to the mainsheet, and where two or three equally capable amateurs are engaged in sailing there will be keen differences of opinion as to the proper quantity of sheet to be allowed out, and hot arguments as to the advisability of an inch more or less, when to the man accustomed to sailing in more open water the difference would appear immaterial. ”

“ The gaff-topsail (3) is set by hauling out the after-leach and foot to the end of the main-gaff, which part of the gaff is called the peak, by means of a rope, which is named the gaff topsail-sheet, which reefs through a sheave in the gaff end, and hence under the gaff to the throat, and thence through a block to the deck. The other clew, formed by the luff and foot, is stretched by means of a rope leading to the deck, called the tack; and the sail is hoisted by means of halliards, that reeve through a block fastened at the topmast head, and thence leading to the deck. ”

“ It never stands flat, except when the boat is close-hauled, and not always then, unless the sheet is led exactly to the right place; and though a sail without a boom jibes with greater safety, it is much more liable to accidental jibes than one with a boom.
The Balance Lug.—The favourite sail for small centre-board craft in England is undoubtedly the balance lug. Most of the racing boats on the Upper Thames are fitted with this sail ”

“ It is necessary in this place to remark, that the sheets, which are universally mistaken by the English poets and their readers, for the sails themselves, are no other than the ropes used to extend the clues, or lower corners of the sails to which they are attached. To the main-sail and fore-sail there is a sheet and tack on each side; the latter of which is a thick rope serving to confine the weather-clue of the sail down to the ship's side, whilst the former draws out the lee-clue or lower-corner on the opposite side. Tacks are only used in a side-wind. ”

“ You cannot expect a sail to sit properly and hold its draught on buckling spars. The lead of the sheet is such that the boom cannot be kept rigid, and just as soon as it blows its end turns up like a pugdog's tail, throwing the canvas all out of shape. Then the back-wind from the mainsail makes it impossible to keep the mizzen full unless it is sheeted very flat. ”

“ That part of a square sail which is secured to the yard is the "head," the lower part is the "foot," the outer edge is the "leech," the two lower corners are the "clews," the middle of the sail when furled is the "bunt." The "sheet" pulls the sail out to its full extent down to the yard below, the clewlines and buntlines bring it up under the yard for furling.
The courses, having no yards below them, have both "tack" and "sheet," the tack enabling the clew of the sail to be taken forward, and the sheet enabling it to be taken aft. ”

“ I suppose 199you all know what sheets are, and have got rid of the lubberly idea that the sails are called by this name."
"I think we all know that the sheets are ropes," added Ash.
"The jib is made fast at all points except at the clew, or at the after-clew, as some would say. By the sheets, the jib is trimmed so as to sail on the wind or otherwise. In small craft, these sheets usually lead aft, to the standing-room, or cockpit as it is sometimes called, so as to be within reach of the person sailing the boat. If there is a flying-jib, it is handled in precisely the same way." ”

“ After the sail is set, it is sometimes necessary to get the sheets closer home. Slack the halyards, lee brace, and weather bowline, clap the watch-tackle upon the lee sheet first, and then the weather one, shivering the sail by the braces if necessary. Overhaul the clewlines and reef-tackles, slack the topgallant sheets, and hoist the sail up, taut leech, by the halyards. ”

“ The line of plank on a vessel's side, running fore-and-aft under the gunwale. Also, a vessel's position when riding by a single anchor.
Sheet. A rope used in setting a sail, to keep the clew down to its place. With square sails, the sheets run through each yard-arm. With boom sails, they haul the boom over one way and another. They keep down the inner clew of a studdingsail and the after clew of a jib. ”

“ Now this means nothing to the landsman, but a lot of queer names, yet the gear has come down through long ages of elimination and represents the utmost efficiency in handling sailing canvas. A main sail is a mighty spread on a large modern ship and may show to the wind as much as four thousand square feet of surface. Our mainsail on the Fuller was approximately of this size. Given a heavy press of wind, say twenty pounds to the square foot, and we have the sail urging our ship along to some purpose. ”

“ When hoisting sail the sheet should be left slack enough to allow the sail to swing freely from side to side, but it should not be entirely free or the sail may swing out at right angles and strike some neighboring boat or obstruction, or it may even wrap itself about the mast and cause no end of trouble. ”

“ Three or four successive coats of paint should be applied to a boat the first time it is painted, and before using, it should be launched, half filled with water, and allowed to stand for a few days so that the joints will swell and close properly. A mast six or eight feet high and a leg-of-mutton sail will enable a boy to sail before the wind in a quiet breeze, but rough-weather sailing should not be attempted in this style of open boat. ”

“ In the first place we heave our vessel to. To do this we slack away our lee foresheet and haul in the weather one, while we flatten in the main and mizzen sheets.
The wind striking the after sails drives the vessel up in the wind; but the foresail being hauled to windward and becoming a back sail makes her pay off. By trimming the sheets properly the head and after sails can thus be made to balance each other, and the yacht will float on the water practically motionless, with her head to the wind, and remain so for as long as we please without any hand being required at the tiller. ”

“ The framing of the bottom is formed of grown floors resting on the top of the keel, and extending in one piece, from shelf to shelf, as shown on the transverse section (Fig. 23) . There are nineteen of these floors in all, spaced in the body of the boat, on the average 3 ft. 3 in. apart. They are 4 in. in diameter at the garboard strake, and taper in both dimensions, so that they are less than 3 in. at the shelf. They are not fastened to the keel. The planking is put on clinker fashion. ”

“ In the chapter on how to build the Rough and Ready, the sprit sail is depicted and fully described.
The Balance Lug
comes as near the square sail of a ship as any canvas used on small boats, but you can see, by referring to the diagram, Fig. 151, [116] that the leach and the luff are not parallel and that the gaff hangs at an angle. To boom out the canvas and make it sit flat there are three sticks extended across the sail from the front to the back, luff to leach, called battens. ”

“ SHEET-CABLE. A hempen cable used when riding in deep water, where the weight of a chain cable would oppress a ship.
SHEET-COPPER. Copper rolled out into sheets, for the sheathing of ships' bottoms, &c.
SHEET-FISH. The Silurus glanis, a large fish found in many European rivers and lakes.
SHEET HOME! The order, after the sails are loosed, to extend the sheets to the outer extremities of the yards, till the clue is close to the sheet-block. Also, when driving anything home, as a blow, &c.
SHEET IN THE WIND. Half intoxicated; as the sail trembles and is unsteady, so is a drunken man. ”

“ Always anchor it so that the wind is blowing on one end and not broadside as it is a strain on the anchors and ropes to hold a boat broadside on.
By erecting a spar fifteen or twenty feet high and four or five inches in diameter, a square-sail can be rigged on yard-arms so that the house-punt can be sailed before the wind. A long oar will be necessary to steer with, or a portable rudder may be made and hung to the stern with pins and ropes. ”

“ A sheet tackle should be powerful enough to give one man control of the sail at any time. Weak travelers is another defect. This should be doubly strong, as it is frequently used to tow or make fast to. Every boat should have a strong ringbolt on each side in the quarters for boom lashings, etc. ”

“ A sailing-boat is so constructed as to resist this tendency to capsize. Either she is made narrow and deep and is weighted with ballast as far as possible below the water-line, or she is shallow but of considerable beam. The deep and weighted boat will heel over more readily than the beamy shallow boat, but the further she heels the greater pressure of wind is necessary to make her heel still more, for the leverage of her ballast increases as she heels, and many boats with lead upon their keels are practically uncapsizable. ”

“ Take a bit of pine board, sharpen it at one end, set up a mast about a quarter of the length of the whole piece from the bow, fit on a square piece of stiff paper or card for a sail, and you are ready for action. Put this in the water, with the sail set squarely across (A, Fig. 141) , and she will run off before the wind—which is supposed to be blowing as indicated by the arrow—at a good rate of speed. If she does not steer herself, put a small weight near the stern, or square end; or, if you like, arrange a thin bit of wood for a rudder. ”

“ The front turn must be long and gradual like a skate, two-thirds the length, however, flat on the ice. The running edges should not be too sharp. They will project 2-1/2 or three inches below the bottom of the wood.
For the sail get twenty yards, three-quarters of a yard wide, of heavy drilling. The dimensions are: Head, 5 feet; foot, 13 feet; foreleach, 10 feet; afterleach, 14-1/2 feet. Make these measurements on a floor, and mark the outlines with a chalk-line. ”

“ STUDDING-SAIL BOOM. A spar rigged out for the purpose of setting a studding-sail, and taking its name from the sail it belongs to.
STUDDING-SAILS. Fine-weather sails set outside the square-sails; the term "scudding-sails" was formerly used.—Top-mast and top-gallant studding-sails. Those which are set outside the top-sails and topgallant-sails. They have yards at the head, and are spread at the foot by booms, which slide out on the extremities of the lower and top-sail yards, and their heads or yards are hoisted up to the top-sail and top-gallant yard-arms. ”