Fairleaders are sheaves or rollers which are screwed or bolted to the decks or other parts of the boat and through which ropes are run in order that the ropes may be carried around curves or at right angles. Chocks are metal or wooden appliances in the form of notches and are used where ropes pass over the edge of a boat to hold them in one position. Cleats are devices for holding a rope without tying it and are very useful and numerous on boats. They are either of metal or wood and by winding the rope over them it may be held securely and yet can be thrown off at a moment’s notice. Turnbuckles are metal arrangements for tightening ropes, wires or chains and have hooks or eyes at the ends with screw-threads which may be drawn together or separated by turning the central portion of the turnbuckle. On small boats they are seldom used, but on large and medium-sized craft they are very necessary. Eyebolts are eyes bolted or screwed in position and to them turnbuckles, ropes, blocks or other objects are fastened, while travelers are metal rods over which blocks, rings or things slide or “travel.” Travelers are usually placed at the stern of single-sailed boats for the tackle of the sheet, the rope which controls the sail, to slide on, and they are also used on masts for the sail to slide up and down upon when it is raised or lowered, as well as in many other places.
A great many people who have used boats or have traveled on them speak of a vessel’s rigging without knowing what the rigging really is. In the same way they speak of the “ropes” of a ship and while both terms may be correct in a way, yet to a sailor the terms would mean nothing definite. Rigging comprises all the ropes, sails, stays, halyards and in fact, everything above the decks which has anything to do with the sail plan or rig of a boat, but to sailors there are two definite types of rigging, even in the smallest craft. These are the standing rigging and the running rigging. The latter comprises only the various ropes, lines, etc., which move when the vessel is in use, while the standing rigging consists of all the permanent ropes, stays and other things which remain stationary. To enumerate the various individual parts of the standing and running rigging of a large vessel would require a great deal of space and would be of little value to the person who is interested only in small boats, but there are certain portions of the rigging which occur on every boat and which every boatman should know by heart.
As a matter of fact, there are very few “ropes” so-called, even on a full-rigged ship, for what appear as ropes to a landsman are known by specific names to sailors. Even on a small boat there are few ropes which are spoken of as such and nothing so loudly proclaims the landlubber as to speak of a stay, halyard or sheet as a “rope.”
The halyards are the ropes which hoist the sails and they vary in number and name according to the type of sails used. As a rule there are two to each sail and known as the throat halyards and peak halyards. (This refers only to fore-and-aft sails, see Chapter IV). The throat halyard being the one which hoists the edge of the sail nearest the mast, while the peak halyard raises the outer edge of the sail. Where sails have no gaff or piece of wood at the upper edge only one halyard is used.
Running Rigging of Fore-and-aft Rig
A—Jib halyard. B—Downhaul. C—Throat halyard. D—Peak halyard. E—Topping lift. F—Main sheet. G—Jib sheet.
The sheet is the line which is attached to the outer extremity of the sail and is controlled by the man sailing the boat and its purpose is to hold the sail in any desired position and to enable the sailor to pull the sail in or to let it out, according to the direction of the wind and the course sailed.
Downhauls are ropes used in pulling down sails and are just the opposite of halyards and on small boats they are seldom necessary. Topping lifts are ropes which lead from the masthead to the end of boom to support the latter when the sail is lowered and they are usually so arranged that they may be hauled up or let down to raise or lower or top the boom. Lazy jacks are light lines extending from the mast head, or near it, to the boom and are used to prevent the sail from falling or bagging loose when lowered. They are seldom used on very small boats. Brails are ropes extending to the after edge of the sail by means of which the sail may be gathered close to the mast ready for furling.
