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The Evolution of Sailboats
A survey of how sailboat hulls and rigs developed from reed boats and square sails to lateen, fore-and-aft and modern racing and cruising craft.
Sailing Craft
Sail Rigs and Sailboats
Sloops, ketches, yawls, schooners and luggers compared.
The Development of the Sailing Jib
How the jib and other headsails appeared, spread through European sailing, and helped vessels sail closer to the wind, from staysails to the modern genoa.
The Development of the Sailing Ketch
How the ketch became a favourite of long-distance cruising sailors, with its split sail plan, mizzen advantages, and trade-offs compared with a sloop.
The Development of the Sailing Yawl
How yawls fared in offshore racing in the twentieth century, and how handicap and rating rules shaped the size and treatment of the small mizzen.
The Evolution of the Ketch
The ketch rig explained: a two-masted fore-and-aft sail plan with the mizzen forward of the rudder post, how it differs from the yawl, and how it changed.
The Evolution of the Sailing Lugger
Fishing luggers of Cornwall and Brittany, how the lugsail works, and why these boats served pilchard, mackerel and sardine fisheries until steam and engines took over.
The Evolution of the Sailing Schooner
How the schooner grew into large multi-masted cargo carriers and racing yachts, from the yacht America of 1851 to the big American coasting schooners.
The Evolution of the Yawl
How the yawl became a popular yacht rig in nineteenth-century British and American racing and cruising, shaped by tonnage rules and changing fashion.
The History of the Sailing Cutter
The history of the gaff cutter: a single-masted rig used by revenue vessels and pilot boats, and later a mainstay of British and other yachts.
The History of the Sailing Ketch
How ketches served as coastal cargo carriers and as bomb vessels in the age of sail, from seventeenth-century trade to naval bombardments.
The History of the Sailing Lugger
How fast luggers served smugglers and privateers in the Channel, and how revenue cutters, preventive services and changing duties countered them.
The History of the Sailing Sloop
The single-masted sloop in the Caribbean and Bermuda, as a trading boat and privateer, and its journey to the Bermuda rig of modern racing yachts.
The History of the Schooner
Origins of the fore-and-aft schooner in the American colonies, the Gloucester legend, and its use in coastal trade, fishing and privateering.
The History of the Yawl
What makes a yawl, how it differs from a ketch by the position of its small mizzen, where the word comes from, and the working boats that carried the name.
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