Sailboat components

A sail is a tensile structure, which is made from fabric or other membrane materials, that uses wind power to propel sailing craft, including sailing ships, sailboats, windsurfers, ice boats, and even sail-powered land vehicles. Sails may be made from a combination of woven materials—including canvas or polyester cloth, laminated membranes or bonded filaments, usually in a three- or four-sided shape.

thumb|Stockless anchor|Stockless ship's anchor and chain on display thumb|Anchor of Amoco Cadiz in [[Portsall, north-west Brittany, France]] thumb|Memorial anchor in Kirjurinluoto, [[Pori, Finland]] thumb|Massive anchor chain for large ships. The weight of the chain is vital for proper holding of the anchor.

thumb|300px|Keel laying|Keel laid for the in [[drydock]] The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The laying of the keel is often the initial step in constructing a ship. In the British and American shipbuilding traditions, this event marks the beginning date of a ship's construction.

thumb|Bowsprit held down by a bobstay thumb|Bowsprit with forestays and bobstays The bowsprit of a sailing vessel is a spar extending forward from the vessel's prow. The bowsprit is typically held down by a bobstay that counteracts the forces from the forestays. The bowsprit’s purpose is to create anchor points for the sails that extend beyond the vessel’s bow, increasing the size of sail that may be held taut.

carved wooden decoration found at the prow of a ship

thumb|upright=1.0|Amante, a 1983 "Choate 48" in Newport Beach, California, in February 2015 flying a symmetric spinnaker thumb|Bear of Britain, a Farr Yacht Design|Farr 52 with masthead spinnaker in front of [[Calshot Spit]]

in sailing, a spar along the bottom edge of a fore and aft rigged sail

A jib is a triangular sail that sets ahead of the foremast of a sailing vessel. Its forward corner (tack) is fixed to the bowsprit, to the bows, or to the deck between the bowsprit and the foremost mast. Jibs and spinnakers are the two main types of headsails on a modern boat.

thumb|325px|Sailors hauling a halyard

thumb Hawsehole is a nautical term for a small hole in the hull of a ship through which hawsers may be passed. It is also known as a cat hole. In the (British) Royal Navy, a man who had risen from the lowest grade to officer was said to have "come in at the hawsehole".

thumb|280pxA centreboard or centerboard (US) is a retractable hull appendage which pivots out of a slot in the hull of a sailboat, known as a centreboard trunk (UK) or centerboard case (US). The retractability allows the centreboard to be raised to operate in shallow waters, to move the centre of lateral resistance (offsetting changes to the sailplan that move the centre of effort aft), to reduce drag when the full area of the centreboard is not needed, or when removing the boat from the water, as when trailering. A centreboard which consists of solely a pivoting metal plate is called a center

A binnacle () is a waist-high case or stand on the deck of a ship, generally mounted in front of the helmsman, in which navigational instruments are placed for easy and quick reference as well as to protect the instruments. Its traditional purpose was to hold the ship's magnetic compass, mounted in gimbals to keep it level while the ship pitched and rolled.

thumb|Supply Naval rating|ratings handling a coil of towing hawser (rope) at the [[Royal Navy's Naval Stores Department, Nore, Harwich, which supplies all of the Royal Navy's sea-going ships with the stores and provisions that they need. Note that the coil is bigger than the men and they need a trolley to transport it.]] thumb|The hawser is coiled on deck. Hawser () is a nautical term for a thick rope used in mooring or towing a ship. A hawser is not waterproof, as is a cable. A hawser is an anchor rope, located on the hawse.

thumb|Tiller blocked by two lines thumb|right|Stern compartment containing the tiller of Swedish warship Vasa (ship)|Vasa

surface that forms the stern of a vessel

sailing part

location of controls of a vessel

thumb|right|300px

type of downhaul

A beakhead or beak is the protruding part of the foremost section of a sailing ship.

thumb|upright=1.7|An anchor secured to the ship's side. The projecting beam the anchor hangs from when not secured is a cathead (left). The anchor has a stock (cross-piece, in this case wooden) below, and curved flukes above (end-on); the shank is the near-vertical metal bar running between them, lashed with the shank painter thumb|Cathead on bow of the barque ; the cat tail protrudes onto the deck and is fastened to the cat-beam. thumb|The 17th century warship with cathead visible upper middle right A cathead is a large wooden beam located on either side of the bow of a sailing ship, and angl

thumb|300px|Sails made with synthetic fibers. Sailcloth is cloth used to make sails. It can be made of a variety of materials, including natural fibers such as flax, hemp, or cotton in various forms of sail canvas, and synthetic fibers such as nylon, polyester, aramids, and carbon fibers in various woven, spun, and molded textiles.

spar in ship's rigging

A skeg (or skegg or skag) is a sternward extension of the keel of boats and ships which have a rudder mounted on the centre line. The term also applies to the lowest point on an outboard motor or the outdrive of an inboard/outboard. In more recent years, the name has been used for a fin on a surfboard which improves directional stability and to a movable fin on a kayak which adjusts the boat's centre of lateral resistance (it moves the center of resistance relative to the center of effort). The term is also often used for the fin on water skis in the U.S. It has been used for the vertical fin

thumb|BMW Oracle Racing USA 17 (yacht)|USA 17 from the [[2010 America's Cup, with a rigid mainsail wingsail, and a conventional jib at the fore]] right|thumb|Forces on a wing (green = lift, red = drag).

oversized oar or board to control the direction of watercraft

small straps attached to the sail to help the sailor judge the relative wind direction and adjust the sails for optimal performance

right|300px|thumb|A boomkin projecting from the bow of (in center of image) A boomkin, bumkin, or bumpkin is a short spar that may project either fore or aft on a sailing vessel, depending on its function. Traditionally, it was a strong, usually wooden spar extending forward over the bow of a Western sailing ship holding a block through which the tack of the foresail was passed; on some modern sailing yachts with long main booms it is a short spar extending aft from the stern anchoring a central backstay.

A whipstaff is a steering device that was used on European sailing ships from the 14th to the 18th century. Its development preceded the invention of the more complex ship's wheel and followed the simple use of a tiller to control the steering of a ship underway.

canvas top for the cockpit of a boat

sailboat part

right|thumb|A cringle at the corner of a sail.

feature of sailing ships

SolidSail, sometimes referred to as Solid Sail or SolidSail Mast Factory (SMAF) in reference to the eponymous subsidiary, is a wind propulsion technology designed for large vessels, developed by Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France. This innovative system is based on rigid sails made of composite materials and a tilting gaff rigging, enabling hybrid or primary wind propulsion for commercial and cruise ships. It is also the name of the subsidiary created by Chantiers de l'Atlantique in 2023.

piece of timber laid under the deck of a ship