Essay on Sailing ⋆ Environment Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

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From early in human history, people have put boats into water to transport goods and people. Until the late 19th century, the main source of power for seagoing vessels was the wind captured by sails. This was also the source of power used by most coastal cruisers carrying goods and people along riparian or sea shores. From the voyages of Christopher Columbus and Ferdinand Magellan, to the clipper ships trading with Asia, sailing ships were the means of transportation.

The advent of coal, oil, and nuclear powered vessels led to the almost total abandonment of sailing vessels. Even pleasure boats came to be motorizes. However, especially after World War II, sailing for pleasure or sport became increasingly popular. Today, virtually every harbor or marina in the world is filled with sailboats.

Sailing is an interaction of the vessel with the wind and waves. Because local conditions vary so widely from one coastal area to another, many ships were developed that could be easily handled in all kinds of weather among the rocks, currents, and hazards of a coast. When sailing vessels were abandoned for motorized vessels, many designs were also abandoned. However, as sailing as a sport and recreation activity grew, many of these designs were adopted to by recreational sailors. In fact, many of the original boats used for racing or for cruising were simply refurbished working sailboats.

All sailboats have a hull, a rudder, a keel, a mast, sails, ropes, and connecting links. What makes them different are their number of hulls, the type of keel, rudder, the number of masts, and the kinds of sails. Sailboats can be monohulls or multihulls like catamarans. The design of a hull and its associated keel depends upon whether it will be a racing vessel or a cruising vessel. The keel provides stability against the sideways force of the wind. Racing sailboats are designed to glide at fast speeds and usually have a long narrow design. The sailboats that cruise in coastal waters or that sail the oceans are usually wider in design.

Sails used are generally of two types. Square sails, which were made of cotton canvas in earlier times, were used for cruising before steady winds, especially the trade winds. The Yankee Clipper ships were powered mainly by square rigging. However, to handle shifting winds, triangular sails are used either fore or aft. Today, sails are usually made of a lightweight material such as rayon. Sloops, yawls, cutters, schooners and ketches use mainly rig sails. In all cases the power of a boat is directly related to the area of sail it can carry without capsizing.

Those who sail experience the wind and water very closely. It is imperative for sailors to be skilled at reading the signs of changing weather patterns. Their safety depends upon their ability to sail in stormy conditions as well as in fair weather. Radios, medical kits, weather and GPS devices, and other equipment have increased the safety of sailing. Besides regattas and races such as the America’s Cup, many have sailed alone or with a small crew around the world or on ocean voyages. Others sail on ecology or environmental voyages.

Bibliography:

Bob Bond, The Handbook of Sailing (Alfred Knopf, 2005);
Michael L. Frankel, Voyage of SABRA: An Ecological Cruise through the Caribbean (W. W. Norton, 1990);
Joshua Slocum, Phoenix: Sailing Alone Around the World (Phoenix Press, 2001);
Roger Stone, Voyage of the Sanderling: Exploring the Ecology of the Atlantic Coast from Maine to Rio (Random House, 1997).