Fair weather sails

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Sailors in the mast during a sailing maneuver around 1895

Fair-weather sailing , even Passat sails are called, driven in light wind and weather conditions of sailing vessels of all types (to the yachts).

These very light sails are used to prevent the much stronger bad weather sails , which can even withstand hurricanes, from wearing out too quickly, so that money is saved and safety is increased, because too worn sailcloth can be very dangerous for man and ship on storm days .

Changing sails was a common practice and necessity, especially in the times of great sailing ships. On their long trade routes, the ships passed through many climatic zones of the earth, in which the most varied weather conditions prevailed. And so, for example, they drove in the tropics through the Passat Zones and the Kalmengürtel between them with fair-weather sails to protect the more valuable bad-weather sails for travel in stormy latitudes (such as the Roaring Forties ). For the sailors, changing the sails repeatedly was not only hard work, but also something of a sporting event, in which the individual guards battled to determine which of them had the sails up or down first on their mast.

What is also remarkable about the fair-weather sails is that, because of their lightness, they absorb the weak wind well and are much more effective here than the heavy bad-weather sails, which only hang lazily in it and hardly inflate. Another advantage of their lightness is that they are easy to handle, which is very important for smaller sailing ships such as yachts, for example if certain sails have to be hauled in quickly when the wind suddenly becomes stronger.

literature

  • Hermann Koeler: Some observations about the temperature of the sea surface in the North Atlantic Seas , Verlag Dietrische Buchhandlung, Göttingen 1849
  • Konrad Reich , Martin Pagel: Heavenly broom over white dogs: words and idioms, stories and anecdotes - a reading book for half-men and grown-ups who want to get clearer terms from the ship's people and the sea - brought up again and explained , transpress VEB Verlag for Transport, Berlin 1981
  • William F. Stark: The last time about the horn: The end of a legend, told by someone who was there , Mare Verlag, Hamburg 2003
  • Seeamt Lübeck: The sinking of the sailing ship Pamir , Unikum Verlag, Bremen 2011