Sloop (type of sailing equipment)

The sloop's armament with gaff grotto

The sloop is an established type of slanting sailing armament by the middle of the 19th century - one mast and two main sails, front ( staysail ) and rear ( main ).

Differ by type of grotto: Bermuda , gaff , sprint , rake , etc. Additional sails vary depending on the time and place of construction: direct Marseilles (XIX century), jib (beginning of XX century), spinnakers (from the middle of the XX century) .

At the beginning of the 20th century, a sloop in Europe was allowed to have only one jib , and in America - one or two jibs. A secondary sign, depending on the number of forward sails, was the location of the mast in the region of 1/4 the length of the constructive waterline (SW) from the bow of the sloop. Unlike tenders, sloops could only have a permanent bowsprit .

The quality of the sloop is somewhat higher than that of the tender. Therefore, as the advantages of elongated sails are universally recognized, tenders are almost no longer built. Since then, the Bermuda sloop everywhere becomes the dominant type of weapons. In its development over the past fifty years, it is necessary to note the trend of increasing the height of the staysail. Now the vast majority of the sloops have a top staysail or a 3/4 - 7/8 high sail. The mast at the same time moved closer to the middle of the length of the yacht.

Since the 20th century, the overwhelming majority of small sporty sailboats have been armed with Bermuda sloops.