Modern Yachts and Small Craft
On a boat with two staysails the inner sail is called the staysail, and the outer (foremost) is called the jib. This combination of two staysails is called a cutter rig (or a yankee pair) and a boat with one mast rigged with two staysails and a mainsail is called a cutter.
On boats with only one jib, it is common for the clew of the jib to be further aft than the mast, meaning the jib and mainsail overlap. An overlapping jib is called a genoa jib or simply a genoa (see illustration).
In acting as an airfoil, a jib has the added benefit of increasing the performance of the main sail itself by reducing turbulence on the leeward side of the sail.
On cruising yachts with more than one jib, it is common for the innermost jib to be self-tacking, either by using a boom along the foot of the sail, or by cleating the jib sheet to a track, or both. On other cruising yachts, and nearly all racing sailboats, the jib needs to be worked when tacking. On these yachts, there are two sheets attached to the clew of the jib. As the yacht comes head to wind during a tack, the active sheet is released, and the other sheet (the lazy sheet) on the other side of the boat is pulled in. This sheet becomes the new active sheet until the next tack.
Read more about this topic: Jib
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