A studding sail or studsail (traditionally pronounced stuns'l) is a sail used to increase the sail area of a square rigged vessel or 1950s racing skiffs in light winds.
It is an extra sail hoisted alongside a square-rigged sail on an extension of its yardarm. It is named by prefixing the word studding to the name of the working sail alongside which it is set.
Studding sails have also been used to increase the sail area of a fore-and-aft spanker, again by extending the upper spar. Such a sail extending the leech of a fore-and-aft sail is known as a ringtail. Ringtail sails were used by Flying 18 foot skiffs in Sydney Harbour in the 1950s to enlarge the downwind sailing capacity in light airs. Sails that extend below the boom to deck level or lower are known as watersails.
Famous quotes containing the word sail:
“Senta: These boats, sir, what are they for?
Hamar: They are solar boats for Pharaoh to use after his death. They’re the means by which Pharaoh will journey across the skies with the sun, with the god Horus. Each day they will sail from east to west, and each night Pharaoh will return to the east by the river which runs underneath the earth.”
—William Faulkner (1897–1962)