James Cook sails and rigging



Home Voyages 2008 A week on the James Cook How to book About the boat Safety Any questions? JC clothing About Captain James Cook About us Contact us Sponsors Support us Links the webmaster		James Cook is a ketch, which means she has two masts, the main mast towards the bow and the mizzen mast at the stern. The masts have to be supported by thick wires which make up the standing rigging. To get the James Cook moving we have a choice of sails . Which sails we hoist depends on the wind direction and how strong it is blowing. The sails are controlled by ropes called running rigging. The sails are hoist up the masts using ropes called halyards, there is a halyard for each sail: the main halyard, the headsail halyard and the mizzen halyard, the halyards are attached to the head (the top) of each sail. The main sail and head sail are big, heavy sails and we have an extra rope for each to help hoist these sails for the last few centimetres - these are called purchases. Once the sail is up, you have to control it - called trimming a sail - so that it sets at the correct angle to the wind. The control ropes are called sheets, and they run from the back corner of each sail to the cockpit where they are controlled by winches or cleats. The headsail (sometimes also called the jib or genoa) is controlled by the jibsheets, the mainsail is trimmed by the mainsheet, the mizzen sail is trimmed by the mizzen sheet.
	When the wind increases in strength, we have to reduce the sail area, or the boat will heel - lean over - too much. This is called reefing - on the James Cook we can reef the mainsail and mizzen sail, but have to drop the headsail and hoist a smaller one.