sailing boat

 

A sailing boat is a boat that sails through the water by the force of the wind, using only sails. Sails made of impermeable canvas, attached to wooden or metal poles called masts, receive the wind's energy and push it forward or backward as directed. Today, sailboats are used for non-commercial purposes such as picnicking, racing or fishing. Some sailboats may be equipped with living quarters that allow sailors to spend long periods of time in the water. Sailboats were the predominant seas until the nineteenth century.

Historical overview

Sailboats have been in use since the power of the wind was discovered; The basic pattern of ships appeared with the invention of sails, and this appearance was highlighted by the invention of ships made of thick wooden blocks. Shipbuilders focused on designing large vessels. And on developing their management tools: oars and sails with their masts and ropes, they succeeded in building large, huge ships, but their success in developing ship-management tools was to a lesser degree than the development of the ships themselves. Important development in ship tools began in the fifteenth century AD, and reached a high degree with the advent of steamships in the mid-nineteenth century AD.

The ancient Egyptians made the first sailboat, and they used it for many years, so they used to push light ships with one sail and oars on each side of the ship, but the heavier ships were driven by only one sail, a rectangular shape they called the square sail. And after the year 2000 BC, this sail became wider and shorter.

The Phoenicians and the Sea Peoples, especially the inhabitants of the island of Crete (in 2500 BC), were the first to roam the coasts of the Mediterranean, and in 1450 BC the Greeks took control of the eastern Mediterranean, building strong and wide ships with a single square sail. In the 13th century BC, the Greeks and Phoenicians built cargo ships wide and wide, and they also developed the equipment of ships. In the sixth century BC, ships of masters, driven by square sails, appeared, and the Greeks in the fourth century BC put a triangular sail above the main sail.

Sailing ships were used in the Mediterranean to carry goods and passengers, and warships were also used, and their use in trade increased. Paddles were not used on sailing ships except in the absence of wind or when entering and leaving the port. In other cases, the ships were driven by the wind. Most sailing ships have masts, and some have three masts. In the second century BC, the Romans inherited from the Greeks the methods of building ships and the art of their navigation. And the "Vikings" built their ships between the eighth and eleventh centuries AD in northern Europe, so that they were driven by a square-shaped sail fixed on a high mast. In the year 1200 AD, multi-sail ships appeared. It is proven that the square sails perform well when the wind is blowing from behind, but they do not work well when the ship is sailing against the wind.It replaced the triangular sails.

Shipbuilders arrived in the mid-fifteenth century AD to build a fully equipped ship, which was used for nearly three centuries in all European countries. Oars were replaced by a steering wheel at the stern of the ship and a main mast was made in the middle of it, and another mast was at the front and a third at the stern of the ship. Each mast carries one or more sails. European explorers used such ships in the late fifteenth century and throughout the sixteenth century AD. In the mid-sixteenth century, galleons with masts appeared, and in the nineteenth century, multi-sailing ships appeared. In the nineteenth century, sailing ships were replaced by steamships, and large sailing ships continued to be used to take advantage of their size and tonnage rather than their speed.The largest sailing ship with five masts was built in Germany in 1902, and it was 132 meters long and 16 meters wide and had a tonnage of 7,300 tons.