What is the name of a triangular sail? - Project Sports
Nederlands | English | Deutsch | Türkçe | Tiếng Việt

Project Sports

Questions and answers about sports

What is the name of a triangular sail?

3 min read

Asked by: Melinda Gray

lateenA lateen (from French latine, meaning “Latin”) or latin-rig is a triangular sail set on a long yard mounted at an angle on the mast, and running in a fore-and-aft direction.

What is a three-cornered sail called?

Three Cornered Sail Crossword Clue

Rank Word Clue
41% JIB Small three-cornered sail
4% TRICORN Three-cornered, hat perhaps
3% AT BAY Cornered by the sea
3% WEIGHANCHOR Prepare to sail

Why is a sail a triangle?

Triangular sails make it easy to navigate using a half wind which helps the boat maneuver. As wind passes around the airfoil, negative pressure is induced out front of and on the leeward side of the sail. This causes surrounding air to rush into the sail, which helps propel the boat.

What shape is a lateen sail?

lateen sail, triangular sail that was of decisive importance to medieval navigation. The ancient square sail permitted sailing only before the wind; the lateen was the earliest fore-and-aft sail.

What were lateen sails used for?

The lateen sail was crucial for the development of ships that were maneuverable and reliable under sail power alone. These improvements made it possible for ships to increase in size, giving them the ability to carry cargo more profitably and more reliably. They also made ships more important as weapons of war.

What is a gennaker sail?

A gennaker is a sail that was developed around 1990. Used when sailing downwind, it is a cross between a genoa and a spinnaker. It is not symmetric like a true spinnaker but is asymmetric like a genoa, but the gennaker is not attached to the forestay like a jib or genoa.

What are the three points of sail?

The points of sail

  • Close reach: between close-hauled and a beam reach.
  • Beam reach: the craft has the true wind at a right angle (on its beam).
  • Broad reach: the course on which the sail’s ability to generate lift is transitioning to primarily propelling the craft with drag with the wind behind the sail.


When was the triangular sail invented?

2nd century BC

The earliest fore-and-aft rig was the spritsail, appearing in the 2nd century BC in the Aegean Sea on small Greek craft. The lateen sail originated somewhat later during the Roman empire in the Mediterranean Sea.

What is a caravel boat?

caravel, a light sailing ship of the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries in Europe, much-used by the Spanish and Portuguese for long voyages. Apparently developed by the Portuguese for exploring the coast of Africa, the caravel’s chief excellence lay in its capacity for sailing to windward.

How did sails shaped like triangles help European sailors?

The triangle-shaped sail allowed ships to harness the power of the wind to travel in any direction, and not just in the direction that the wind was blowing.

When did Portuguese caravels with triangular sails?

15th century

The caravel (caravela in Spanish and Portuguese), was a type of medium-sized ship which, with its low draught and lateen or triangular sails, made it ideal for exploration from the 15th century onwards.

How fast can a caravel sail?

Top speed for a caravel was about 8 knots; the average was 4 knots for 90-100 miles in a day. In 1492 Colombus’s used 2 caravels, the Nina and the Pinta, and a larger carrack, the Santa Maria, as his flagship [More].