A sloop is a sailing boat with one mast and two sails: a mainsail behind the mast and a single headsail, usually a jib, in front of it. It is the commonest rig on modern yachts and many dinghies.
A sloop has one mast, a mainsail set behind it on the boom, and one headsail set in front of it on the forestay. The headsail is usually called the jib; a larger one that overlaps the mast is a genoa. Most modern cruising and racing yachts are sloops, as are many dinghies.
The rig is popular because it is simple and efficient. Two sails are easy for a small crew to handle, the jib is often on a furler so it can be rolled up from the cockpit, and the sloop sails well to windward. Off the wind, a sloop can also set a spinnaker in place of the jib.
Sloops are described by where the forestay meets the mast:
- A masthead sloop has the forestay attached at the top of the mast, and usually a larger headsail.
- A fractional sloop has the forestay attached some way below the top, with a smaller jib and a larger mainsail. Tightening the backstay bends the mast and flattens the mainsail, which makes the rig easy to depower.
Other common rigs, for comparison:
- A cutter has one mast and two headsails, one in front of the other.
- A ketch has two masts, the shorter mizzen mast standing forward of the rudder post.
- A yawl also has two masts, but its mizzen is smaller and stands aft of the rudder post.
- A schooner has two or more masts, with the forward one no taller than the one behind it.
- A cat rig has a single mast and a single sail, as on many small training dinghies.
Almost everything you learn on a sloop, about points of sail, trim, tacking and gybing, applies to the other rigs too.
More in the book: Chapter 1, The sailing boat