Sail types
The working wardrobe of a cruising yacht, drawn on the same sloop so sizes and positions compare honestly. Open a sail to see how it is hoisted, built, and handled — then use the rig strip below to name any boat in the anchorage.
Mainsail
The boat's primary working sail, set on the mast and boom — flown on every point of sail, trimmed constantly, and shortened by reefing rather than swapped for another sail.
Headsails
A non-overlapping headsail — its clew stays forward of the mast and shrouds — the everyday headsail on modern fractional-rig boats and the change-down sail in a masthead cruiser's inventory.
An overlapping headsail — its luff perpendicular exceeds 100% of J, carrying the clew aft past the mast — the light-to-moderate-air workhorse of masthead cruising yachts.
Downwind sails
A full-bellied downwind sail of mirror-image halves, flown free from a pole that squares it out to windward — the sail that lets a boat run dead downwind.
A downwind sail with distinct tack and clew, tacked to the bow or bowsprit and gybed like a big genoa — widely sold as a gennaker or cruising chute, terms commonly (though not universally) used interchangeably.
A flat, genoa-like flying sail for light-air close and beam reaching — cut with just enough mid-girth to measure as a spinnaker under racing rules.
Storm sails
A tiny, high-visibility heavy-weather headsail built to keep the boat driving and steering in a full gale — its size capped by formula under World Sailing OSR 4.26–4.27.
A small, boomless storm sail set in place of the mainsail and sheeted independently of the boom — sized by formula on P × E under World Sailing OSR 4.26–4.27.
Know the rig
Count the masts, compare their heights, and check where the aft mast stands relative to the rudder post — those three checks name almost any rig you meet.
Hallmark: A single mast carrying just one headsail on the forestay.
One mast, one mainsail, one headsail — the default modern rig, whether the forestay reaches the masthead or a fraction below it.
Hallmark: Two headsails on one mast — an outer headsail on the forestay and a staysail on an inner forestay.
A single-masted rig flying two headsails — typically a high-clewed yankee on the forestay and a staysail on an inner forestay — prized for heavy-weather flexibility: drop the yankee and carry on under the small staysail.
Hallmark: The mizzen mast — shorter than the main — steps forward of the rudder post.
A two-masted rig whose shorter mizzen mast steps forward of the rudder post and carries a sail that contributes real driving power, splitting the sail plan into smaller, easier-to-handle pieces.
Hallmark: A small mizzen mast stepped aft of the rudder post.
A two-masted rig with a small mizzen stepped aft of the rudder post — there mainly for balance and steering trim rather than drive.
Hallmark: The aft mast is the tallest (or equal) — taller behind, schooner astern.
A rig of two or more masts where the foremast is shorter than — or at most equal to — the mainmast aft: the reverse height relationship from a ketch or yawl.
Hallmark: One mast stepped right in the bow, one sail, and no headsail at all.
A single-sail boat with its mast stepped right forward in the bow and no headsail at all — a beamy, traditional American type, often gaff-rigged.
Masthead vs fractional rig
On a masthead rig the forestay meets the very top of the mast: headsails hoist to full height and the backstay tensions the forestay directly. On a fractional rig it lands about 7/8 of the way up, so tensioning the backstay bends the free mast tip aft and flattens the mainsail — a tuning handle common on modern cruiser-racers.