mercoledì 21 luglio 2010

The mast and the yardarm

The lateen sail rig has been typical in the Mediterranean until a few decades ago.
In spite of what has been mantained for a long time, its origin is undoubtedly Mediterranean, and the "reversed" etimology from "vela alla trina" is now known to be wrong: depictions of lateen rigged ships dating back to the I century BCE have been found in Antony and Cleopatra's Alexandria. Its diffusion and improvement in the Arab world and into Indian Ocean saw it described at the "latine" sail, that is to say the sail of the former roman Mare Nostrum peoples.
But the fishing gozzi of the Bay of Naples used the lateen sail only in special conditions. It was high, heavy and cumbersome during the rowing. The most used sail was a fore and aft sail, the sprit sail, a tiny, less proficient one, but very easy to maneuver and taking little room when folded.
And right like the original gozzo, the new "Santa Maria del Lauro" will sport both riggings.
Michele has chosen to have a very long and flexible yardarm, in white pine wood, and a tall mast, still in pine wood, to take more wind.
From two square planks, they saw corners off, then taper both ends, and then, by plane and sandpaper work, corners are refined until the shape is almost circular.
They will define the shape of the sail, and the speed of the boat.

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