TIPS

Managing a Lateen Sail

by Richard Denney

It has been my experience that when you understand the workings and mechanics of an object, you can create a more realistic model. This is especially true of a ship model. Your plans will show hull construction and rigging and much of the time, the mechanics are easily understood. Sometimes, the plans raise more questions than they answer. That is when you have to turn to research. If you are building a ship model of the 1500’s or 1600’s, there is very little information on many details as I found out building a Spanish Galleon. A few books barely touch upon ships of that era. To me, one such problem was the mechanics of the lateen sail. For example, if the lateen yard is hung on the port side of the mast and the wind is off the starboard quarter, the sail will billow into the mast. I have never seen a picture or drawing of a lateen billowing into the mast. So, how do you move the yard from the port side to starboard? You cannot swing it around because of the shrouds. And even if you could, that would tangle all the rigging. With shifting winds, it would bee too time consuming to remove all the rigging, lower the yard, and shift it to the leeward side. Through research and several friends, I now understand this yard. The aft (high part) of the yard is called the peak. The low fore end of the yard is called the noch. The parrels are loosened. The sheet is let fly with the sheet, the noch is shoved abaft the mast to the leeward side. The parrels are readjusted and the sheet reeved on the leeward side. There are other things and methods to performing this maneuver such as wear or tack. But let’s keep it simple for now.