2010 Fall Voyage of Discovery banner

Shipcraft: Sail Handling

Once our crew masters the arts of line handling, they can put their new skills to use. In a sense, operating a sailing ship like the Half Moon is like manipulating a giant marionette, with each line moving a specific yardarm or sail in a specific way.

Mouse over to haul that clew!
Mr. Hensel and Emily haul on the main course's port clew.

Working the sails requires a lot of hands, and thus a lot of cooperation. The crew divides into teams while sail handling — one team working the fore mast while the other works the main mast. The spritzel and mizzenmast sometimes see use as well, though these require advanced training. The mast teams must coordinate their efforts to effectively steer and propel the ship when under sail.

 

These sails both propel and help steer the ship. In fact, the fore sails have more effect on determining the Half Moon's direction than its rudder!

For most of this leg of the voyage, we were been confronted with moderate to strong northerly winds. This is great sailing weather, if you're heading south. Unfortunately, our course upriver takes us directly into the wind. In 1609, the original Halve Maen would have simply waited at anchor until more favorable winds arrived (exploring the area or trading in the meanwhile). In our case (and working on a modern schedule), we motor north against the winds, past our intended destination, and then turn about and sail back south to our anchorage.

Voyage Homepage Daily Log Our Crew Learning Half Moon homepage