Guy (sailing)
Encyclopedia
A guy is a term for a line (rope
) attached to and intended to control the end of a spar on a sailboat. On a modern sloop
-rigged sailboat
with a symmetric spinnaker
, the spinnaker pole
is the spar most commonly controlled by one or more guys.
There are two primary types of guys used to control a spinnaker pole:
Rope
A rope is a length of fibres, twisted or braided together to improve strength for pulling and connecting. It has tensile strength but is too flexible to provide compressive strength...
) attached to and intended to control the end of a spar on a sailboat. On a modern sloop
Sloop
A sloop is a sail boat with a fore-and-aft rig and a single mast farther forward than the mast of a cutter....
-rigged sailboat
Sailboat
A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in the size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a...
with a symmetric spinnaker
Spinnaker
A spinnaker is a special type of sail that is designed specifically for sailing off the wind from a reaching course to a downwind, i.e. with the wind 90°–180° off the bow. The spinnaker fills with wind and balloons out in front of the boat when it is deployed, called flying. It is constructed of...
, the spinnaker pole
Spinnaker pole
A spinnaker pole is a spar used in sailboats to help support and control a variety of headsails, particularly the spinnaker. However, it is also used with other sails, such as genoas and jibs, when sailing downwind with no spinnaker hoisted...
is the spar most commonly controlled by one or more guys.
There are two primary types of guys used to control a spinnaker pole:
- The afterguy, working guy, or simply guy and sometimes known as a brace is attached to the windward clew of the spinnaker, and runs through the jaws on the outboard end of the pole and back to the cockpitCockpit (sailing)In the Royal Navy, the term cockpit originally referred to the area where the coxswain was stationed. This led to the word being used to refer to the area towards the stern of a small decked vessel that houses the rudder controls...
. The afterguy is used to rotate the outboard end of the pole around the mast in order to optimize the sail's effectiveness, depending on the direction of the wind. Because a spinnaker has two clews, there is always a second line identical to the afterguy attached to the leeward clew of the spinnaker. This is called the sheetSheet (sailing)In sailing, a sheet is a line used to control the movable corner of a sail.- Fore-and-aft rigs:Fore-and-aft rigs comprise the vast majority of sailing vessels in use today, including effectively all dinghies and yachts. The sheet on a fore-and-aft sail controls the angle of the sail to the wind,...
and serves a slightly different function. When the boat jibeJibeA jibe or gybe is a sailing maneuver where a sailing vessel turns its stern through the wind, such that the wind direction changes from one side of the boat to the other...
s, the spinnaker pole will be moved from one side of the boat to the other, causing the sheet to become the guy and vice versa. - A foreguy may also be used to control the height of the spinnaker pole. It is attached either to the end of the pole or to a bridle on the bottom of the pole, and runs through a padeye on the foredeck rather than directly aft to the cockpit. The foreguy is used to keep the end of the pole from lifting up under heavy wind. In addition, it can be used to change the shape of the spinnaker slightly to make the sail more efficient. The foreguy may be referred to as a downhaulDownhaulThe downhaul is a line which is part of the rigging on a sailboat; it applies downward force on a spar or sail. The most common downhaul on a modern sailboat is attached to the spinnaker pole, though this may be referred to as the foreguy in some rigging nomenclature...
if it is attached to a bridle at the pole's midpoint, but this term is used for other parts of a boat's rigging as well.