Downhaul or tack line

Nautical nomenclature is tricky work.

Over the centuries words have changed.   Their meanings have changed and their spelling has changed.

In some ways both of these are understandable.   Until the end of the 18th century no-one really cared about spelling,  partly because so many people were uneducated and therefore illiterate.   Sadly,  despite modern education (or perhaps because of it) many people are still illiterate,  and so mis-spelling is frequent.

Changes of meaning have been more subtle and evolutionary.   “This” ship is a frigate.   If we change this structure or that shape slightly it’s still a frigate,   innit?   If the changes are over decades or centuries we forget what the original frigate was like,  so today’s frigate might be totally different.

But we know what a downhaul is.   Don't we?

A downhaul pulls something down.

Gaffs rarely need downhauls.   They are usually so massive that they come down under their own weight when the ha’lyard is eased.   Indeed,  the bigger problem is getting, and keeping them up,  and they often need two ha’lyards and several purchases.   But some lighter gaffs tend to jam at the throat saddle,  however much slush is applied,  and then a downhaul is useful.

Squaresails are no problem.   If the yards are on slides they come down under their own weight.

Furled squaressails often come down under the weight of their canvas when the buntlines and clewlines are eased.   If they do not it's because of the friction in the clewline blocks and (especially) the buntline cringles,  and a downhaul tends to damage the running rigging and the canvas.   The solution is to send someone aloft to overhaul the buntlines:  men were once cheaper than cordage.

Downhauls come into their own at the staysails.   A full-rigged ship might have as many as 10 staysails,  each hanked to a stay at roughly 45° to the deck.   The friction between those hanks and the stays is enormous,  and so it is on the hanked-on jib or genoa of a sailing yacht.

On a sailing yacht it’s normal to have a crewman stand astride the stay,  at the tack,  to pull the sail down as the ha’lyard is eased,  but on a full-rigged ship that's too arduous a task and too risky.   Up to three of those tacks are out on the bowsprit.   Many of the others are partway up a mast.

But run a line from the head of the staysail to the tack,  through a block,  and then aft along the deck and you have a downhaul on which any number of sailors can haul.   Ease the ha’lyard and haul the downhaul and the staysail bundles itself neatly at the tack of the stay.   A Swedish furl,  and it’s safe.

I sailed my West Wight Potter extensively on the East Coast:  it’s a 14 foot (4.3m) cabin cruiser.   No-one sensible wants to stand on the foredeck of a 4.3m boat to handle the foresail,  so I fitted a downhaul.

A tack-line is a line attached close to the tack of the sail to tighten the luff,  or to prevent the tack from riding up the mast or stay.

On a square-rigged ship the luff (the fore-leech) of most of the squaresails  was tightened by hauling the fore-sheet to the yard below.   The luff (or fore-leech) of the course-sail was tightened by tacking it down to the weather rail.   The luffs of the staysails were tightened by the ha’lyard hauling against a tack-line.

On a sailing dinghy the tack-line of the mainsail is often replaced with a slide on the mast into which a slider on the gooseneck fits.   The sailor puts some weight on the gooseneck to tighten the luff of the main and then locks the slider with a turnscrew.

On a bigger sailing yacht the tack-line might have a Cunningham purchase (erroneously called a ‘downhaul’) between the sail and the boom or between the boom and the deck to tighten the luff.   On even bigger yachts the luff is tightened by winding the ha’lyard around a winch. 

Foresails always have tack-lines,  but very rarely with a purchase to tighten the luff:  this is almost always done with the ha’lyard.

Folkard,  writing in 1906,  described two forms of lugsail.

The balance lug of the 19th century,  and earlier,  was what we would now call a dipping lug.   The head of the sail was bent to an asymmetric oblique yard,  the tack was tacked to the l’ward bow and the clew was attached to a sheet;  there was never a boom.   The luff was tightened (insomuch as this was necessary on a lugsail) by hauling up the yard with the ha’lyard.

The standing lug also had an asymmetric oblique yard;  its tack was tacked close to the foot of the mast,  and a sheet was attached to the clew of the sail.   There was occasionally a boom.   Again,  the luff was tightened by the ha’lyard.

Folkard also described a split-lug derived from his balance lug (our dipping lug).   The tack of the forepart of the sail was tacked down to the stemhead or the lee bow.   The tack of the after part of the sail was tacked down at the foot of the mast.   Both parts of the sail had sheets,  but neither part had a boom because the sail could be split,  or not,  at will in a few minutes by lacing or unlacing the two parts.

Toward the end of the 19th century a form of ‘balance’ lugsail was developed which had a boom along the entire foot of the sail,  from the tack to the clew.   There was a sheet at the clew or at the after end of the boom,  but clearly the tack could not be held down;  it must be free to move around the mast opposite to the clew.   A line or purchase (Folkard called it a small tackle) from the balance point of the boom to the deck,  or to the foot of the mast,  acting against the ha’lyard would keep the sail flat and obviate the need for a vang.

But is this a tack-line?  It’s a long way from the tack of the sail.   Or is it a kicking strap?   It has a very similar function and arrangement.    It’s clearly not a downhaul,  and it's certainly not a vang.