sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' ( land yacht) over a chose ...

, the trapeze is a wire that comes from a point high on the

mast Mast, MAST or MASt may refer to: Engineering * Mast (sailing), a vertical spar on a sailing ship * Flagmast, a pole for flying a flag * Guyed mast, a structure supported by guy-wires * Mooring mast, a structure for docking an airship * Radio mas ...

, usually where the

shrouds Shroud usually refers to an item, such as a cloth, that covers or protects some other object. The term is most often used in reference to ''burial sheets'', mound shroud, grave clothes, winding-cloths or winding-sheets, such as the famous Shr ...

are fixed, to a hook on the crew member's harness at approximately waist level. The position when extended on the trapeze is outside the

hull Hull may refer to: Structures * Chassis, of an armored fighting vehicle * Fuselage, of an aircraft * Hull (botany), the outer covering of seeds * Hull (watercraft), the body or frame of a ship * Submarine hull Mathematics * Affine hull, in affi ...

, braced against it (or an extension of it outwards) with the soles of the feet, facing the masthead, and clipped on by a hook on the trapeze harness. This gives the crew member more leverage to keep the boat flat by allowing the crew member's

centre of gravity In physics, the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space (sometimes referred to as the balance point) is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distributed mass sums to zero. This is the point to which a force may ...

to balance the force of the wind in the sails. An additional benefit is the ability to "walk" along the

gunwale The gunwale () is the top edge of the hull of a ship or boat. Originally the structure was the "gun wale" on a sailing warship, a horizontal reinforcing band added at and above the level of a gun deck to offset the stresses created by firi ...

to balance the boat's trim fore and aft. This is necessary to prevent racing

catamaran A Formula 16 beachable catamaran Powered catamaran passenger ferry at Salem, Massachusetts, United States A catamaran () (informally, a "cat") is a multi-hulled watercraft featuring two parallel hulls of equal size. It is a geometry-sta ...

s such as the

Tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...

from digging the bow into the water, also called pitchpoling, and causing a nosedive and often a spectacular

capsize Capsizing or keeling over occurs when a boat or ship is rolled on its side or further by wave action, instability or wind force beyond the angle of positive static stability or it is upside down in the water. The act of recovering a vessel fro ...

. Boats may have only one trapeze, such as the 420 and the 29er, where only the crew uses the trapeze. Dinghies, such as the

International 14 The International 14 is a British racing sailboat, crewed by two sailors. The class was established in 1928. The boat is a developmental sailing class and so the design rules and the boats themselves have changed dramatically over time to keep ...

and the 49er, may have trapeze wires for both the skipper and the crew. The trapeze has several colloquial names such as "the wire" or simply "the trap". When a boat loses power in its sails, and heels to the

windward Windward () and leeward () are terms used to describe the direction of the wind. Windward is ''upwind'' from the point of reference, i.e. towards the direction from which the wind is coming; leeward is ''downwind'' from the point of reference ...

side, the crew on the trapeze may get dipped in the water if they do not react in time. Some classes allow footloops on the gunwale to allow those on the trapeze to locate their feet with relative security. This helps to prevent the crew from swinging forward, sometimes round the

forestay On a sailing vessel, a forestay, sometimes just called a stay, is a piece of standing rigging which keeps a mast from falling backwards. It is attached either at the very top of the mast, or in fractional rigs between about 1/8 and 1/4 from the t ...

when the boat decelerates suddenly.

Regulations

Due to safety concerns, the International Sailing Federation changed the rules in 2004 concerning trapeze harnesses, effective January 1, 2009: "40.2 A trapeze or hiking harness shall have a device capable of quickly releasing the competitor from the boat at all times while in use.” However, the ISAF 2009–2013

Racing Rules of Sailing The Racing Rules of Sailing (often abbreviated to RRS) govern the conduct of yacht racing, windsurfing, kitesurfing, model boat racing, dinghy racing and virtually any other form of racing around a course with more than one vessel while powered b ...

which took effect January 1, 2009 does not include this provision, so this rule change is postponed. Quick release harnesses are already widely in use, and make it possible for sailors to unhook themselves from the wire from all angles while it is under tension, thus decreasing the chance of getting trapped underwater or in dangerous conditions. The adoption of quick release harnesses has not been universal due to the reduced reliability of the moving parts; stories of such systems releasing unexpectedly have caused many to shun them in favour of traditional fixed hooks.

History

There are counterclaims for the origin of the device: *The trapeze was originated by

Beecher Moore Beecher Moore (16 September 1908 – 10 November 1996) was a highly influential figure in the development of dinghy sailing in the United Kingdom after the Second World War. He worked for many years with Jack Holt who designed numerous dinghie ...

at Upper Thames Sailing Club, Bourne End on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

in the United Kingdom on the

Thames A Class Rater The Thames A Class Rater is both a historic and modern specialist sailing craft designed for the particular conditions at Thames Sailing Club, on the River Thames at Surbiton in England. The class is a development of the Half Rater, which was d ...

''Vagabond'', owned by

. When deployed there for the first time it was called a ''Bell Rope''. *In 1938 Austin Farrar started his association with the International 14 foot class and a lifelong friendship with

Charles Currey Charles Norman Currey (26 February 1916 – 10 May 2010) was a British sailor who won a silver medal in Finn class at the 1952 Olympics. Currey was born into a marine family. He had to abandon an anticipated career in the British Navy due to ...

. Together they worked on the development of the trapeze, now so common on racing dinghies, which was used so effectively by

Peter Scott Sir Peter Markham Scott, (14 September 1909 – 29 August 1989) was a British ornithologist, conservationist, painter, naval officer, broadcaster and sportsman. The only child of Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott, he took an interest i ...

and John Kift Winter during the championships of that year. *In 1938 a revolution in dinghy sailing took place in Falmouth. Sailors

and John Kift Winter had developed the first 'sea-going' trapeze for use on their International 14, ''Thunder and Lightning''. The duo used their new invention in the 1938 Prince of Wales Cup race in Falmouth and steamed over the finish line ahead of the rest of the fleet. Almost immediately, the Royal Yachting Association Dinghy Committee banned the trapeze over concerns that it was unsporting. It was reintroduced for the Flying Dutchman class 15 years later, but was not used again on an International 14 until 1970. On balance it seems likely that

developed Beecher Moore's ''Bell Rope'', which was satisfactory for river use, into the more seaworthy harness used on ''Thunder and Lightning'' in its 1938 Prince of Wales Cup success. The modern trapeze developed from there - in spite of some temporary official opposition.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trapeze (Sailing) Sailing equipment

Regulations

History

See also

References