Shroud (sailing)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Shrouds as they might have looked on a late 17th-century tall ship.

On a

sailing boat, the shrouds are pieces of standing rigging which hold the mast
up from side to side. There is frequently more than one shroud on each side of the boat.

Usually a shroud will connect at the top of the mast, and additional shrouds might connect partway down the mast, depending on the design of the boat. Shrouds terminate at their bottom ends at the chain plates, which are tied into the hull. They are sometimes held outboard by channels, a ledge that keeps the shrouds clear of the gunwales.[1][2]

Shrouds are attached symmetrically on both the

crosstrees) and their loads are carried into the mast slightly further down by futtock shrouds
.

Contrast with forestay and backstay.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Free Dictionary - Channel
  2. ^ The Lore of Ships, ed. by Bengt Kihlberg. Göteborg :Tre tryckare & New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1963.