The bowsprit in all its forms

With modern sail plans, the bowsprit has become essential. But aboard our modern sailing boats, it can have several forms, and be in aluminum, carbon, pivoting, retractable… And fitting one on your boat - is it possible? Here is an analysis, so you will know everything about the bowsprit...
The reappearance of bowsprits on fast, up-market boats has influenced the demand for this advantageous spar. On this one, fixed and in carbon, a genoa and a 180m² gennaker are attached!
On production boats, the bowsprit is more often than not in aluminum, and the sail often remains in place during the cruise. A strop fixed to the crossbeam martingale allows the vertical tension to be adjusted and thus its longitudinal axis.
This bowsprit is directly incorporated into the forward crossbeam. Its fittings allow a sail on a furler to be rigged, and the line which passes inside serves to adjust the height of the tack of the asymmetric spinnaker.
Certain models are made to measure. This one, triangle-shaped, allows the compression forces on the forward crossbeam to be better spread. It also helps when rigging the sails, as you can walk on it.
The bowsprit can get in the way once you have arrived in port. This one is fitted on a pivot, which allows it to be lifted and folded away, as long as the bobstays can be adjusted, so it can lift.
Made-to-measure, up-market models in carbon exist, from certain specialists. They are fitted as an extension of a beam taking the compression from the nacelle, so that bigger sail areas can be used.
This model, in high-tech carbon is a little technological wonder, which requires a sophisticated installation. It is retractable and incorporates some very compact hydraulic furlers in the tube!
The production builders, such as here Fountaine Pajot, don’t hesitate to offer this equipment as standard, as it has so many advantages.
1 / 1
Publié le 19/09/2018
Par Olivier Barret
Numéro : 162
Parution : Nov. / Dec. 2018
Découvrir cenuméro
Multihulls World #162

While they monopolized the bows of every ship at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century, this spar disappeared little by little as time went by, before returning in large numbers in the last twenty years. On our cruising multihulls, it reappeared at first aboard fast boats, where it allowed the center of effort of the headsails to be moved forward. But the geometry of recent sail plans justifies its use again on the most placid production cruisers. In general, genoas have lost much of their overlap, so as to make tacking easier. They have even sometimes become self-tacking. …

Numéro en cours

MM233 - octobre-novembre 2025

Numéro en cours
Découvrir le numéro