Tall ship

A tall ship is a large traditionally rigged sailing vessel. Popular modern tall ship rigs include topsail schooners, brigantines, brigs and barques.

Traditional rigging may include square rigs and gaff rigs, with separate topmasts and topsails. It is generally more complex than modern rigging, which utilizes newer materials such as aluminum and steel to construct taller, lightweight masts with fewer, more versatile sails. It should be noted that most smaller, modern vessels use Bermuda rig. Though it did not become popular elsewhere until the twentieth century, this rig was developed in Bermuda in the seventeenth century, and had historically been used on its small ships, the Bermuda sloops. A modern replica of an 1831, Bermudian-built sloop-of-war is the sail training vessel "Spirit of Bermuda" (34.13 m, LOA). [http://www.bermudasloop.org/images/pdfs/classic_boat_article_dec06.pdf]

The term "tall ship" has come into widespread use in the mid-20th century with the advent of The Tall Ships' Races, and was not generally used in the era when such ships were the norm.

While Sail Training International (STI) has extended the definition of "tall ship" for the purpose of its races to embrace any sailing vessel with more than 30 ft. (9.14 m) waterline length and on which at least half the people on board are aged 15 to 25, this definition can include many modern sailing yachts, so for the purposes of this article, tall ship will refer to those vessels rated as class "B" or above (Fore and aft rigged vessels between 100 to 160 feet in length, and all square rigged vessels).

International Sail Training Association, Class A Tall Ships

In alphabetical order (sortable). [ [http://www.kohkun.go.jp/tallship_e/list/tallship_list_a_e.html National Institute for Sea Training (NIST) ] ] International Sail Training Association classifies its A Class as "all square-rigged vessels over 120' (36.6m) length overall (LOA). Fore and aft rigged vessels of 160' (48.8m)(LOA) and over." [ [http://www.kohkun.go.jp/tallship_e/tallship_list.html National Institute for Sea Training (NIST) ] ] Also see list of tall ships for other tall ships, or List of large sailing vessels for a list that includes other sailing vessel types.

Gallery

See also

*American Sail Training Association
*Cutty Sark Tall Ships' Race
*Jubilee Sailing Trust
*List of tall ships
*List of large sailing vessels
*Sail training
*Tall Ships Challenge
*The Tall Ships' Races
*Tall Ships Youth Trust

References

Further reading

* American Sail Training Association; "Sail Tall Ships!" (American Sail Training Association; 16th edition, 2005 ISBN 0-9636483-9-X)
* Thad Koza; "Tall Ships: A Fleet for the 21st Century" (Tide-Mark Press; 3rd edition, 2002; ISBN 1-55949-739-4)

External links

* [http://www.tallshipsregatta.org Tall Ships' Regatta 2008]
* [http://sailtraining.org American Sail Training Association]
* [http://astaexec.wordpress.com Tall Ships Today!]
* [http://www.sailtraininginternational.org/ Sail Training International]
* [http://tallshipsaustralia.com/ Tallships Australia] , site providing information on tallships principally based in Australian and New Zealand waters.
* [http://www.bermudasloop.org/ Bermuda Sloop Foundation]
* [http://www.usenet-replayer.com/webrings/tall-ship.html Tall ship pictures] published on USENET stored with a search function.
* [http://gallery.hd.org/tall-ships/ Tall-ship pictures] for personal/commercial use.
* [http://www.maritimeheritage.net Maritime Heritage Network] , an online directory of maritime history resources in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
* [http://content.lib.washington.edu/transportationweb/index.html University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Transportation Photographs] An ongoing digital collection of photographs depicting various modes of transportation in the Pacific Northwest region and Western United States during the first half of the 20th century.
* [http://www.robertaetter.com/tallships/tallships.html Tall ship photo gallery]