Headsail

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A headsail is any sail set forward of the foremost mast of a sailing vessel. The most common headsails are the jib and its larger cousin the genoa, but there are a large number of others, such as the staysail on a cutter.

Some headsails can only be flown on specific points of sailing, such as the spinnaker, which is only flown when sailing downwind, and the gennaker, used when sailing a course between downwind and close hauled.

[edit] See also


Sails, Spars and Rigging
Sails
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Sail anatomy and materials
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Rigging components
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