Page:Small-boat sailing; an explanation of the management of small yachts, half-decked and open sailing-boats of various rigs; sailing on sea and on river; cruising, etc (IA smallboatsailing01knig).pdf/127

 when the mainsail is being lowered. In larger craft the tack is triced up by a gun-tackle purchase with one single block at the tack of the sail and another under the throat of the gaff.

A small cutter's mainsheet should always work on an iron horse as in Fig. 61. A horse keeps the boom down, and obviates that lifting of the spar, and consequent bellying out of the sail which occurs when the mainsheet is otherwise fitted. A mainsheet, arranged as in Fig. 61, is suitable for a small yacht. One end of the sheet is spliced round a single block which works on the horse; the sheet is rove through a double block stropped on to the boom, through the single block, back again through the double block, and lastly, through a block on the deck amidships, from which it is led to the cleat on which it is belayed.

On either side of the sail are the topping lifts (Fig. 55, ,21), two stout ropes, which, when hauled taut, relieve the sail of the weight of the boom, and are of especial service when the vessel is running before the wind. The standing part of a topping